Background and career
Gerald Calvin 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 14-time Grammy winner, he has been called "Dobro's matchless contemporary master" by The New York Times. He has recorded and performed both as a solo artist and member of numerous bands such as Alison Krauss and Union Station and The Earls of Leicester. He has been a co-director of the Transatlantic Sessions since 1998. Douglas was inducted into the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame in 2024.
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, Johnny Mathis and Molly Tuttle 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, The Country Gentlemen, Strength in Numbers, and Elvis Costello's "Sugar Canes". 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". Since 1998, Douglas has been a member of Alison Krauss and Union Station, touring extensively and playing on a series of platinum-selling albums. 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 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. On October 31, 2024, Douglas appeared on stage for two nights to perform multiple songs with Billy Strings for the 2024 Billyween O Brother, Where Art Thou? themed concerts in Baltimore, Maryland.
Douglas was born in Warren, Ohio, and now lives in Nashville, Tennessee with his wife, Jill.
As of 2021, Douglas has been nominated for thirty-two Grammy Awards, winning fourteen. 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. 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. Douglas was honored at the 36th annual Telluride Bluegrass Festival in Colorado for his twenty-fifth consecutive year playing in and at the 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. The Americana Music Association honored Douglas with a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2011. 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.
Remembrances and Forecasts 1974 as The Country Gentlemen J.D. Crowe & The New South 1975 as J. D. Crowe & the New South Holiday In Japan 1975 as J. D. Crowe & the New South New South Live 1975 as J. D. Crowe & the New South Boone Creek 1977 as Boone Creek One Way Track 1977 as Boone Creek That Down Home Feeling 1977 as Buck White & Down Home Folks Buck and Family Live 1979 as Buck White & Down Home Folks More Pretty Girls Than One 1979 as Buck White & Down Home Folks Bluegrass Album, Vol. 3 – California Connection 1983 as Bluegrass Album Band Snakes Alive 1984 as Dreadful Snakes Bluegrass Album Vol.4 1985 as Bluegrass Album Band High Country Snows 1985 Dan Fogelberg T-Bone Burnett 1986 with T Bone Burnett Bluegrass Album, Vol. 5 – Sweet Sunny South 1989 as Bluegrass Album Band The Telluride Sessions 1989 as Strength in Numbers Will the Circle Be Unbroken: Volume Two 1990 with the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band Skip, Hop & Wobble 1993 as Barenberg, Douglas & Meyer Toolin' Around "Let it Slide" with Arlen Roth and Sam Bush 1993 The Great Dobro Sessions 1994 as Jerry Douglas and various artists, produced by Jerry Douglas Far From Enough 1994 with Viktor Krauss Bluegrass Album, Vol. 6 – Bluegrass Instrumentals 1996 as Bluegrass Album Band Bourbon & Rosewater 1996 as Bhatt, Douglas & Meyer Yonder 1996 with Peter Rowan Signs of Life 1996 Steven Curtis Chapman Leading Roll 1997 with Sammy Shelor The View From Here 1999 with Matt Flinner The Bluegrass Sessions: Tales from the Acoustic Planet, Vol. 2 1999 with Béla Fleck O Brother, Where Art Thou? 2000 with Alison Krauss, The Whites, as Soggy Bottom Boys Latitude 2001, with Matt Flinner Lucky Man (Hal Ketchum album) 2001, with Hal Ketchum I Don't Need the Whiskey Anymore 2002, with Jack Lawrence Deja Vu (All Over Again) 2004 with John Fogerty All I Really Want For Christmas 2005 Steven Curtis Chapman Secret, Profane, & Sugarcane 2009 with Elvis Costello and the Sugarcanes Southern Filibuster: The Songs of Tut Taylor 2010, produced by Jerry Douglas Rounder Records 40th Anniversary Concert 2010 as Jerry Douglas with Bela Fleck, Alison Krauss & Union Station Get Low Original Motion Picture Soundtrack 2010 as Jerry Douglas "The Boxer", with Paul Simon and Mumford & Sons on the latter's album Babel (released September 2012) and on Douglas's own Traveler, produced by Russ Titelman (released June 2012) "One Light Shining" by Ruth Moody from These Wilder Things 2013 The Earls of Leicester 2014 with The Earls of Leicester produced by Jerry Douglas Three Bells 2014 with Mike Auldridge and Rob Ickes produced by Jerry Douglas Radio 2015 with The Steep Canyon Rangers produced by Jerry Douglas Rattle & Roar 2016 with The Earls of Leicester produced by Jerry Douglas "Love Like Me" and "Everything's The Same" from Billy Strings' album Home, released 2019 Leftover Feelings 2021 with John Hiatt, produced by Jerry Douglas and performed with the Jerry Douglas Band Native American 1992, with Tony Rice
I've Got That Old Feeling (Producer And Performer) 1991 Forget About It 1999 New Favorite 2001 Live 2002 Lonely Runs Both Ways 2004 A Hundred Miles or More: A Collection 2007 Paper Airplane 2011
Sources
Net-worth figure: Celebrity Net Worth (October 2026), in USD. Biography and career facts: the person's Wikipedia article and linked reporting. Snapshot date for all StarWorth figures: 28 October 2026.
