A certain vision and drive is required to be a recording artist and it takes a distinct lack of ego and talent for self-subjugation to be a session musician. An even greater strength of character is necessary to be a producer, to help artists realize their vision without heavy-handed personal involvement.
How then to explain the amazing success of dobroist Jerry Douglas in all three areas? Perhaps a unique ability to compartmentalize or maybe a touch of creative schizophrenia. Whatever it is, Douglas has it by the metric ton.
During the course of his 30-plus year career in Bluegrass, Douglas has released a dozen of his own albums (including his latest, last year’s Glide), which, considering his touring and session schedule, would be a fairly impressive number on its own. But when one takes into account that Douglas’ work appears on well over 1600 albums by other artists — including production jobs for the likes of Del McCoury, Maura O’Connell and Jesse Winchester — the enormity of Douglas’ talent becomes plainly apparent. He has worked on more albums than many people actually own.
