Del McCoury

Among the foremost exponents of traditional bluegrass, Del McCoury embodied the “high lonesome sound” across more than thirty years. Born Delano Floyd McCoury and raised in Bakersville, North Carolina, he relocated with his family in 1941 to Glen Rock, Pennsylvania. There he launched his career as a five-string banjo player alongside Keith Daniels & the Blue Ridge Ramblers before later joining Jack Cooke’s Virginia Mountain Boys in Baltimore. His breakthrough arrived in 1963 when Bill Monroe engaged the Virginia Mountain Boys for several engagements in New York; impressed by the young musician, Monroe promptly recruited him into the Blue Grass Boys. Soon afterward McCoury assumed lead vocals and switched to rhythm guitar. Early in 1964 he cut a lone single with Monroe, yet returned home a month later to marry.

After the wedding he and fiddler Billy Baker spent three months in California with the Golden State Boys. Back east, McCoury began performing and recording with the Shady Valley Boys until 1967, when he formed the Dixie Pals alongside Bill Emerson, Wayne Yates, and Billy Baker. For more than two decades McCoury & His Dixie Pals—whose roster shifted repeatedly—issued recordings on Rounder, Revonah, Leather, and Rebel. In 1987 the ensemble was rechristened the Del McCoury Band upon the arrival of his sons Ronnie on mandolin and Robbie on banjo, together with fiddler Tad Marks and bassist Mike Brantley.

The ensuing years proved especially fruitful, yielding several acclaimed Rounder albums. The band fused the adventurous repertoire and arrangements favored by leading progressive bluegrass acts with the high lonesome aesthetic of the tradition. Early in 1999 the group reached fresh audiences by supporting singer/songwriter Steve Earle on his traditionally oriented release The Mountain. Around the same period McCoury and his sons parted amicably from Rounder and signed with Ricky Skaggs’ Ceili label, where they recorded Family and Del and the Boys. Subsequent releases included It’s Just the Night in 2003, The Company We Keep in 2005, the gospel-focused Promised Land in 2006, and Family Circle in 2009. Old Memories: The Songs of Bill Monroe appeared on LP in 2011 and on CD in early 2012.