Del McCoury: Enjoying The Ride

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The summer music festival season gets into full swing around Memorial Day, with events like Sasquatch, Bottlerock Napa Valley and Bonnaroo attracting hundreds of thousands of concertgoers. Some of the performers will be tired from the road, in need of showers and performing in the same clothes they slept in the night before in a van. Meanwhile, though, at a festival a few hours northwest of Washington, D.C., a silver-haired septuagenarian will be fronting a band of crisp, stylish, suit-wearing bluegrass pickers — including his two sons — as they headline an event called DelFest.

In other words, if it’s May in rural Maryland, it’s time for the Del McCoury Band and friends.

Del McCoury, the namesake of DelFest, is the patriarch of said band, whose members have collectively received well over two dozen International Bluegrass Music Association awards. McCoury himself accounts for many of those awards, including as both Vocalist of the Year and Entertainer of the Year, and his sons, mandolinist Ronnie and banjo player Rob, have a few awards themselves. There are also a couple Grammys in the mix.

To many, Del McCoury is known as the bluegrass artist who has bridged generations, never shying away from sharing the bill and the stage with younger musicians of various genres. Those artists have included Phish, Dierks Bentley, Steve Earle, the Punch Brothers and others, and he’s also not afraid to perform songs like U2’s “Pride (In The Name Of Love),” while other bluegrass artists are busy playing “Blue Moon Of Kentucky” or “Pretty Polly.” Not that there’s anything wrong with that, of course. Because McCoury, at his core, is still as traditional as it gets. His roots run deep into the center of bluegrass, growing from a stint in the early 1960s with the father of bluegrass himself, Bill Monroe. While McCoury had primarily been a banjo picker, Monroe tapped him to play guitar and develop his now-trademark high tenor, and he was on his way to becoming a bluegrass legend.

Some artists don’t like having the word “entertainer” associated with their names, but the outgoing and affable McCoury isn’t one of them. He seems to believe that bluegrass is as much about the about the audience as it is the music. “I don’t know what it is, but a lot of people gravitate towards this music, you know, and we have the same fans that we’ve had for years and years,” he says by phone from his home in suburban Nashville. “And I’ll tell you what, when I get on stage I don’t really have a set list. When we get up there we just do the requests, what the audience wants. The first thing I do is ask for requests. I introduce everybody in the band and they do whatever they do, they play an instrumental or sing something or whatever it is. Then I think, There’s probably something I’d like to do, but why don’t I do something the people want to hear? They paid to get in here, I didn’t! Then we don’t have to worry about writing up a set list, don’t have to worry about what we’re gonna do. I play what the people want us to play, you know?”

“Of course,” he adds, laughing, “I’m fortunate that they request my songs! Because when they start requesting other people’s songs I’m in deep trouble.”

Studio-wise, Del McCoury Band albums generally consist of songs from mostly outside writers, with an occasional Del original thrown in, along with an instrumental written by Ronnie. The names of artist/writers like Willie Nelson, George Jones, and Jim Lauderdale have appeared in those writing credits, as have more rock-oriented names like Tom Petty, Delbert McClinton, and Richard Thompson.

McCoury’s new more-or-less solo album, Del McCoury Still Sings Bluegrass, draws its title from his 1968 album, Del McCoury Sings Bluegrass. The new recording features the other members of the Del McCoury Band, as well as a third-generation picker in the form of his grandson, Heaven McCoury, who plays electric lead guitar on the album’s opening track, “Hotwired.” And the new self-titled album by his sons and company, the offshoot Travelin’ McCourys, features grassier versions of tunes originally cut by Nick Lowe, Waylon Jennings and the Grateful Dead. So there could be an abundance of new McCoury material at DelFest this year.

Renowned bassist Todd Phillips, who currently works with Chicago-based alt-country artist Robbie Fulks, was the Grammy-winning producer of 1997’s True Life Blues – The Songs of Bill Monroe, the tribute album that featured a who’s who of the bluegrass world, including McCoury. In Phillips’ estimation, McCoury is the real deal both professionally and personally. “Del is authentic! He’s one of the few original creators of bluegrass music still with us,” he says. “His connection to new generations is partially through his kids, Ronnie and Robbie, but I think that connection was there anyway. He’s not your stereotypical bluegrass musician of his generation. Del is the sweetest guy on earth, and when he meets anyone he is 100 percent authentic, open, honest, and really goes out of his way to help another interested musician.”

Phillips said that McCoury’s appeal goes far beyond his personality though. Over six decades of playing and singing have made him a musician’s musician. “I think everyone knows how great Del’s voice is and what a great rhythm guitar player he is. But also for me — especially when I get to play with him — it’s his natural understanding of the dynamics in any style band that is so rare. Many younger bands don’t get the dynamics. By that I mean not playing full on all the time, not crowding your mic all the time. Del leaves air in the music, space, room to breathe, and then puts exciting and strong punctuation in just the right places. It may be from experience or maybe just a great natural sense of what works, but his dynamic sense is special. That, and he’s a cool guy comfortable with himself and his skills. Makes for good music.”

Because of his accomplishments using primarily Martin guitars, McCoury is a “Martin Ambassador,” an artist who has had not one, but two Martin D-28s designed with him in mind and named for him, along with such artists as country blues legend Rory Block and the late rocker Chris Cornell. While so many people McCoury’s age — 79 — are retired, he keeps a touring and recording schedule that many younger artists would be hard-pressed to maintain. Dates with the Del McCoury Band, shows with his mandolinist buddy David Grisman as Del & Dawg, a decade of DelFests, studio time, and more, would test the mettle of a performer half his age.

McCoury said that, when he finally calls it a day, he hopes he will have left an impression of himself as a decent guy and a good musician. “I just want to be remembered as somebody that tried to sing the best they could, and played the best they could, and entertained the folks the best way they knew how. When I’m onstage I like to entertain the people, like to talk to the people about the songs or whatever. I just really enjoy all them people.”

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