Jerry Douglas

Douglas was honored at the 36th annual Telluride Bluegrass Festival in Colorado for his twenty-fifth consecutive year playing in and at the festival.

Gerald Calvin "Jerry" Douglas (born May 28, 1956) is an American Dobro and lap steel guitar player and record producer.

He is widely regarded as "perhaps the finest Dobro player in contemporary acoustic music, and certainly the most celebrated and prolific."

A fourteen-time Grammy winner, he has been called “dobro’s matchless contemporary master,” by The New York Times, and is among the most innovative recording artists in music, both as a solo artist and member of numerous bands, such as Alison Krauss and Union Station and The Earls of Leicester.

From 1996 to 1998, Douglas was a member of The GrooveGrass Boyz.

Douglas produced a number of records, including some at Sugar Hill Records.

He oversaw albums by Alison Krauss, the Del McCoury Band, Maura O'Connell, Jesse Winchester and the Nashville Bluegrass Band, The Earls of Leicester, Gary Morris, The Steep Canyon Rangers.

Along with Aly Bain, he serves as Music Director of the popular BBC Television series, "Transatlantic Sessions".

He has been a co-director of the Transatlantic Sessions since 1998.

In addition to his fourteen solo recordings, Douglas has played on more than 1,600 albums.

As a sideman, he has recorded with artists as diverse as Garth Brooks, Ray Charles, Eric Clapton, Phish, Dolly Parton, Susan Ashton, Paul Simon, Mumford & Sons, Keb' Mo', Ricky Skaggs, Elvis Costello, Tommy Emmanuel, James Taylor and Johnny Mathis, as well as performing on the O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack and the follow-up "Down From the Mountain" tour with Alison Krauss and Union Station.

He has collaborated with various groups including The Whites, New South (band), The Country Gentlemen, Strength in Numbers, and Elvis Costello's "Sugar Canes".

Since 1998, Douglas has been a member of Alison Krauss and Union Station, touring extensively and playing on a series of platinum-selling albums.

He has received the Country Music Association's 'Musician of the Year' award three times, in 2002, 2005 and 2007.

Douglas is a 10-time recipient of the International Bluegrass Music Association ("IBMA") Dobro Player of the Year Award.

Jerry Douglas appeared with Vince Gill on Eric Clapton's Crossroads Guitar Festival 2004 ("Oklahoma Borderline" and "What the Cowgirls Do").

Douglas also made a cameo in the third "United Breaks Guitars" consumer protest video, all of which went viral.

Douglas was born in Warren, Ohio, United States, and now lives in Nashville, Tennessee, with his wife, Jill.

As of 2021, Douglas has been nominated for thirty-two Grammy Awards, winning fourteen.

In 2004, the National Endowment for the Arts awarded Douglas a National Heritage Fellowship, which is the United States' highest honor in the folk and traditional arts.

Douglas was named Artist in Residence for the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in 2008.

The Americana Music Association honored Jerry Douglas with a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2011.

When not on the road with Alison Krauss and Union Station, Douglas tours in support of his extensive body of work with his bands The Jerry Douglas Band and The Earls of Leicester, following the continued success of the latter's 2014 release The Earls of Leicester and 2015's Rattle and Roar.

Douglas received the key to the city of Manchester, Tennessee as well as to Coffee County during a performance at the 2015 Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival.

Douglas received the Bluegrass Star Award, presented by the Bluegrass Heritage Foundation of Dallas, Texas, on October 15, 2016.

The award is bestowed upon bluegrass artists who do an exemplary job of advancing traditional bluegrass music and bringing it to new audiences while preserving its character and heritage.