Various Artists (from the album Tell Everybody: 21st Century Juke Joint Blues from Easy Eye Sound available on Easy Eye Sound)
 
It’s a new dawn, and the soundtrack to the sunrise is courtesy Dan Auerbach’s Easy Eye Sound record label. Recipients of the 2022 Billboard award for Blues Label of the Year, Easy Eye Sound has taken on the mission of bringing 21st Century Blues to the globe, utilizing the music of master Bluesmen and up-and-coming youngbloods, acoustic finger-picking to rip-up-the-floor electric Blues that rocks. Tell Everybody: 21st Century Juke Joint Blues from Easy Eye Sound opens with the music of R.L. Boyce and the raggedy force of ”Coal Black Mattie”, the song smoldering on swaying acoustic Blues while the image of Louisiana’s Robert Finley as the singer slowly brings the Tell Everybody title track to life on a building of Blues rhythms and riffs.
 
The late Glenn Schwartz was Cleveland Blues ground zero. Glenn was the original guitarist for James Gang prior to Joe Walsh joining the band. In 2016, Glenn Schwartz recorded at Easy Eye Sound with his longtime band The Arcs with Joe Walsh joining in for the stomping Blues of “Daughter of Zion” the unreleased cut included on Tell Everybody. Mississippi elder Bluesmen, Jimmy ‘Duck’ Holmes and Leo ‘Bud’ Welch offer music on the compilation alongside the spooky Blues of newcomers The Moonrisers (“Tall Shadow”) and the electric guitar of street busker Gabe Carter (“Anything You Need”. Label head honcho Dan Auerbach shares music on Tell Everybody both with his band The Black Keys on “No Lovin” and solo in the ethereal psychedelic Blues of “Every Chance I Get (I Want You in the Flesh)”. (by Danny McCloskey)  
 
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Joan Osborne (from the album Nobody Owns You on Womanly Hips Records) (by Lee Zimmerman)

The woman who made her name early on by musing, “what if God was one of us’ probes the hypothetical once again.  Here she suggests other options courtesy of “I Should’ve Danced More”, her new album’s lead off track that reflects a similar sort of ‘50s noir. It’s one of several songs on the assertively-dubbed Nobody Owns You, the follow-up to her last studio album, Trouble & Strife, which earned her some of the best reviews of her 25-year career.
 
While Osborne has generally been associated with a decidedly defiant attitude and a tenacious stance, the new album is surprisingly subdued. The title track, “So Many Airports”, “Lifeline”, “Tower of Joy”, “Secret Wine”, and “The Smallest Trees” are reflective and comforting to a great degree, and it’s only on occasion that Osborne’s otherwise forthright demeanor manages to make its way to the surface. “Woman’s Work” offers another example, an anthem of sorts that speaks to perseverance and persistence. So too, the eerie essence of “Time of the Gun”, with its ghostly harmonies and steady rhythm, speaks to the scourge of random violence that seems to have its lock on the nation as of late.
 
Indeed, though the mood may be mellow, the songs are mesmerizing. Producer and engineer Ben Rice effectively shifts the tone and tempo throughout, making an otherwise assertive song like “Dig A Little Ditch” sound like something akin to a somewhat surreal work song. It’s a testament to Joan Osborne’s decided determination that she’s able to make a tale about toil such an alluring encounter.
 
Ultimately, there’s comfort compressed into each of these entries. ‘Everyone is a child of God’ Osborne insists on the song of the same name, repeating a mantra once told her by her mother and sung with the erstwhile enthusiasm that the sentiment deserves. The closing track on the album, “Great American Cities”, allows for an additional does of affirmation, echoing the Neil Diamond anthem “America” that was shared on soundtrack for The Jazz Singer.

Taken in tandem, the album provides a positive perspective overall, a confident yet contemplative mindset that ought to garner an enthusiastic response from fans both past and present. A triumph by any measure, Nobody Owns You is Joan Osborne’s best yet. (by Lee Zimmerman)
 
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Nick Shoulders (from the album All Bad available on Gar Hole Records) (by Douglas DuPont)
Nick Shoulders is a true Appalachian renaissance man who gives credence to mullets everywhere. He and the Okay Crawdad are leaving no survivors on their new record All Bad. This being the fourth Shoulders album, it’s apparent that Nick and the band are not fucking around. The self-described purveyor of ‘haunted-house music’ has cut an LP that’s ready to resonate with even the most puritanical of roots-music enjoyers.
 
Opener “Hoarse Whisperer” welcomes the listener with signature dexterous whistle before ragtime piano, upright bass, and drums join the party. Crooning yodels abounds but lyrics aren't uttered until second track, “Blue Endless Highway” - an early high-point that covers the bases for an interesting country tune: a paranoid traveler in a shitty car trying to avoid cops on the way to see his sweetheart. The third song and title track are a potent expositional glimpse into a young Nick Shoulders, grappling with a southern upbringing. The proceeding “Hook Line and Sinker” is built around fish-pun chorus ‘there've been times that I’ve been a Largemouth Bass-tard’ and more freshwater double entendre. The inquisitive “It’s The Best?” finds the singer evaluating their romantic standards while also recognizing that, in reality, they should count themselves lucky to have a partner who puts up with them. “Toast First” is a weepy break-up ballad, re-hashing the last meal shared between two doomed lovers: ‘the eggs had a good run, I guess we did too’.
 
What follows is the mandatory instrumental and intentionally misspelled jaw harp movement “Arkansaw Troubler”. Not the first time he’s pulled this on us, real Shoulders-heads will recall the jarring “John Brown’s Nightmare” from 2021’s Home on the Rage. The winkingly-titled “Mama Tired” borders on being a preachy ‘smartphones are bad’ song, but is frustratingly good sounding. Tongue-in-cheek, but nothing new for man intent on cataloging social phenomena in song à la third album’s “Lockdown Lament”. “Up the Ouachita” is a whistle-heavy number that really gives the fiddle room to shine under a Cajun moon. The tender “Long Spring” is a quick song free of percussion, letting Nick’s bardic inclinations take the spotlight. “Appreciate’cha” is a boom-chicka-boom barnburner, and might just be the best song here. The lyrics of solidarity with the proletariat are starkly genuine, when compared with the hollow populism of, say, an Oliver Anthony.
 
Nearing the end of the record, “Whooped If You Will” has some of the most intense and unabashed contemporary yodeling heard on either-side of the Mississippi. It’s cool to hear in 2023—a man who is this connected to the sounds of yore, making them palpable for today. Closer “Empty Yodel No. 1” is a full-circle moment given the elusiveness of the ‘Empty Yodel’ songs that have reared their heads on three of the four Shoulders albums thus far. “Empty Yodel, No. 0” appeared on debut album Lonely Like Me, before skipping to “Empty Yodel, No. 2.” on third full-length outing Home on the Rage. Accounting for the missing “No.1” speaks to an attention to detail, and is something of an easter egg. 

Now is the time to board the proverbial bus, because Nick Shoulders is becoming an Alt Country mainstay with the likes of Colter Wall, Tyler Childers, S.G. Goodman, and Jason Isbell. Country music enjoyers of all stripes and ages will more than likely enjoy the all good All Bad. (by Douglas DuPont)
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Chris Pierce (from the album Let All Who Will available on Friends at Work Records) (by Brian Rock)
 
Soulful Folk powerhouse, Chris Pierce, invites you to explore the distance between grace and grudge on his seventh album, Let All Who Will. The album’s title is a reference to both the traditional church call for anyone to come forward and receive salvation and to the Langston Hughes poem, “Militant”. The former is a call to release all your troubles to God and live in faith. The latter is a call to fight against the cause of your troubles, no matter the odds. Chris Pierce considers both of these seemingly irreconcilable sides by combining the equally seemingly irreconcilable musical styles of Luther Vandross and Bob Dylan. Combining his soothing voice with his sometimes-acerbic lyrics, Pierce urges us to help change society for the better, but only after taking a good, hard look in the mirror and making the tough, personal changes to better ourselves.
“Ain’t No Better Time” sets the tone for the album with a call to act now. Acoustic guitar chords and a sparse bass line play against a steady, Gospel organ chord as Pierce sings, ‘I ain’t a friend of forgiveness. And no, it ain’t such a good friend of mine. I could’ve picked up the phone and admitted I was wrong. But the time kept rolling by’. Reflecting on missed opportunities and lingering regrets, he muses ‘yesterday’s gone and tomorrow’s on its way’. Background singers join him in muted Gospel tones as he sings ‘you can pick yourself up again. Don’t wait till tomorrow. ‘Cause there ain’t no better time than today’. Encouraging us to escape from the mental prison of past experiences, Chris Pierce urges us to acknowledge the past, to learn from it, but most of all, to move on from it. For change, if it is to come at all, must start today.
Realizing that all meaningful change must begin within, Pierce urges us to “Get Yourself Right”. The Gospel-tinged song urges us to pray for help to take that first step. If you’re still having trouble finding yourself, he suggests you return, “Home”. An optimistic blend of Reggae, Rockabilly, and Hand Jive, the song reminds us ‘you can always go home no matter where you’re coming from’. “Magic and Light” is a gentle Folk anthem that reveals the guiding spiritual light that shines within all of us. “Time Bomb” is a mellow, Soulful ballad the revisits the fleeting time themes of the first song. With his smooth, Vance Gilbert-style vocals and his gentle, James Taylor-ish melodies, Pierce’s songs play like musical therapy for the soul. But if your life has been neither smooth nor gentle, he feels you too. “Meet Me at the Bottom” is a Bluesy invitation to join him and begin your personal ascent, no matter how far you have fallen. Offering a partner on your path, Pierce sings ‘we’re born into bad luck, no angels around. But we can build it together; up the hill to higher ground. If a change is really coming, it’s gonna take me and you. You can meet me at the bottom and we’re gonna rise high as the sky’.
After centering himself, reconciling his past, reconnecting with family and faith, and reaching out for like-minded brothers and sisters, Chris Pierce is now ready to take on the world. “Tulsa Town” is a gritty talking-Blues depiction of the 1921 race massacre in that city while “American Silence (Revisited)” is a Bob Dylan-inspired accusation of those who have stood silent in the face of injustice. “Batten Down the Hatches” is a Celtic-tinged Folk anthem that asks, ‘What’s it gonna take on this mountain of mistakes to rise together and break down the mold?’ “Sidney Poitier” is a tender tribute to the civil rights efforts of the late, great actor. Chris Pierce uses funky, 706s Soul rhythms to declare that peace, equality and justice are “Overdue”.
Taking a step back, and waxing poetic, Chris Pierce fuses Piedmont Blues with Paul Simon Graceland-era rhythms on “Mr. McMartin”. Singing about a man who spends ‘forty years of sweeping up and the dust is all the same’, Pierce invokes the memory of Dr. Martin Luther King. Making a metaphor between sweeping up dust and fighting injustice; he leaves the unspoken questions: Why bother sweeping if the dust keeps coming back? Why bother fighting injustice if people still act unjustly? Hinting at an answer, Chris Pierce sings ‘when the Lord calls out ‘Arise my friend, your sweeping days they still won’t end’. Since the beginning of time, humanity has excelled in creating new ways to be cruel to each other. After we leave this planet, there will still be people and groups of people who try to control others. So why bother to fight for what’s right? Because, as Pierce implies, it’s the right thing to do AND because when our life is over, we aren’t judged by what others did, but by what we did. If all this is too much to process or if our struggle becomes too much to bear, Pierce consoles us that, “We Can Always Come Back to This”. A tender ballad that emphasizes the importance of personal relationships. Whatever triumphs or tragedies we experience, it’s who we share them with that matter. It’s the loving that makes the living worthwhile.
After 14 songs of wrestling with weighty issues in muted Folk tones, Pierce feels the need to unleash on the triumphant Jump Blues of “45 Jukebox”. Capturing the funky feel of Jim Croce’s “You Don’t Mess Around with Jim” the song is irresistibly cool and catchy. Summarizing his journey, Pierce sings ‘spirit like a 45 jukebox, waiting on the drop of a dime. Records on my road to freedom. I’ve been waiting this whole damn life for my song to arrive’. With uplifting rhythms and a lively tempo, Chris Pierce boldly declares that his wait is over, and his time is now. The quality of each of the fifteen tracks on Let All Who Will proves him right. (by Brian Rock)  
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Forest Sun (from the album Hey Magnolia available on Painted Sun Records) (by Lee Zimmerman)
 
According to his bio, Forest Sun’s musical influences came about by more than mere chance. It reads like this: ‘Forest Sun was born in upstate New York to folksinging back-to-the-land hippie parents. His dad used to chop wood with neighbor Garth Hudson of the Band and literally built the floor that Bob Dylan stood on at manager Albert Grossman’s Bearsville studios in Woodstock, New York.  His mom heard Pete Seeger and Joan Baez play when they filmed a TV show in her uncles living room in Boston, and dated one of The Chambers Brothers before she met his dad. Weaned on a diet of Jackson Browne and Toots and the Maytals, some of Forest’s earliest memories are of his dad playing “Pancho and Lefty” by Townes Van Zandt, and his mom singing Elizabeth Cotton’s “Freight Train”. Forest wrote songs with Rory Block when he was six years old, learned to juggle with Wavy Gravy when he was 9, and studied drumming with the late African master percussionist Babatunde Olatunji as a teenager. In college, he played in a band with SNL star Maya Rudolph. They opened for No Doubt at the Catalyst in Santa Cruz before Forest left to study art in Spain’.

Well, at least that may help to explain his decidedly descriptive name. Clearly it was borne from hippie happenstance.

It’s no surprise then that his new album Hey Magnolia personifies his organic origins. Co-produced by Forest Sun and multi-instrumentalist Gawain Mathews, with guest appearances by chanteuse Lara Louise and national fiddle champion Luke Price, the songs ploughs amid the rustic environs associated with his youth, creating an intriguing blend of Folk, Bluegrass, Country, and Soul from a poet’s perspective. Mainly though, it’s a set of songs that evoke an assured sense of calm and contentment, shared through such evocative entries as “Only Passing Time” (‘I thought I could change the world, but the world changed me…’), “Love That Keeps on Trying”, “All the Mornings Have an Echo”, and “Underwater”. There’s not a single entry here that lacks that particular comfort and caress, making the entire album a mellow and melodic journey from start to finish. Occasional upbeat offerings like “Someday” and “Sweet Dreams, Caroline” maintain the same charm, just as the otherwise pessimistic “We May Not Ever Make It Home” manages to convey a measure of both reassurance and reflection.

Ultimately, Hey Magnolia is a gem of an album, the perfect antidote to the stress many of us are subjected to on a daily basis. Thanks are due Mr. Forest Sun for sharing a sound that’s illuminated so brightly. (by Lee Zimmerman)
 
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The Waymores (from the album Greener Pastures available on Chicken Ranch Records) (by Lee Zimmerman)

Kira Annalise and Willie Heath Neal — the duo known as The Waymores — specialize in making Classic Country — that is, authentic American music imbued with the heart and soul, best described as the real deal. While they keep it contemporary, echoes of Johnny and June, George and Tammy, Conway and Loretta along with Porter and Dolly never stray far from the surface, creating a sound that bears both a distinct dynamic and expressive intent that ensures their songs come across with passion and personality.
 
That’s especially true of their new album, euphemistically dubbed Greener Pastures. Here however, they get added impetus from a very special person who sits at the helm, a legend, in fact — producer Shel Talmy.

Talmy is, of course, the man who was behind the boards for any number of classic songs marking the formative era of the so-called ‘British Invasion’ in the early to mid-‘60s. With clients that included The Who, The Kinks, and early David Bowie, among many others, he made his mark in the annals of Rock history. Greener Pastures is, by his own admission, his first attempt to produce a contemporary Country record. As before, he succeeds admirably.
 
Even so, Talmy’s touch never overshadows the duo’s efforts, and apparently the two weren’t intimidated by his presence. Then again, there was no reason they should be. Their songs shore up their strengths here, with “Under Your Spell Again”, “You Got Gold”, “Tavern Time”, and “Don’t Worry” sounding for all the world like they’ve been lingering in the ethos forever. They sound like standards from the get-go, flush with hooks, ready refrains, plenty of pedal steel guitar, and shared harmonies. Whether it’s the substantive sway of a song like “Time to Ramble”, the sadder strains of “Hill Country Waltz”, or the down-home delivery of the title track, the music comes across with the fullness and finesse of singular standards. It’s to the duo’s credit that they’re able to craft songs that combine irony, emotion and enthusiasm in such perfect proportion. 
 
Indeed, Greener Pastures marks a major breakthrough for The Waymores. Should it get the attention it deserves, those greener pastures will likely provide as much promise as possibility. (By Lee Zimmerman)
 
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Darrell Scott Shares Some Secrets…
Touting an Exceptional New Album, Old Cane Back Rocker, He Ruminates On What It Takes to Be an Authentic Americana Icon (by Lee Zimmerman)
Darrell Scott is the epitome of the ideal journeyman. A multi-instrumentalist and singer/songwriter, he’s collaborated with practically everyone in the top tier of contemporary Bluegrass and Americana, including Robert Plant, Steve Earle, Sam Bush, Emmylou Harris, Guy Clark, Tim O’Brien, Kate Ruby, Mary Gauthier, Tim O’Brien, Verlon Thomson, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, and a list that goes on and on. He’s been the beneficiary of any number of kudos across the board, including Song of the Year honors from the Americana Music Association for “Hank Williams’ Ghost” and the elevated status of his song “You’ll Never Leave Harlan Alone”, which became the closing track for the popular TV series “Justified” during several of its seasons.
Darrell Scott seems to have inherited his abilities quite naturally. Having inherited the traditional template of his dad, Wayne Scott, his father’s influence has never wavered. “This Weary Way”, one of a dozen tracks on his terrific new album, Old Cane Back Rocker, was, in fact, written by the elder Scott.
His first new collection of original material in several years (his last two efforts were Darrell Scott Sings the Blues of Hank Williams and a live solo album called Jaroso, both released in 2020), the album finds Scott working with a configuration he calls the Darrell Scott String Band, an all-star amalgam featuring Matt Flinner on banjo, mandolin, and vocals, Bryn Davies on upright bass, and vocals, fiddler, and singer Shad Cobb, along with special appearances by singer John Cowan, percussionist Daniel de Los Reyes, and engineer Shalom Aberle on voice-over. It finds Darrell Scott in full Bluegrass mode, courtesy of a set of mostly original songs written primarily by Scott, along with contributions from Flinner and Cobb as well as cowrites form Bruce Robison and John Cowan. The exceptions are his father’s aforementioned composition and a stunning take on the Crosby, Stills, and Nash standard “Southern Cross”.
‘I had the great help of putting this recording out with Soundly Music’ Scott says. ‘So, hallelujah, I have help in releases!’.
The inevitable question is, however, what took him so long to come up with an album of his own material?
‘I think, if I were being honest, it's because it feels cumbersome to release records’ Darrell Scott replied. ‘These days, it feels extremely easy to make records and to make music with friends or a band or a conceptual dispensing. But getting music out seems to be, I don't know, difficult. On one hand, it's easier than ever because of the internet, and because of the streaming of this and that. So, it's this ironic place of it being more difficult for me to put out records, but not so much as far as making those records. There's the irony that I have to live with. I've been tripped up on what to do with it. If it was music only, I have lots of music. It does not mean that I don't have other recordings. It's just, for some reason, a stymied process. I think I could make a record this afternoon, or I could call people up for a particular concept. I have other albums that are able and ready, or very near ready to come out as well. So I have to crack that code for the release’.
Fortunately, Scott was able to overcome the obstacles as far as Old Cane Back Rocker was concerned, as the title appears to indicate. ‘I did crack the code on this’ he agrees. ‘It is out and about, and I'm hearing people react to it. I just heard that WSM was spinning it and things like that. So, it's not a lack of music. It's a stymied way of thinking about how to put it out, and I don't doubt at all that the stymie is on me. For example, this record was recorded in 2019. We were three days in Boulder, Colorado with my fellow players and we were able to record an album over two weekends, instead of going home on the weekdays in-between. Anyway, I don't have a great excuse. That’s just what goes on with this stuff’.

Nevertheless, it’s not like Darrell Scott’s ever idle. Aside from performing live, he also makes a point of producing other people’s albums. In addition, he recently oversaw a remix of Guy Clark’s classic album, Dublin Blues, one of four Clark albums Scott played on from 1994 on.
‘It's all to illustrate the fact that there’s plenty of music, both in studio on my own, and in the studio with others’ Scott continues. ‘I'm not sure why I feel the way I do about the difficulty of releasing new albums. At the same time, these last several years speak for themselves, I suppose’.
It’s a common dilemma, Scott says. ‘Playing live shows, roughly speaking, is maybe what all of us have to do to make money. That’s just the world we live in, right now’.

Still, the new album lives up to its name. Scott singles out his take on “Southern Cross” as something that gives the album special meaning.

‘I certainly have loved that song ever since it came out in the ‘80s’ he maintains. ‘And then to have the reggae feel in the chorus is a direct reference to the sound the New Grass Revival brought in early on. They always had a reggae feel with some of their stuff, so it made sense to have John Cowan contribute to this version. I was in the wine country of California, and I heard the song one morning, and it just kind of knocked me out. I got very emotional, especially with that chorus. That line about ‘other voices calling’ — it almost brings a spiritual quality to it. I thought that chorus really captured that and then, with the voice of John Cowan and the sort of reggae thing that Newgrass used to do brought it all together. Plus, it was me wanting to have this group I’m with sing harmonies. On my records, we’ve never had three- and four-part harmony. So you add all that together and come up with this cover’.
His take on his father’s song, “This Weary Land”, naturally resonates in a very singular way as well. ‘I’ve always loved that song of dad’s’ he reflects. ‘I've always felt it was his best song. I've done it a time or two with Tim O'Brien over the years. So, I knew I could handle the full harmonies, and the fiddle, dobro, mandolin and all that stuff. I pulled that in as I was grabbing songs for to record with these folks’.
Of course, pulling songs together has never been a problem as far as Scott’s concerned. Throughout his career, he’s managed to navigate the middle ground between music that’s of classic origins and that which is considered contemporary. When speaking about the evolution of what is commonly called Americana, he cites the connection between those bands of the late ‘60s — The Flying Burrito Brothers, The Byrds, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, and the others that narrowed the divide between Rock and Country while avoiding the culture clash that once found followers for each irretractable opposites — and the music made today.

‘If you blur your eye at all, it's not a huge leap from the California Country Rock of the ‘60s and ‘70s to what you see on the current Americana charts’ he notes. ‘And that's what I set out to do. I’m so pleased to have these great players and writers and composers working with me, and to be a larger part of the picture. Maybe me being the songwriter of the year has something to do with a certain populism and making music that’s appealing more in a mass kind of way. Nevertheless, I continue to make music, whether I'm getting songwriter the year awards or whether this record flies up the charts or not. I'm going to make music, whether or not the accolades are there. The latter has something to do with something other than the music. It has more to do with your PR people and your label. If we were telling the truth, we’d admit that's what it actually is. So I make that distinction, because I know the music goes on whether the accolades follow, or they don’t’.
On the other hand, Darrell Scott may be unnecessarily modest. After all, he has the credentials that consistently elevate him to the top tier of today’s traditional troubadours.
‘It’s great when any of us who are doing it can get a lick in there, have have a good solid, strong record, or, get someone to say, ’Oh, my God, look, he's a Songwriter of the Year!’ or ‘Look, they're on the Letterman Show or the Late Show. Any of those are nice little licks for those of us who are carrying it forward. They’re cause for celebration. It may not last too long; it really depends on the PR staff and management and all those things we don't see behind the scenes. It’s like the The Wizard of Oz. There’s actually a frail little man behind the curtain’.
 
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Jerry Douglas’ Ever-Constant Continuum Leaves No Time to Settle Down
(by Lee Zimmerman)
Dobro and lap steel player, producer, composer and band leader, Jerry Douglas could be considered one omnipresent individual. His wealth of awards and accolades testify to that proposition. He’s been nominated for no less than thirty-two Grammy Awards — winning 14 of them — in addition to being a ten-time recipient of the International Bluegrass Music Association Dobro Player of the Year Award, a National Heritage Fellowship given to him from the National Endowment for the Arts, status as an Artist-in-Residence at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, honors from the Telluride Bluegrass Festival for 25 consecutive years of performance at the festival, receipt of the Americana Music Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award, and the Bluegrass Star Award he received from the Bluegrass Heritage Foundation of Dallas, Texas.
Those substantial honors aside, Jerry Douglas continues to push his parameters. He’s the organizer of the Trans Atlantic Sessions in Scotland, a festival favorite (he was the individual in charge of gathering the talent at the Earl Scruggs Festival this year and last), and a consistent road warrior at the helm of two bands, The Jerry Douglas Band and the Grammy Award-winning retro outfit, The Earls of Leicester.
In addition, he’s overseen any number of albums by others, including those by Alison Krauss, the Del McCoury Band, Maura O’Connell, Jesse Winchester, the Steep Canyon Rangers, and Gary Morris, to name but a few. And that even doesn’t include all the artists he’s collaborated with — Eric Clapton, John Hiatt, Keb Mo, Elvis Costello, and Van Morrison, among the many. By his own estimation, he’s appeared on some 2,000 albums, although he suspects that the number is even higher.

Either way, he’s one of the most prolific instrumentalists in recent times.

‘Someone once asked me when I did the record with John Hiatt, Leftover Feelings, if I had ever played with John before, and I said, no, I don't think I have’ Douglas recalls ‘But then they reminded me that I did, on the second Will the Circle Be Unbroken album. We did a song together. It was all happening so fast I couldn’t even remember that John Denver was on it too. So, when somebody said, I played with John Denver, I said, nope, I never played with him. But that was a different situation because there were so many people coming through that studio at the time’.
Still, it had to be no less arduous than putting together the performers for the Earl Scruggs Festival, especially considering the fact that he had so many friends, collaborators and associates to choose from.

‘It took me a little while to boil it down’ he suggests. ‘Maybe just a day or two days. I had to think for a while about how to put it together. But I’ll tell you the truth, I love doing that. I love connecting the dots, connecting people, creating collaborations. I love bands to just band together and not work alone. So, I get to hone that every night. I got Emmylou involved in the Sunday finale. That’s something she loves. She loves being out there. There'll be a lot of people around with her too. It's gonna be a big finale. Hopefully, there'll be more people in the audience than there are on stage’.
Of course, it’s not simply a matter of having participants, but also how they’re able to mesh together onstage. ‘It's spontaneous, but there is some familiarity, because we all have history playing together, even if it’s not all together at the same time’ Jerry Douglas explains. ‘It's just music. It’s all ones and twos and zeros. There's no set time signature. Everything is simple and it all comes together eventually’.
Of course, that’s the essence of what Jerry Douglas does — gather other musicians and then find the proper synergy. That’s one reason why when he’s at a festival, he rarely leaves the stage. So too, he’s always on the hunt for new talent.
‘I've been doing a producing a record by a fella from Baltimore named Chris Jacobs’ Douglas adds. ‘He was more of a Rocker but he said he just wanted to do this record. So, we did this record and we used the Infamous Stringdusters as our band. Then we brought in Lee Ann Womack to sing on one song. Then Billy Strings came in. And Sam Bush played on some of it too. We had such a good time. We had a big party and made us a great record. I just finished mixing it yesterday. The studio is the place where I go when I'm not on the road. I'm usually hovering over a console and mixing over in a studio. I’m still looking forward to landing somewhere for a few days, like at the Earl Scruggs Festival where I can just be there for a bit and play with everybody, besides just being in my role as the host. I love playing with everybody, and I would do it anyway. I've either recorded with these musicians, or I’ve played with them on stage. And those that I haven’t played with, well, I’m looking to doing that now’.
Of course, Douglas knows of what he speaks. He played in the band called The GrooveGrass Boyz in the mid ‘90s before joining Alison Krauss and Union Station, with whom he toured extensively and recorded a number of best-selling albums. He still manages to perform with them from time to time in between stints with his own outfits.
Likewise, Douglas has been around long enough to witness the rise of Americana. However, he says that early on, he had no idea how big it would become.

‘I didn't know’ he insists. ‘I knew that what we were doing was really good. But I measured something as being good in terms of how in tune it was, if everybody finished on the same beat, how good the musical performances were, and how everybody got along. Of course, it also has to do with how it translates, and then finds the right audience. So when I did the two Will the Circle Be Unbroken records, I did see that. I figured, this is something that once they hear, everybody’s gonna like it. The other big breakthrough was tied to a movie, ‘Oh Brother, Where Art Thou.’ That was a nice vehicle as well. But I didn't see it getting to the point where it is right now. It’s blown up. And Billy Strings is a big reason for that’.
It’s clear then to see that he looks at things somewhat philosophically. ‘It's just another it's another phase, another passage of time that occurs like every 25 years or so’ he muses. ‘Every quarter century or so, there's a dial that goes around. It takes different routes. It may start at high noon, and then the hands go around the dial and gets shinier and shinier and shinier. It happened with ‘Urban Cowboy’ and it continued from there’.
As for his own plans, Douglas said that he will soon start work on a new album. ‘The Jerry Douglas Band weighs in a little bit more in the overall balance of things because all the other guys in the Earls have other things they do’ he suggests. “[Singer, guitarist] Shawn Camp’s got a totally separate career and [bassist]Daniel Kimbro is like the king of Knoxville with all the things he does there. He still plays with me at the Earl Scruggs Festival and plays in my namesake band too. We're about to go back in the studio, I think in October, and work on another record. I love doing that. Plus, I’m going out this weekend and playing solo and I love doing that too. It gives me just a chance to just sit down with a smaller group of people and do my thing. Sometimes that’s the only way for things to regenerate. I work pretty hard, and sometimes I kinda feel like I’m trying to keep up with the Energizer Bunny’.
 
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East Nash Grass (from the album Last Chance to Win available on Mountain Fever Records) (by Danny McCloskey)
 
A flurry of strings wafts in like a fresh breeze when East Nash Grass begin the song cycle on the title track of their recent release, Last Chance to Win. The vocals tell the story, however, in East Nash Grass, strings are the kings. Dubbed a ‘band of ringers’ by Jerry Douglas due to the credentials of the players, each member found playing in touring bands as well as needed studio backing for the recordings of other musicians. East Nash Grass, James Kee (guitar), Cory Walker (banjo), Harry Clark (mandolin), Gaven Largent (dobro), Maddie Denton (fiddle), and Jeff Picker (bass), are smooth operators as they navigate Last Chance to Win. They seamlessly trade vocals and leads, the melodies alive with the A-list playing of the band themselves.
 
From the homebase in Madison, Tennessee, East Nash Grass are an audio freight train, barreling through the songs like the locomotive is a runaway engine heading down a hill in “Railroad and Gamblin’” and “Jenna McGaugh” while a smooth, slightly rushed, groove percolates underneath “I Almost Told Her” and “Love Slippin’ Away”. Last Chance to Win climbs on a rattling rhythm for “Papa’s on the Housetop”, sending out a love letter to “Scarlet Iris” and setting the emotional GPS for a lot of curves in “East Due West Blues”. East Nash Grass are a footstompers fantasy vacation. Quieting the strums for “Magic City Grey”, Last Chance to Win hurries to catch up to the fasttrack toetaps in “How Could I Love Her So Much” as East Nash Grass offer strength in the story of “When You Come Home” as the music supports the promise with sturdy got-your-back rhythms. (by Danny McCloskey)
 
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Birds of Play (from the album Birdsongs of the American West available as a self-release) (by Danny McCloskey)
Gathering in the San Juan Mountains in southern Colorado, Birds of Play are a string band. The four members, Alex Paul (guitar/mandolin/vocals), Eric Shedd (bass/mandolin/guitar/vocals), Anneke Dean (violin/vocals) and Jake Tolan on (guitar/mandolin/vocals) incorporate elements of Bluegrass, Classical, Jazz, Folk, and other styles to create the soundtrack for Birdsongs of the American West. Birds of Play share and blend vocal harmonies fluidly throughout the album, the playing quieting, rising up, and smoothing out across the musical soundscape. Top shelf musicianship and solid song-crafting land Birds of Play in the peer group of performers such as The Wood Brothers, Andrew Bird, and Punch Brothers.
 
An uplifting exuberance is captured within the music of Birdsongs of the American West when Birds of Play encourage to “Breathe” and “Exhale” as companion pieces for the recording. A Blue texture is an undercurrent for “Numbers and Names” while slow, determined strums support the questionable decisions of “Paradox of Choice” and Indie Americana surrounds story in “Stargazer”. Birds of Play chose the Sherbino Theatre in Ridgeway, Colorado to record Birdsongs of the American West, bringing in the venue’s house soundman, Derek Jones, as recording engineer for the project. A tangle of notes playfully tumble as opening cut “Texture” begins the song cycle for Birdsongs of the American West as the album quiets for the methodical sway of “On the Eve of Adam’s Redress”. Birds of Play offer “Peace” as a goodbye and talk of dark days and hopes in “Aftermath” while building a sturdy melody note by note with “Linden and Oak”. (by Danny McCloskey)
 
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