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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (June 19, 2003)
BY BRETT CAMPBELL Jerry Douglas plays the Shedd on Friday, June 27. A Touch of Twang Summer brings out the best. I magine a band boasting the world’s great- est bassist (Edgar Meyer), fiddler (Mark O’ Connor), mandolinist (Sam Bush), and banjoist (Bela Fleck). Such a band existed — it was called Strength in Numbers — and it had one other member. What other musician could stand in such august company ? Only the world’s greatest dobro player. Even if you’ve never heard of Jerry Douglas, you’ve almost certainly heard his dobro, a guitar augmented by a metal plate and amplifying cone that makes a distinctive twangy sound. Like his aforementioned col- leagues in the pantheon of American acoustic music, Douglas is a Nashville studio stalwart who’s played on literally hundreds of record- ings, transcending the boundaries between bluegrass, country, rock, jazz, pop — even contemporary classical. He’s won dozens of awards, including six Grammies and last year’s Musician of the Year award from the Country Music Association. He added zing to the “O Brother Where Art Thou?” soundtrack and albums by Ray Charles, Emmylou Harris, Paul Simon, Earl Scruggs, Bill Frisell, Phish, and dozens of others. And, he’s played in bands with Ricky Skaggs and is a member of Alison Krauss’s Union Station. Douglas’s latest album (featuring guest turns from James Taylor and Maura O’Connell) appeals to fans of country, jazz, bluegrass, folk, and most other American music, as should his concert at the Shedd on Friday, June 27. Like O’Connor, Meyer, and other titans that the Oregon Festival of American Music has brought to the Shedd, Douglas represents some of the finest musi- cianship this country has to offer. (And after his show, bluegrass fans can head over to Sam Bond’s garage to catch the end of Portland’s Foghorn String Band’s set.) One of Douglas’s boundary-crossing proj- ects involved traditional Indian music. Another Westerner who’s drawn inspiration from that great musical culture, Dave Stringer, performs contemporary and origi- nal Sanskrit chants and devotional songs backed by an electric band (including drum- mer Matt Butler) at Far Horizons School on Friday, June 20. More spiritual music from way back East appears at the WOW Hall on Thursday, June 26, when Tuvan shaman Ai-Churek and multi-instrumentalist Buddhist monk Sarymai Urchimaev play traditional and 26 JUNE 19, 2003 original music of Tuva, the area of Russia bor- dering Mongolia that’s produced so many cel- ebrated throat singers. On Friday, June 27, Eugene’s Son Mela’o plays traditional music from Cuba, Colombia and Puerto Rico at Luna. This 11-member band marries the string instruments of old-school son with a brass sec- tion, percussion, and vocals. Finally, world music fans can head up to Salem’s Riverfront Park on June 28-29 for the annual World Beat Festival, featuring en- sembles from all over (including many from Eugene) performing music and dance from Africa, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, South America and more, along with food, crafts, cultural demonstrations and music and dance workshops. Douglas represents some of the finest musicianship this country has to offer. Summer’s here and the time is right for dancing in the parks. Along with too many pop music festivals and concerts to count, summer also brings opportunities to hear classical music. Along with the Oregon Bach Festival (see this week’s cover story), you can hear local musicians play light classics for wind and brass instruments in the band and classical series at Washburne Park, a tradition stretching back al- most four decades. This summer’s series, which runs through early September, opens Sunday, June 22 with the New Horizons Band, and later dates feature Renaissance music, marching band, polka, and various com- munity orchestras and brass ensembles. T he Bach Festival is the big news here- abouts, but classical music fans can find plenty of other opportunities to feed their summer cravings when journeying to Portland (Chamber Music Northwest), the coast (Oregon Coast Music Festival, Cascade Head Music Festival, Ernest Bloch Music Festival), and several others at points south, east, and north. No room here for detailed pre- views, but if you enter the festival names in your favorite search engine, the magic of the Internet can bring you schedules, locations, and the rest. ew
