Nashville Cats: Jerry Douglas

The museum will feature dobro virtuoso Jerry Douglas in an upcoming program for its in-depth interview series, Nashville Cats. Douglas is one of the three 2026 honorees chosen by the museum. The series spotlights renowned musicians and session singers who have played important roles in support of artists in either the recording studio or on concert tours. Douglas forever altered the way people think about the dobro with distinctive, lyrical playing that greatly expanded the instrument's presence in bluegrass and country music and beyond. Raised in Ohio, Douglas grew up with a father who played in a bluegrass band and took the family to music festivals. Douglas became obsessed with the sound of dobro players such as Uncle Josh Graves, and when he took up the instrument, he was skilled enough to join the Country Gentlemen before he finished high school. Douglas later joined J. D. Crowe & the New South, then became a member of family band the Whites in the 1980s, which led to session work with Country Music Hall of Fame member Emmylou Harris and his former Country Gentlemen bandmate, Country Music Hall of Fame member Ricky Skaggs.

As mainstream country music celebrated a revival of traditional sounds, Douglas's fiery licks showed up on recordings by Country Music Hall of Fame members Marty Stuart, Randy Travis and Hank Williams Jr., as well as progressive bluegrass luminaries including Sam Bush and Béla Fleck. Douglas is a longtime member of Alison Krauss & Union Station and a contributor to the soundtrack for the film "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" He formed the award-winning Earls of Leicester in 2013 and has released three albums with the group. Douglas has also appeared on albums by artists as diverse as Elvis Costello, Sierra Ferrell and Mumford & Sons. Among his accolades are 16 Grammys, three Country Music Association Musician of the Year honors, 10 International Bluegrass Music Association Dobro Player of the Year awards and a National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. Douglas was the Artist in Residence for the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in 2008, he received a lifetime achievement award from the Americana Music Association in 2015, and he was inducted into the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame in 2024.