Del McCoury

2017 Romp Attracts 26,000 People

27 Jun, 17 by Greg McGrath Leave a Comment

The International Bluegrass Music Museum’s 14th annual ROMP Festival saw record attendance numbers last weekend with more than 26,000 people packing in to Owensboro, Kentucky’s Yellow Creek Park for the four-day event.
Saturday night hosted the largest number of festival attendees, with close to 9,000 individuals filling the main festival field to see headline acts, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, The SteelDrivers, and Keller Williams’ Grateful Grass.

This weekend proved once again that ROMP is about community, connection, and celebrating everything good about bluegrass music and Owensboro. Thanks to the many organizations and individuals we collaborate with, Owensboro is a great host to those visiting and seeking the ROMP experience – Museum Director, Chris Joslin.

Festival attendees traveled from 39 states and four countries outside the United States for the four-day event – Australia, Switzerland, Great Britain, and Canada. Close to 2,000 ticket buyers chose to utilise the on-site camping option, including nearly 300 RVs.

Close to 200 volunteers and full-time staff members were on hand throughout the weekend, providing attendees with parking instructions, shuttle services and clean-up for the park.

Dates for ROMP 2018 will be released soon.

About the International Bluegrass Music Museum:

The International Bluegrass Music Museum is a 501c3 non-profit in Owensboro, Kentucky focused on gathering, preserving, exhibiting and disseminating the artefacts, history, collection and performance art of the global history of bluegrass music through an educational experience.

Formed in 1991, the IBMM is currently constructing a new building in downtown Owensboro, KY along the Ohio River. Just three blocks west of the current location, this new facility will double the museum’s exhibit space and incorporate a 450 seat theater, an outdoor performance area, expanded research library, rooftop restaurant and much more.

Gibson Brothers and Friends Play With A Little Help From My Friends.

17 Jun, 17 by Greg McGrath Leave a Comment

Gibson Brothers and Friends – With A Little Help From My Friends.

A few weeks ago, a bunch of friends got together to play music in Nashville, under the guise of prepping for Delfest. No one knew it would turn into something so special. Members of Del McCoury Band, The Travelin McCourys, Gibson Brothers, Sierra Hull and Dre and the Collective told stories and sang songs, turning it into a family jam. There was even talk of taking the show on the road this winter. Each artist brought a song that they thought would be fun to do, and Leigh Gibson showed up with “With A Little Help From My Friends.” Just so happens two weeks ago was the 50-year anniversary of The Beatles Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club featuring this song.

Incidently the Gibson Brothers’ new album “In The Ground” has currently found it’s way to #2 on the Bluegrass Unlimited Chart. No doubt the Gibson Brothers hope to see it rise to an unprecedented 9th consecutive #1 spot.

Bluegrass Unlimited published a thorough review this June with a feature article on “In The Ground”.

In the world of brother harmonies, the Gibson Brothers have set the Gold Standard. – Bluegrass Unlimited.

Bluegrass Heritage Foundation Awards Del McCoury

24 Oct, 15 by Greg McGrath

Del McCoury, a Grammy-winning National Heritage Fellow and member International Bluegrass Music Association’s Hall of Fame, was honoured with the Bluegrass Heritage Foundation’s Bluegrass Star Award on Saturday, October 17, 2015 at the Bloomin’ Bluegrass Festival and Chili Cook-Off in the Farmers Branch Historical Park in Farmers Branch, Texas.

“In 2010, the Bluegrass Heritage Foundation began a tradition of honouring bluegrass artists who do an exemplary job of advancing the music and bringing it to new audiences while preserving its character and heritage,” said Alan W. Tompkins, president and founder of the Bluegrass Heritage Foundation. “Del McCoury has had an incredible lifetime career in bluegrass music spanning the better part of six decades. He’s won almost every award given to musicians in our industry, including a Grammy and a National Heritage Fellowship Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Endowment for the Arts, has played bluegrass music on national television, and was a Bluegrass Boy alongside Bill Monroe. You just can’t get much more ‘true bluegrass’ than that. Del McCoury has played and recorded with artists as diverse as Phish, the String Cheese Incident, and Steve Earle, bringing the bluegrass sound to audiences far and wide. Del has brought bluegrass music to many who might never have heard it or been interested in it before hearing him, and is an ideal recipient for our Bluegrass Heritage Foundation Bluegrass Star Award.”

The previous Bluegrass Star Awards have been awarded to Rhonda Vincent, J. D. Crowe, Peter Rowan, and Sierra Hull.

For more information about Del McCoury, visit the Del McCoury Band website. Be sure to watch the Star Award presentation video below, courtesy of David Seay Productions for highlights of Del’s career and in Del’s own words.

About Bluegrass Heritage Foundation:

Mission Statement – The mission of the Bluegrass Heritage Foundation is to preserve and promote the heritage of bluegrass music in America, with a focus on promoting bluegrass music in Texas. The Foundation seeks to educate the public about this distinctly American form of music with roots in Irish, Scottish, and English traditional music through educational programs and workshops, public performances of bluegrass music, historic preservation efforts, and other similar programs. The Bluegrass Heritage Foundation is a non-profit corporation organised under Texas law and recognized under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.

Bluegrass Heritage Play It Forward program:

Free Instrument Lending Program for Young People
Working with bluegrass associations and music teachers, Play It Forward!, the Bluegrass Heritage Foundation Instrument Lending Program, helps foster music literacy and performance skills in deserving young people (ages 8-21) by providing no-cost access to the primary bluegrass musical instruments such as mandolins, fiddles, banjos, guitars, and resonator guitars. Here’s a short video about the program:
As part of the Play It Forward! program, the Foundation works with local bluegrass clubs and associations to find musicians and music teachers who are willing to become mentors for young people who wish to borrow starter instruments under the program.

The Play It Forward program operates much like a public library:

Young people are asked to complete an application and provide parental consent to participation
The estimated value of the instrument will be stated in an agreement that encourages responsibility for the instrument by the borrower.
Participants are expected to send a thank-you note to the instrument donor, if applicable, or to the Foundation.

In addition, participants are asked to locate a mentor in their area who will assist them in learning the basics of their instrument and the etiquette of playing with others in a disciplined musical environment.

Because maintaining instruments is necessary to keeping them easy and fun to play (and to keeping them viable for many years), the Foundation maintains a fund for the maintenance and upkeep of program instruments. The Foundation coordinates with the participants and with their mentors to make sure that the instruments are properly cared for over time.
Loan periods are for one year, with additional annual renewals possible following an inspection of the instrument by the participant’s mentor, teacher, or the Foundation. When the borrower is ready to acquire an instrument of their own, they must return the borrowed instrument to the Foundation so that it can be “played forward” to another deserving young person.

You can participate in this program by donating cash or bluegrass musical instruments. The Foundation will make sure that donated instruments are in good working order before they are offered for use by a young person. Donors will receive a receipt for their donation and the assurance that their donation will benefit a deserving young person.
For more information or if you would like to make a donation, please contact the Foundation.

Photos are courtesy of Julie Tompkins.

Ulisse and Salley Thank Del McCourey

7 Oct, 13 by Greg McGrath

Songwriters Donna Ulisse & Jerry Salley recently had the opportunity to thank bluegrass legend Del McCoury in person for recording their song “Butler Brothers” on the new Del McCoury Band album The Streets of Baltimore. The song is a tragic and chilling story of two brothers fighting on different sides in the Civil War.

The songwriting team caught up with Del last week at the International Bluegrass Music Awards in Raleigh, North Carolina where Ulisse was nominated for Songwriter of the Year and Salley had one of his tunes nominated for Song of the year. The Del McCoury Band was nominated for Entertainer of the year.

Laurie Lewis and Del McCoury to Host 2012 IBMA Awards

13 Jul, 12 by Greg McGrath

News from IBMA this weeks revelas that bluegrass superstars Laurie Lewis and Del McCoury will host the 23rd Annual International Bluegrass Music Awards this year, on Thursday, 27th September, 2012 at 7:30 p.m. at Nashville’s historic Ryman Auditorium.

Nominations for the International Bluegrass Music Awards will be announced at a special press conference scheduled for Wednesday evening, August 15, at The Loveless Barn in Nashville.

The IBMA Awards are the center piece of World of Bluegrass week, scheduled for September 24-30 in Nashville. Produced by the International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA), the trade organisation for global bluegrass music, World of Bluegrass also includes the industry’s Business Conference and Bluegrass Fan Fest.

I’m thrilled to be invited to co-host the Awards Show with the great Del McCoury. I predict this will be a very significant and poignant event, as the bluegrass community comes together to recognize and honor its own, and to pay tribute to some of the pioneers we’ve lost this year, including the great Earl Scruggs – Laurie Lewis.

A two-time winner of the California State Women’s Fiddle Championship, Lewis began her career in the mid-1970s as a co-founder of all-female bluegrass band The Good Ol’ Persons. She’s worked as fiddle player on the Masters of the Five String Banjo tour with Ralph Stanley; was twice voted IBMA’s Female Vocalist of the Year; and The Oak and the Laurel, her collection of duets with musical co-conspirator Tom Rozum, was nominated for a Grammy in 1996.

Lewis also contributed songs to the Grammy-winning True Life Blues: The Songs of Bill Monroe, and to Grammy-nominated Clinch Mountain Country. Her original tunes have been recorded by Kathy Mattea and Patsy Montana, whose cover of Laurie’s “Cowgirl Song” is the unofficial theme song of the Cowgirl Hall of Fame. She’s toured and worked in various configurations over the years, and in 2006 began working regularly with a band she calls “The Right Hands.” Lewis’ latest recording, Skippin’ and Flyin’, an acclaimed tribute to Father of Bluegrass Bill Monroe, features her pals Linda Ronstadt and Kathy Kallick (her old friend and fellow Good Ol’ Person).

I was excited to be asked to host the IBMA Awards again. With World of Bluegrass moving to Raleigh next year, this might be the last Awards Show IBMA will hold at the Ryman Auditorium, at least for a few years. It’s a tremendous honor for me to be co-hosting with my old friend, Laurie Lewis. We haven’t had the opportunity to perform or record together much over the years, but she’s a great lady and I know we are going to have a lot of fun hosting the show – Del McCoury.

Born in York, Penn., McCoury was a briefly a member of Bill Monroe’s Blue Grass Boys, working as the band’s lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist in 1963. He performed as a regional artist for some years, and in the 1980s welcomed his sons, Ronnie (mandolin) and Rob (banjo), to his ensemble. Today he is leader and patriarch of The Del McCoury Band, a quintet that includes his sons, plus fiddler Jason Carter and bassist Alan Bartram. The band has seen spectacular success in the 21st century, bringing huge new audiences to bluegrass at venues and events like Madison Square Garden, Bonnaroo, and High Sierra, and introducing bluegrass audiences to new music through appearances and recordings with artists as diverse as the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Steve Earle, and Phish. Five years ago, McCoury began hosting his own annual DelFest in Cumberland, Md.

At the 2003 IBMA Awards Show, Ricky Skaggs had the pleasure of inviting the Del McCoury Band to become a member of the Grand Ole Opry. For those who attended, it was an unforgettable moment. A 2010 recipient of a National Heritage Fellowship lifetime achievement award from the National Endowment for the Arts, McCoury was inducted into IBMA’s Bluegrass Hall of Fame in 2011.

The IBMA Awards Show will be broadcast live on Sirius XM Satellite Radio (Bluegrass Junction, Channel 14) and syndicated to more than 300 U.S. markets and 14 foreign networks, thanks to the sponsorship of Compass Records, Deering Banjos, ArtistWorks Academy of Bluegrass, BMI, the International Bluegrass Music Museum, Bluegrass Today and 650 WSM AM. Program directors and station managers may sign up to be affiliates online at www.ibma.org.

The International Bluegrass Music Awards are voted on by the professional membership of the IBMA.

Del McCoury Releases Bill Monroe Tribute Album

3 Oct, 11 by Greg McGrath

Old Memories: The Songs Of Bill Monroe.

This year marks the 100th anniversary of Bill Monroe’s birth and there has already been a number of CD tributes to the Father of Bluegrass Music and no doubt others to follow. But when listeners turn to Old Memories: The Songs Of Bill Monroe–released digitally in September with a vinyl release to follow on 25th October, what they hear won’t be the result of a carefully crafted campaign, but the result of a decision that was as spontaneous as it was inevitable, because for Del McCoury, Bill Monroe’s legacy isn’t just a matter of history, but something that’s as immediate and personal as the guitar he picks up every time he gets ready to play. McCoury served a life-changing year with Monroe’s Blue Grass Boys from 1963 to early 1964.

I had done songs of his on different albums I made through the years, but I’d never really thought about doing a whole album until the day we were flying home from the Grammy awards, and by the time we got to Nashville, I’d made a pretty good list of what I wanted to do. I didn’t want to do a lot of things that everybody had already done; I wanted to do somethings that weren’t real popular but were really good. Some were songs I’d never heard him sing, some were songs that he’d sing on a show, and some were songs that he sang on the record, but he made me learn the lead. And I wanted to do them in the same keys he did, because if you change that, you just don’t have the same sound he had on them – Del McCoury.

The result is a CD that perfectly captures the essence of Bill Monroe’s music, and does it in a way that stands head and shoulders above the crowd. For when Del McCoury lifts his voice to sing “In Despair” or “Live And Let Live,” what comes out is what he learned to sing standing next to Monroe on stage, tempered by another few decades of bluegrass tradition; when he tackles a song like “Heavy Traffic Ahead,” he remembers his brother bringing that 78 RPM record home from the store when it was first released; and when he harmonizes with son Ronnie on the Monroe-Hank Williams gem, “I’m Blue, I’m Lonesome,” family and tradition blend perfectly as he sings the master’s part while Ronnie takes over the part Del used to sing himself with Monroe.

The Songs Of Bill Monroe is not just the tribute to Bill Monroe that it’s intended to be, but a tribute, too, to the newest member of the Bluegrass Hall of Fame—Del McCoury.

McCoury and Shuffler to be Inducted Into Hall of Fame

4 Sep, 11 by Greg McGrath

News From IBMA.

Bluegrass ambassador and the leader of one of the most awarded bands in bluegrass, Del McCoury and pioneering bass player and guitar stylist George Shuffler will be the next inductees into the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame.

In the department of chill-bump raising, screaming high tenor bluegrass singers, there’s no one dearer to the hearts of bluegrass fans than Del McCoury. With more than 50 years of performing under his belt, nine IBMA Entertainer of the Year awards, a Grammy in 2006 and the prestigious National Heritage Award in 2010, McCoury and his band are universally regarded among the greatest ambassadors for the genre.

McCoury first came to national attention as the lead singer and driving rhythm guitarist with Bill Monroe’s Blue Grass Boys during 1963 and 1964, after playing banjo in regional bands in the Baltimore/Washington area for several years. Forming Del McCoury & The Dixie Pals band around 1967, he played the festival circuit, largely in the Northeast. He moved from Pennsylvania to Nashville in 1992, changing the name of his group to The Del McCoury Band, which included sons Ronnie on mandolin and Rob on banjo. McCoury gained national recognition for his hard-edged, high energy style of bluegrass, winning numerous honors. He became a member of the Grand Ole Opry in 2003.

Del’s infectious smile and easy-going but always professional manner are as genuine as his musical integrity, which has built bridges for bluegrass to other styles of music and musicians. His collaborations on recordings; at diverse tour dates; and on national broadcast outlets in genres as diverse as jazz, pop, country and the jam band scene are important catalysts for bringing bluegrass to new audiences.

George Shuffler influences in bluegrass are as an innovative bass player, guitar stylist and featured vocalist and humorist, primarily as a sideman in some of the most important bands in the music’s history.

Shuffler grew up in a large family near Valdese, North Carolina, learning his first guitar chords at age 10. Young George listened to many of the groups performing live on various 50,000-watt radio stations around the country, and Merle Travis was his idol. In the early 1940s Shuffler was working in a local string band with a regular $20-a-week job at a bakery. Filling in as bass player with Charlie & Danny Bailey and the Happy Valley Boys at a theatre and several other venues in Granite Falls, N.C., Shuffler accepted a $60 a week job with the Baileys and left with them for Nashville and The Grand Ole Opry, his first professional job.

After the Baileys quit the business, Shuffler worked with a comedy team for a while, returned to Valdese and got married and worked with several bands playing guitar and singing. Carter Stanley called Shuffler on 28th December, 1950 and said he and Ralph were leaving Bristol to move to WVLK in Versailles, Kentucky, and he asked Shuffler to join the Stanley Brothers to play bass—an offer George accepted. Following WVLK, Shuffler worked with The Stanley Brothers in numerous markets. His “walking style” of bass playing, introduced on the Stanley Brothers’ 1953 Mercury Recordings, would imprint itself on a number of younger players, including Hall of Fame member Tom Gray. Primarily a bass player, Shuffler was in and out of the Stanley group many times until the early 1960s, when it got down to just Carter, Ralph and George.

Inspired by Bill Napier, Shuffler perfected his signature style of cross-picking that would be widely emulated. Following Carter Stanley’s death December 1, 1966, Shuffler stayed on with Ralph for several months. He then worked with Don Reno and Bill Harrell until 1969, recording several albums with them on bass. For a number of years he also led The Shuffler Family gospel group, which recorded more than a half dozen albums.

The Hall of Fame inductions will be one of the high points of the International Bluegrass Music Awards, which will take place 29th September, 2011 at the historic Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tenn. If your heading over to Nashville in September, tickets may be purchased online at www.worldofbluegrass.org.

The Hall of Fame is housed in the International Bluegrass Music Museum in Owensboro, Kentucky.

Members of the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame:

Bill Monroe (1991)
Earl Scruggs (1991)
Lester Flatt (1991)
The Stanley Brothers (1992)
Don Reno & Arthur Lee (Red) Smiley (1992)
Mac Wiseman (1993)
Jim & Jesse McReynolds (1993)
Bobby & Sonny Osborne (1994)
Jimmy Martin (1995)
Peter V. Kuykendall (1996)
The Country Gentlemen (1996)
Josh Graves (1997)
Chubby Wise (1998)

Carlton Haney (1998)
Kenny Baker (1999)
Lance LeRoy (2000)
Doc Watson (2000)
The Carter Family (2001)
The Lilly Brothers & Don Stover (2002)
David Freeman (2002)
J.D. Crowe (2003)
Curly Seckler (2004)
Bill Vernon (2004)
Red Allen (2005)
Benny Martin (2005)

The Lewis Family (2006)
Syd Nathan (2006)
Howard Watts “Cedric Rainwater” (2007)
Carl Story (2007)
Charles K. Wolfe (2008)
Bill Clifton (2008)
The Dillards (2009)
The Lonesome Pine Fiddlers (2009)
John Hartford (2010)
Louise Scruggs (2010)
Del McCoury (2011)
George Shuffler (2011)

Jazz Meets Bluegrass

27 Jul, 11 by Greg McGrath

Television viewers in the USA got the chance to witness the collaboration of two of America’s music greats on The Late Show with David Letterman this week. The video below showcases the merging of bluegrass greats the Del McCoury Band and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band of New Orleans performing I’ll Fly Away.

Their appearance on Letterman was to promote the project American Legacies album on April 12th via McCoury Music and Preservation Hall Recordings. Inspired by the success of the Del McCoury’s participation on 2010’s Preservation a PHJB project made with multiple artists to benefit New Orleans’ unique Preservation Hall venue and its Music Outreach Program, the set offers a dozen songs filled with deep respect and joyful virtuosity.

Prior to the release of the album, the two groups announced a joint tour that will feature them performing on their own and together in a groundbreaking concert experience.

The Evolution of Bluegrass: From McCoury to Krauss

9 May, 11 by Greg McGrath

Here’s another great article on bluegrass music today from Headstash, a Washington DC website.

Hearing the name Jerry Garcia doesn’t just evoke thoughts of The Grateful Dead. His iconic persona represents the jam band genre, the 1960s counterculture movement and a certain point in the history of the country. The same could be said for John Coltrane and jazz, Elvis Presley for rock n’ roll and even Mozart and classical. But Bill Monroe is no such household name despite being on the same level as many of these founding fathers.

Read the full story on Heastash.com

Another Award for Del McCoury

21 Mar, 10 by Greg McGrath

Del McCoury – Artist of the Year

Del McCoury has been named Artist of the Year in his home state of Pennsylvania. The Award will be presented on 8th April in his hometown of York, Pennsylvania.

Now in its 29th year, the annual governor’s award is a tradition honoring Pennsylvania artists, arts organizations and patrons who have made significant contributions to the advancement of the arts.

Del McCoury is now in his 50th year as an entertainer. His music has defined authenticity for hard-core bluegrass fans to whom he has taken his brand of bluegrass music across the USA and internationally.

The Del McCoury Band comprises his sons, Ronnie McCoury and Rob McCoury with Alan Bartram and Jason Carter.

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