Sometimes, it’s hard to wrap your brain around a total reimagining of an legendary song. But when the song is just that good and the performer is 16x Grammy winner Jerry Douglas, it’s easier than you think.
That’s the case with his latest single, a brilliant reworking of the Beatles’ staple “While My Guitar Gently Weeps,” the first release from his forthcoming album The Set, due September 20th.
This emotive rendition of the Beatles’ 1968 classic highlights the raw talent of The Jerry Douglas Band, featuring Douglas (dobro), Daniel Kimbro (bass), Christian Sedelmyer (fiddle), and Mike Seal (guitar).
“I love how easy it was to play the song,” says Douglas, the 30x International Bluegrass Music Association Award recipient. “It just lays perfectly for the dobro. It gives you all the latitude you need to play the whole song from end to end, in different octaves. That melody always got me, but I never tried to play it. And when I did, it was like, ‘Wow! Why haven’t I done this before?’”
Years ago, Douglas and the band worked up an instrumental version of “While My Guitar Gently Weeps,” a song that Douglas said he’d known forever. When he performed it in London during a Transatlantic Sessions tour, Eric Clapton joined him onstage for a reunion of sorts. They had previously collaborated on a 2012 recording of R&B artist Chris Kenner’s “Something You Got,” with Clapton on vocals, that appeared on Douglas’ Traveler (2012). The song reappears on The Set, this time more lighthearted and uptempo with Douglas taking lead vocals.
For this new album, Douglas also turned to his bandmates for material, including Mike Seal’s “Renee,” Christian Sedelmyer’s “Deacon Waltz,” and Daniel Kimbro’s “Loyston.” In addition, the four musicians collaborated on “The Fifth Season,” a concerto commissioned by the FreshGrass Foundation. The Set tracklisting concludes with two instrumentals, “Pushed Too Far” and “Sir Aly B.” “When people leave,” shares Douglas, “they have a certain song in their head. And we always play ‘Sir Aly B’ last as the final encore. That’s the last thing people hear, so I wanted that to be there, too.”
Above: The Jerry Douglas Band
L-R: Christian Sedelmyer, Daniel Kimbro, Jerry Douglas, Mike Seal
“I’m proud of it. I’ve left no stone unturned,” finalizes Douglas about The Set. “I’ve been producing records for a long time, so I really, really put on that hat for this record. Usually, I like instrumentalists to have free rein in whatever they do. It’s the way they speak. If anybody had an idea, we chased it down to the end. I feel like it’s really finished. I’m really happy with the outcome of this whole experience.”
The 11-track album, comprising five new offerings and six revitalized songs from his catalog, is set for a September 20 release via Nolivan Records across the DSPs in addition to physical CDs and 180-gram vinyl.
TRACK LISTING FOR THE SET:
“Gone to Fortingall”
“Renee”
“What Might Have Been” featuring Aoife O’Donovan
“From Ankara to Ismir”
“Something You Got”
“Deacon Waltz”
“The Fifth Season”
“While My Guitar Gently Weeps”
“Loyston”
“Pushed Too Far”
“Sir Aly B”
Yes, Douglas is still a member of the supergroup Alison Krauss + Union Station… but, he’ll be touring with his band and taking festival stages throughout the summer and fall, including the astounding Red Rocks Amphitheatre and Montana Folk Festival in July, Green Mountain Bluegrass & Roots Festival in August, and Bourbon & Beyond and The Earl Scruggs Music Festival in September.