The Set

A short while I ago, I interviewed Jerry Douglas for BU about his induction into the IBMA Hall of Fame and in a side conversation that did not make the article, we talked about one of the things he tried to bring to the genre other than musicianship, and that was the desire to produce a top-of-the-line sound on studio recordings. After all, when he left The Whites to spend more time with family, he literally did over 2,000 studio sessions with the best artists, engineers and producers in the world, which gave him his studio knowledge.  Douglas has applied this wisdom to his solo albums over the years, including this new one called The Set.

What is special about this recording is that The Jerry Douglas Band has gotten a bit overshadowed by the awards won by Douglas and the Earls of Leicester and his Transatlantic work as well, and yet this highly-talented configuration of the JDB has remained intact since 2016. The group features Daniel Kimbro on the bass, Mike Seal on the guitar and Christian Sedelmyer on the fiddle.  

So, The Set is an album that makes a statement about this band by offering five new songs interspersed with six Douglas standards that have evolved over this eight-year tenure of the group. Among the 11 cuts is a set of tunes that are atmospheric and beautiful, including “Renee,” “Deacon Waltz,” “Sir Aly B,” and “What Might Have Been,” which features the sultry voice of Aoife O’Donovan. Combined, they would sound wonderful on a leafy fall afternoon. 

There are also tracks on here that showcase what this band is capable of, including “The Fifth Season,” “Pushed Too Far,” “From Ankara to Izmir,” and George Harrison’s “While My Guitar Gently Weeps.” The album is rounded out by the vocal cuts “Loyston,” about the town at the bottom of Norris Lake in Tennessee, and the rollicking “Something You Got,” all capped off with the ancient tones-invoking, Celtic-fueled medley “Going To Fortingall/Wired To The Moon.”