Looks like Chris DeGarmo (formerly of Queensryche) is performing acoustic guitar on "Drones" from the new album. Jerry talked about it in an interview with Rolling Stone, saying that he he wrote this weird part he couldn't quite play, and DeGarmo was with them in the studio, so he asked Chris to do it. Pretty cool.
This isn't Chris' first foray with AiC. While most know he performed with Jerry's band on the 1998 Boggy Depot tour, he also played slide guitar on "Anger Rising" from Cantrell's Degradation Trip record. But, Chris also played on stage with Alice in Chains during the band's 2005 reunion show at the Premier Club in Seattle. I was there. Chris played rhythm guitar during Alice's electric set, and played LEAD guitar during the acoustic set. To this day, I still don't know why Chris was playing the leads during the acoustic portion. Maybe Jerry just feels Chris' spider-like fingers are more adept at acoustic stuff. It was really cool to see.
Looking forward to hearing "Drones." Jerry may have wrote the part, but it'll sound like good ole CDG, I am sure.