Jerry Douglas (25:07)
Molly. Molly's such a powerhouse and such a. So soft and so quiet and reserved and everything until she picks up that guitar, you know, and when she's, when she straps on the guitar, this Other. This other person takes over, and she's not afraid of anything. She's, she, she'll wade right into anything, and the whole band is that way. And, you know, the first record I did with her was sort of like I call in the ringers and we make a record, you know, and she gives presents me with all the ideas and the songs and everything. And we worked them out, figured out what we were going to play, and then, then we picked the music, the musicians. And the only person she knew for sure was she said, Ron Block. I definitely want Ron Block to play banjo on the record. Done. I know that guy. And so we could get him. And we started bringing in, you know, filling in the band, and it was a great record. Really fun record to make. And getting her feet wet. Really. Really. You know, she's been playing bluegrass for years in her family band in California and with other people, you know, with, of her, her same, you know, her age and all that. But, and, and it is a different language. I, I, I did have to learn a different language. I had to learn, you know, millennial language and what not to say, what to say. It's like I felt I'd never. You were. Times when I felt really old, you know, look, I would say something that was some something, and they go, oh, you can't say that. So please educate me on what I can say. And you know me, I only mean the best. I only mean the best. Anything I say, please don't take it in a derogatory way or I'm not against anything. So, so please just tell me when I cross the line. And I did, and they told me, and, but we got along so fine. But then the second record, the band came in, and she said, I want to do this one with the band, with the band we have. And yeah, amazing music, musicians, young group of musicians. And I said, it'll take longer because bands working bands take longer in the studio because they're not usually a studio savvy, you know, about. Not to move on the microphone because your sound changes, you know, and you hear that, you know, you want, you want to, you want to be as steady and as you can, you know, just, just stay in your lane. Just stay right there and, and give that microphone the best performance you can. And they knocked it out of the park. They, they came in and I, I was wrong about that band being. Not being savvy, because they were totally. And I would just, you know, make a, just have something to say once in a little while, but not much meaning. And we'd get in. I, I had. What I did with, with the second record was brought everybody down front because Molly and I had really worked the songs out and the band didn't really know the songs yet. So I, after they kind of got recordings of them and got in advance, you know, recordings of what we wanted to do, they. But then I set them all down in the front of the studio in a circle and we, so we could look at each other and talk to each other as we went through the songs and we all learned them at the same time and you know, and we had the same groove going on, you know, we were thinking the same things and then went to our stations, you know, in our little blocked out places where we won't, the fiddle won't end up on the banjo tracker or the other way around, things like that, you know, to just move everybody around so we're, you know, completely clean recording and. But they nailed it. They nailed it and, and personalities just overflowing with personalities, you know, but one end in mind, you know, and just to make the. A great record and sound like a band, you know, and they do and they are and they've. And since we've recorded they've gone out and they just have this Persona that's like no other band out there. I mean it's just like, I don't know, it's. It's glitz and glamour, you know, and, and that a lot of glamour and a lot of really good playing, really good playing and they, they can back it all up and, and, But Molly is. Her songwriting gets better and better and better. You know, I didn't know you could work. You use the word Cassiopeia in an, in a song. But she did the name Cassiopeia. You know, so you look up in the sky and you see Cassiopeia. But I'd never heard it in a song until it came running by. But she would bring these songs up. There was only one song that I said, I don't know about this song. And she said, catch said the same thing. So that one's out, you know, so. And you know, but we've, we've had nothing but great times in the studio and it's just been a, it's been a wonderful trip, you know, and for me to get to ride along with that band and watch its success, you know, a couple of Grammys and who knows, who knows what's ahead for them, you know, it's, it's a. The whole scene is changing, you know, you can see with Billy Strings and Molly Sierra hall, just. It's all that. And they're. They're at the. They're at the front of it. They're at the spearhead of this thing. And Billy's just, you know, selling out. His thing is a totally different scene. I mean, to play into 50, 50,000 people or something like that in the night, it's a phenomena is really what's going on with Billy. And he couldn't happen to a nicer fella either because he's just. I love that guy. I mean, he made the right choice. When he got to his fork in the road, he took the right turn and everything's looking up for him. It's all great.
