Jerry Douglas and Peter Rowan Will Perform at the Alberta Rose Theater on New Year’s Eve

Jerry Douglas and Peter Rowan will be appearing at Portland’s Alberta Rose Theatre on New Year’s eve. Should be a great show. Jerry Douglas is the Bela Fleck of the dobro. This is high praise indeed. By this I mean he has taken the sound and performance capacity of the dobro to the highest levels of bluegrass and beyond. Just as Fleck has successfully used his banjo to enrich jazz, classical music and heavy metal in addition to bluegrass, Douglas has lifted the dobro to similarly awesome heights and complex musical presentations.

Guitarist and songwriter Peter Rowan was the vocalist for Old and in the Way amongst other projects. OAITW was a short lived bluegrass supergroup in the early 70s which featured Jerry Garcia, David Grisman, Vassar Clements, Peter Rowan and some awesome bass player whose name escapes me at the moment. Their first album was self-titled, recorded live, and easily my favorite bluegrass album. The players sound like they’re having fun. The rock-influenced song selections and bluesy, proto-alt-country sound formed an early attempt to modernize bluegrass. If I were to have a single desert island bluegrass work, this would be it.