Cris Jacobs Rediscovered His Joy for Bluegrass by Cold-Calling Jerry Douglas
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On the edge of Baltimore, where urban sprawl slowly transitions into Mid-Atlantic farmland, sits the home of singer-songwriter Cris Jacobs. In the backyard is a small barn where Jacobs concocts and woodsheds his melodies.
“It feels like we’re in the country,” Jacobs tells Rolling Stone. “Even though we’re not.”
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Last year, Jacobs found himself at a crossroads, where the barn also became a place of refuge and solace. Alongside writing songs, Jacobs discovered and immersed himself in transcendental meditation, all while his record player was in a constant rotation of bluegrass and folk albums.
“I brought my Martin guitar out to my barn and started writing songs without [any distractions],” Jacobs says. “I was trying to get in the tradition of Bill Monroe and Ola Belle Reed. It brought me back to my core. It was spiritual. It all flowed from there. It made sense again. It was the medicine I needed.”
What has emerged from this cathartic chapter of Jacobs’ life is his latest release, One of These Days. Produced by Jerry Douglas, himself a bluegrass icon, the album features Jacobs backed by Grammy-winning jam-grass act the Infamous Stringdusters.
“[Jerry and the Dusters] are rooted in tradition, but [they] don’t mind experimenting, being forward thinking and progressive,” Jacobs says. “And that’s something I strive for as well.”
One of These Days also features guest appearances by Billy Strings, Lindsay Lou, Lee Ann Womack, Sam Bush, and the McCrary Sisters. The result is a blend of bluegrass, indie-folk and blues sensibilities anchoring Jacobs’ soaring, fiery voice, a vocal tone akin to that of Scott Avett or Dan Auerbach.
“[Bluegrass] is such a communal style of music, where everybody knows a lot of the same songs and it follows all these ancient forms,” Jacobs says. “It’s a language everybody can speak together.”
Although Jacobs is well-known for his electric guitar playing and rock & roll stage aesthetic, putting together a bluegrass album isn’t something out of left field. It’s more so a return to form, with Jacobs circling back to his musical roots.
“I’ve always wanted a dynamic show, a dynamic range,” Jacob says. “But it’s hard playing acoustic music in bars, which is probably one of the reasons I shied away from [acoustic] all those years. When you’re going through the bar circuit, you just got to crank it up and rock people.”
Hailing from Baltimore, Jacobs was a sponge, immersing himself in the city’s rich, vibrant history of rock, blues, funk, and bluegrass music. Early on, he found himself jamming out with other pickers in the local scene, including mandolinist Kenny Liner.
“Bluegrass was what I was really into,” Jacobs says. “Kenny and I got together and we started picking bluegrass. Then, we got drums, plugged in, got psychedelic, and started branching out.”
Those bluegrass jam sessions morphed into the formation of the Bridge in 2001. Although an extremely popular rock and soul outfit in the Baltimore and Washington, D.C., scenes, the group, led by Jacobs, never seemed to spark a big enough fire elsewhere, at least not enough to ward off an eventual split in 2011.
In the ashes of the Bridge, Jacobs forged ahead. With a do-or-die attitude to find creative and financial stability, he toured relentlessly as a solo act. Whether it was one-man-band gigs or a rotating cast of backing musicians, Jacobs kept a fevered, manic pace on the road until his crisis of faith year.
“It had been a slow burn of things just not feeling right — in my head, my home life, my career,” Jacobs says solemnly. “Just this overall feeling of a black cloud over my head at all times.”
Following the shutdown of the music industry in 2020, Jacobs was adrift. He wasn’t sleeping well and his body was out of whack, physically and emotionally. To hear him tell it, he was consumed by a feeling of dread.
“This business can wear you down and I’ve got a family to support,” Jacobs says. “It can be an emotional rollercoaster. I certainly had thoughts of, ‘What else could I do if not this? Maybe sell insurance or something?’”
In a move to find salvation within, Jacobs entered therapy and took up meditation. He found a renewed sense of self, personally and professionally.
“Musically, I had this identity crisis and I wanted to bring it back to a place where I was having fun again,” Jacobs says. “Where I was connected to myself and the music was coming from a pure place.”
Wandering into the barn each day, Jacobs rekindled his love for bluegrass, folk, and the Delta blues while sitting next to his record player, either meditating or crafting new melodies. And it was at this juncture when he remembered he had Douglas’ phone number from a serendipitous backstage hang at DelFest.
“I thought, ‘Let’s see what happens,’” Jacobs says about cold calling the dobro master to possibly produce the album. “He said yes right away. I didn’t even have all the songs written, but I knew what I wanted to do. I saw a vision for it.”
Jacobs headed down to Douglas’ Nashville studio and got to work. Immediately, the duo found a kinship in their intrinsic musical views and shared feelings about what it means to be an artist, and to persevere in a haphazard sonic landscape.
“Jerry told me he thought my songs were good,” Jacobs says. “And that pat on the back was probably the best medicine of all.”
Longtime friends of the Infamous Stringdusters, Jacobs took another shot in the dark and gave them a ring. Once the Dusters signed on and the album began to take shape, Douglas phoned up some friends to see if they’d be interested in participating — Strings, Lou, Bush, Womack, and so on.
“This what I enjoy doing. This is what I’m supposed to be doing,” Jacobs says of the Nashville sessions and his current state of mind. “Even though sometimes it makes me crazy, I have to realize that where I’m standing is where I wish I was 10, 20 years ago.”
After a Grand Ole Opry spot on April 27, Jacobs will embark on a late spring tour alongside Australian guitar wizard Tommy Emmanuel. He will also be hitting several key festivals this summer — High Sierra, 4848, Telluride Blues & Brews.
“[As an artist], the goalposts keep moving for what seems to satisfy you or where you’re at in life,” Jacobs says. “And a year ago, I wasn’t sure of the next step. So, I made some life changes and musical changes. I’m happy right now.”
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