Jerry Douglas
By All Music Guide
By All Music Guide
During the early 80s, Douglas continued his session career with even greater success, adding Emmylou Harris, Béla Fleck, the Whites, and Peter Rowan to his list of credits. He returned to his solo career with 1986s Under the Wire on Sugar Hill, which reflected his interest in the progressive new-acoustic (or
ewgrass) movement. He subsequently signed with MCA, where he issued Changing Channels (1987) and the smoother, strongly jazz-influenced Plant Early (1989). More session work for increasingly prominent artists brought him into the 90s, with names like Alison Krauss, Del McCoury, Garth Brooks, Trisha Yearwood, Randy Travis, Clint Black, Patty Loveless, Suzy Bogguss, Reba McEntire, Kathy Mattea, and Dolly Parton on his resumé. In 1992, he returned to Sugar Hill for the more raditional bluegrass outing Slide Rule, which many critics ranked among his finest recordings. The following year brought the all-instrumental Skip, Hop & Wobble, a trio recording with Russ Barenberg and Edgar Meyer. In 1994, Douglas contributed to the Grammy-winning compilation Great Dobro Sessions, and cut a duo album with Peter Rowan, Yonder, in 1996. 1998s Restless on the Farm, true to its title, was a return to Douglas freewheeling eclecticism, which continued on 2002s Lookout for Hope. Best Kept Secret arrived in September of 2005.
