#rob mccoury

[krispyweiss]

Album Review: The Del McCoury Band - Songs of Love and Life

The Del McCoury Band cast a wide net with Songs of Love and Life, playing a few rock ‘n’ roll numbers in the bluegrass style and bringing Molly Tuttle along for the ride.

The namesake Band leader holds together the LP’s musical and thematic shifts together with his high tenor and signature five-note acoustic guitar riff that accentuates most every song as mandolinist Ronnie McCoury, banjoist Rob McCoury, fiddler Jason Carter and bassist Alan Bartram do the soloing and most of the rhythm work.

Of the 13 tracks, DMB’s cover of Roy Orbison’s “Only the Lonely” is the only real dud, with an uncredited piano player making his or her lone contribution and turning track No. 7 into something that should’ve been a non-album B-side.

Everything else is befitting one of bluegrass’ last remaining founders as the 85-year-old McCoury sings impossibly high notes on Elvis Presley’s “If You Talk in Your Sleep” and sounds perfectly comfortable alongside Tuttle on “She’s Heavenly.”

McCoury nods to his generation - but not his age - with “Jimmie Rodgers Rode a Train,” dig that yodel, and “Working for the WPA” and goes back even further on “Legend of the Lost Confederate Gold.”

“Red Cajun Girl,” set to a double-time waltz, may be the best of the bunch as the narrator sings of taking the fall for his lover who killed a man over his unwelcome advances. But virtually every track is a winner as McCoury and his band offer up old-time music in a contemporary setting without ceding authenticity or integrity in the process.

Grade card: The Del McCoury Band - Songs of Love and Life - A-

7/31/24

[ourshadowstallerthanoursoul]

An audience with... John Paul Jones

(from Uncut, April 2010 - link)

You’re stuck on a deserted island, you have one instrument you can bring. It is: a) piano, b) bass or c) mandolin? (Gary Attersley, Ontario, Canada)

Oh… that’s horrible! I’ll probably get Hugh Manson – the guy who builds all my bass guitars – to build me some monstrous instrument that encapsulated all three! Hugh and his brother Andy Manson once actually designed me a triple-necked guitar with 12-string guitar, six-string guitar and mandolin on it! Andy also designed a triple-necked mandolin. But I guess if it really came down to it on a desert island, it would have to be the piano, because you can do so much on it. You’re a whole band. The bass is not much fun on your own.

John, it’s so good to see you so engaged with today. Any advice for old farts who can’t move on? (Andrew Loog Oldham)

Who are you calling an old fart? I dunno, Andy, you tell me! Ha ha. He’s done a good job of staying up to date. Andrew, of course, gave me the name John Paul Jones. I was John Baldwin, until Andrew saw a poster for the French film version of John Paul Jones. I thought it ’d look great in CinemaScope, as I wanted to do music for films. I imagined it saying “Music By John Paul Jones”, over the whole screen. I never realised then that he was the Horatio Nelson of America!

I know that you’ve been getting heavily into bluegrass lately – who are some of your favourite bluegrass artists of all time? (Ryan Godek, Wilmington, Delaware)

Apart from Bill Monroe, you mean? Oh, there’s loads. I’m friends with the Del McCoury band, I love that style of classic bluegrass. I love Sam Bush’s Newgrass stuff. And of course there’s Nickel Creek, Chris Feely, Mike Marshall. I love it all, really. One thing I like about bluegrass is that you don’t require amplifiers, drums and trucks. You can pull an instrument out of a box and get on with some instant music making. I carry a mandolin around wherever I go. I also like the fact bluegrass musicians play more than one instrument. There’s a tradition of them swapping instruments. In bluegrass bands I swap between double bass, fiddle and banjo.

One Butthole Surfers anecdote, please? (Dave Grohl)

Ha! I was brought in to produce the Butthole Surfers’ 1993 album, Independent Worm Saloon. I guess it was to give it a heavy rock vibe, but it didn’t work like that. They were actually incredibly hard-working in the studio, but I do recall running up a phenomenal bar-bill at the San Rafael studio. And then there was Gibby [Haynes, Butthole Surfers’ frontman] and his… eccentric studio behaviour. Gibby did one vocal take shouting into his guitar. He held it out in front of his face and screamed at it. Ha! He was trying to find out if it picked up through the pick-ups, which it kind of did. And that was pretty good.

How’s the violin coming along? (Sean, Berkshire)

I started about three years ago. With the guitar, or the piano, you can sound OK quite quickly. With the violin, it takes much longer. Once you get past the first six months of scraping, of muttering to yourself, “What is this fucking horrible noise on my shoulder?” you get the odd musical bit, and you think, ‘Oh, this is starting to get good.’ And you continue with it for a while. I’m getting into country fiddle playing, Celtic folk songs, a bit of swing. Basic stuff, but very satisfying.

Why not record a second ‘Automatic For The People’ with REM? (Franz Greul, Austria)

They haven’t asked me! But doing the string arrangements for that album was a great experience, actually. They sent me the demos of their songs, and we went into a studio in Atlanta, with members of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. They were great songs, something you can really get your teeth into as an arranger. And I’ve been good friends with them ever since.

How did you first meet Josh Homme? And is he still a notorious party monster? (Rob Hirst, Kippax, Leeds)

Well, I think we’ve all calmed down rather a lot. Dave introduced me to Josh at his 40th birthday party. It was a ridiculous themed place where they have jousting with knights. As Dave said, it was like somewhere you’d have your 14th birthday party. Or maybe even your 4th. Anyway, Dave sat Josh and I together for a blind date. Which was reasonably embarrassing for both of us, surrounded by people going “prithee this” and challenging each other to duels. But we survived the trauma and went into the studio the next day, and just started jamming. And I knew immediately it was going to be something special.

If Them Crooked Vultures had Spice Girls-like nicknames what would they be? (Paul Jones, Liverpool)

Dave would be Smiley Vulture. He can’t stop grinning. Josh would be Slinky Vulture. He’s a slinky kinda guy. And I’d be Speedy, I guess. Or Jumpy. So there you go. Smiley, Slinky and Speedy. Or does that sound more like the dwarfs?

I remember you being a pretty funky bass genius back in the day! What memories do you have of those sessions? (Donovan)

The sessions with Don and Mickie Most were great, because we were given a free hand. I usually got leeway, because I was the sort of Motown/Stax specialist, so producers in the mid ’60s would get me in for cover versions of American records, and none of them could write bass parts convincingly enough, so I was London’s answer to James Jamerson, I guess! And I was certainly encouraged to get kinda… funky when I worked with Donovan.

How did it feel to see Jimmy Page and Robert Plant venture off in their own project in the ‘90s without mentioning a word of it to you? (Danny Luscombe, Hull)

Oh yeah, I was pissed off about it. The surprise was in not being told. It’s ancient history now, but it was a bit annoying to find out about it while reading the papers. It came just after Robert and I had been discussing the idea of doing an Unplugged project. Then I’m on tour in Germany with Diamanda Galás, I turn on the TV and see Robert and Jimmy doing it, with someone else playing all my parts! I was pissed off at the time. You would be, woudn’t you? But… it’s all in the past, isn’t it?

Did you listen to much work by Josh Homme or Dave Grohl before you were contacted in relation to joining Them Crooked Vultures, and if so, how did you honestly rate it? (Ralph Ryan, Lisronagh, County Tipperary)

I did like the Foo Fighters and Queens Of The Stone Age, before I’d met either of them. There’s a tendency for people – especially musicians from my generation – to say that there has been this terrible decline in musicianship, that today’s bands haven’t got the chops, blah blah blah. But that’s not true at all. There’s always some people for whom technique on an instrument isn’t necessary. They can get their ideas across without being able to have the chops. But Josh really does have the chops, he just doesn’t feel the need to flash them about all the time. In fact, there were a few riffs he gave me that I had to simplify, because they were bloody difficult to play. I really had to work at it, where he could just flick it off. He is an astonishing musician.

Were you serious when you told Peter Grant that you wanted to jack it in to become choirmaster at Winchester Cathedral? (Brian Fisher, Manchester)

Ha! That was a tongue-in-cheek joke, although I was serious about leaving Led Zeppelin in 1973 unless things changed. But Peter did sort things out pretty quickly. What kind of choirmaster would I have made? A bloody good one! Listen, any way that they’ll pay you for making music is just the best situation in the world. I’d do it for nothing. I don’t care what music it is. I just love it all. The rubbing of notes together. I love it all. I would be very passionate about whatever I decided to do.

What was the worst session you ever did as a jobbing session player? (Adam Burns, Castleford, West Yorkshire)

I generally have fun memories of that time. I’d criss-cross London playing two or three sessions a day, going between Trident and Olympic and Abbey Road and Philips in Marble Arch, you know. You’d be backing Shirley Bassey, Cat Stevens, Lulu, whoever was paying you. The worst experience was a Muzak session. With Muzak sessions, the music was deliberately boring. I distinctly remember one session where I embellished the bass part a little bit, just so that it wasn’t so boring for me to play. They said, “No, you can’t do that. Any interest in the music will distract people’s attention from when they’re meant to be eating.” Or standing in a fucking lift. For fuck’s sake! So I was like, “OK, thanks, bye!”

[banjoforpleasure]

Rob McCoury - Banjo Riff [Live at WAMU's Bluegrass Country]

[gratefulfrog]

[kingofthewilderwest]

ask meme: bluegrass fandom go on do it i dare you

nghnghnfhghfnghgnfijgjfdndhgnf you had to ghfnfgh gnfhgnfhdnhghgae;rojg okay okay okay I guess we're doing this

Context / info given for all poor readers wondering who the flip flap dippity dap I'm talking about.

Send me a fandom and I’ll tell you my

blorbo (favorite character, character I think about the most) From Flatt & Scruggs: Earl Eugene Scruggs, his thick black eyelashes, and his dorky gap-toothed grin. Earl Scruggs and his soulful, earthy, expertest banjo picking that makes me react ferally (in ways no other banjo picker can do for me... look, he's the Father of Bluegrass Banjo!!! We're all playing after Earl to an extent!). Earl Scruggs, the inspiration for why I have a banjo sitting next to me rn. That Earl.

I know way too much information about his life, don't test me, it's bad, it's endless Scruggs lore, I won't shut up for five months.

scrunkly (my “baby”, character that gives me cuteness aggression, character that is So Shaped) From the Del McCoury Band: Delano Floyd McCoury, who has the happiest smile-laugh ever. Look at his squint! He's so squinty! Every time I see a photo, I smile back until my cheeks hurt. Del is the human personification of a hug. Unlike other folks I've listed, Del's alive and touring (at the young age of 83). He's a vital living link to traditional bluegrass and earlier years of the genre.

Another scrunkly is Burkett Howard Graves, better known as Uncle Josh from Flatt & Scruggs, *THE* dobro player who developed the technique and inserted the instrument first in bluegrass, a fun comedian, and not sore on the eyes. ;)

Oh right, and literal tiny child Marty Stuart in Lester Flatt’s band is a GIFT.

scrimblo bimblo (underrated/underappreciated fave) From Flatt & Scruggs: Dorris Paul Warren! There were tons of extraordinary early bluegrass fiddlers. But Paul does not get enough recognition and respect for being one of *THE* most-heard bluegrass fiddlers, member of the highest profile group (Flatt & Scruggs) for decades. Our relative lack of public biographical information is a travesty. A TRAVESTY I SAY!!!!

Also on this list: English Tullock Jr. (Cousin Jake) from Flatt & Scruggs, because badass bassists deserve more love; Rob McCoury, the banjo picker from the Del McCoury Band; and Wilma Lee Cooper, who has a BIG VOICE and dominated vocals in the early years when (what we now call) bluegrass was like 99.5% male.

glup shitto (obscure fave, character that can appear in the background for 0.2 seconds and I won’t shut up about it for a week) Gary Scruggs, eldest son of Earl Scruggs. He did not get the public love and attention that Earl's middle son, Randy, got. I am president of the Give Gary Appreciation Committee. Look, if you can't appreciate his sexy pose and sword, we can't be friends.

poor little meow meow (“problematic” / unpopular / controversial / otherwise pathetic fave) Jimmy Martin falls here, as does Carter Stanley of the Stanley Brothers. Both were well-recognized for lead singing, but made interesting life choices. Jimmy Martin was a CHARACTER, the type of obnoxious butthead you'd laugh at from a distance but hate irl. Carter unfortunately had drinking problems, but his social personality was endearing. I love his loyalty to baby brother and music partner Ralph through everything. Like, it's movie-worthy loyalty. THEY MADE A PLAY ABOUT HIM!!!

If we go out of bluegrass and mention traditional country, gotta shout "Hank Williams".

horse plinko (character I would torment for fun, for whatever reason) Does this count? Regarding Father of Bluegrass Bill Monroe, whom others revere to a nearly religious level? I like to call him Daddy Boi Billiam. And other things that'd make him roll in his grave. Look, he's the reason we're all here, his music composition skills are top notch, and his decades and decades of ever-improving work is unparalleled...... but he was human, and I like making glib comments to keep him off the collective pedestal.

Saying obnoxious, cheeky things would be enough to torment this stoic man. So it counts. I want to make him squirm.

eeby deeby (character I would send to superhell) I... have conflicting thoughts about Louise Scruggs, manager of Flatt & Scruggs. On one hand, I respect her unparalleled business acumen that led the band to international fame. She's historic as the first woman in her field, too, for country music. But I also... she... there's... stories... of business decisions she made that I find cold. I also put her as largely responsible for why Flatt & Scruggs's music output diminished in quality during the 1960s and why Flatt & Scruggs broke up. So I guess her? Doesn't feel nice for me to say, though.

Oh. Oh wait. John Duffey from the Country Gentlemen / The Seldom Scene pings me wrong. I guess him. Multiple famous bluegrass blokes made comment about his pranks feeling "mean," him acting too arrogantly for his skill level, etc. Don't get me wrong, he was a remarkable tenor vocalist. But yeah. From what little I know of him.

[garudabluffs]

Del McCoury and His Dixie Pals - I've Endured

Del McCoury and His Dixie Pals - Berkshire Mountain Bluegrass Fest

? Possibly July 1985, not sure.

“Ronnie McCoury on mandolin, Jon Glik on fiddle, Mike Garris on bass and I think that's Paul Silvius on banjo.  One of Del's best bands...”

at the Pemi Valley Bluegrass Festival held at the Benton Sugar Shack Campground near Thornton, NH on August 5, 2017. The Band: Del McCoury - Guitar, Vocal Ron McCoury - Mandolin, Harmony Jason Carter - Fiddle, Harmony Rob McCoury - Banjo Alan Bartram - Bass

[kwbaker]

Del McCoury by K Baker Via Flickr: www.delmccouryband.com/ 

 Born in York County, PA seventy years ago, Del McCoury would once have seemed an unlikely candidate for legendary status. Bitten hard by the bluegrass bug when he heard Earl Scruggs’ banjo in the early 50s-“everybody else was crazy about Elvis, but I loved Earl,” he says with a chuckle.

McCoury became a banjo picker himself, working in the rough but lively Baltimore and D.C. bar scene into the early 1960s. He got his first taste of the limelight when he joined Bill Monroe’s Blue Grass Boys in early 1963; the Father of Bluegrass moved McCoury from the banjo to guitar, made him his lead singer, and gave him a lifetime’s worth of bluegrass tutelage direct from the source in the course of little more than a year. But rather than parlay his gig with the master into a full-time career of his own, he returned to Pennsylvania in the mid-60s to provide steady support for his new and growing family. 

 Within a few years, McCoury had settled into work in the logging industry-and formed his own band, the Dixie Pals. For the next decade and a half, he piloted the group through a part-time career built mostly around weekend appearances at bluegrass festivals and recordings for labels ranging from the short-lived and obscure to roots music institutions like Arhoolie and Rounder Records. And while there were the inevitable personnel changes and struggles to contend with, McCoury was also building a songbook filled with classics remade in his own image and a growing number of originals-songs like “High On A Mountain,” “Are You Teasing Me,” “Dark Hollow,” “Bluest Man In Town,” “Rain And Snow,” “Good Man Like Me, “Rain Please Go Away” and more-that would become an important part of his legacy in years to come.

The first big sign of change came in 1981, when McCoury’s 14 year old son, Ronnie, joined the Dixie Pals as their mandolin player. Banjo playing younger brother Rob came on board five years later, and by the end of the decade, the three McCourys were ready to make a move. “We came to Nashville in 1992,” Ron recalls, “and it was dad’s idea. He’d been watching bluegrass on TNN-Bill Monroe, the Osborne Brothers, Jim & Jesse-and thought that it was the place to be, that we’d have a new outlet there, where we could get some more attention. And without a doubt, moving to Nashville and just going for it turned out to be really big.”

If anything, the younger McCoury’s understating the case. Armed with a new Rounder Records association-and a newly named Del McCoury Band that soon included not only his sons but a complete cast of youngsters-Del McCoury’s career soared. Del himself got the ball rolling early in the decade with three consecutive Male Vocalist of the Year awards from the prestigious International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA), and in 1994 the quintet began an astonishing streak of top Entertainer of the Year honors that would net them 9 trophies in an 11 year stretch-along with ongoing honors for Ronnie (8 straight Mandolin Player of the Year awards), fiddler Jason Carter (3 Fiddle Player of the Year trophies), and a wide array of projects featuring Del and the ensemble.

But though the 90s propelled the Del McCoury Band to the top of the bluegrass world, they also gave birth to a more startling phenomenon: the emergence of the group onto the larger musical scene as a unique torchbearer for the entire sweep of bluegrass and its history. For it turned out that the unmistakable authenticity of McCoury’s music-along with his good-natured willingness to keep alert for new sounds and new opportunities-had bred fans in some unlikely places.

That bluegrass-bred stars like Gill and Alison Krauss (who first met Del at a bluegrass festival when she filled in for a missing fiddler of his) would sing his praises wasn’t surprising, but who would have expected country-rock icons like Steve Earle or jam bands like the supremely popular Phish to have joined in the chorus? “Jon Fishman, the drummer for Phish, told me that they did an article on him for a drum magazine,” Del says. “They asked him what were some of his early influences, and he told them that one of them was Don’t Stop the Music, a record I put out back at the beginning of the 90s.”

By the second half of the 90s, the acclaim-and Del’s open-mindedness-put McCourys in onstage jams with Phish and on the road and in the studio with Earle, bringing the Del McCoury Band’s fierce musicianship and its leader’s instantaneous, easygoing connection with listeners to new arenas. The group appeared on prime time television and began an ongoing series of visits to popular late night TV talk shows, toured rock clubs and college campuses, and found itself welcome at country and even jazz-oriented music festivals and venues.

Ronnie McCoury tells a story from a recent appearance that underlines just how broad an appeal the Band’s music has these days. “You know, we’ve really been getting outside of the bluegrass box,” he says with a laugh. “I mean, dad’s voice is what you’d call traditional, but he’s open-minded, too. And so it seems like in the last few years, especially, he’s become more than bluegrass-he’s being recognized as just a great singer, period. So that’s really been bridging the gap between bluegrass and other kinds of music and musicians. Last year we played at the Austin City Limits festival, and the limo driver who picked us up said he’d just taken [platinum-selling international pop star] Bjork out to the festival-and she was telling him that she wanted to see us. It’s just unbelievable.”

Yet even as they reach out to almost unimaginable audiences, Del’s music retains its signature characteristics. “What I most admire about someone like Del,” says Gill, “is that he’s one of the last patriarchs that really played the music in its authentic way. And even though he’s willing to bend a little bit, to be out there playing at jam band festivals and things like that, it doesn’t sound like what the new people do with bluegrass. He’s done a great job of bringing new songs into the fold, but when he sings them they sound like 1959 or 1962 again. It still has the element of his voice, and the authenticity of it never goes away, never changes. And even after doing it for fifty years, he’s at the top of everybody’s list of what’s going on today with bluegrass.”

The fifth decade of that half-century of music making has been filled with new and ongoing triumphs. The Del McCoury Band has shown unprecedented stability, with but a single change in membership in fifteen years; their namesake earned membership in the cast of the legendary Grand Ole Opry in 2003, and the Band earned their first Best Bluegrass Album Grammy award two years later; they traveled with the groundbreaking post-O Brother “Down From The Mountain” tour, performed and recorded (on his Grammy-winning These Days) with Gill and with country star Dierks Bentley; they’ve made multiple appearances at the spectacular Bonnaroo Music Festival (and will appear there again in 2009) and launched an impressively popular annual New Year’s Eve show at the Ryman Auditorium, where Del first appeared on the Opry with Bill Monroe some 46 years ago. Perhaps most importantly, McCoury took an almost unprecedented step in 2003 when he took control of his own music by creating the McCoury Music label, home to that Grammy-winning album along with a select set of releases by the Del McCoury Band, country icon Merle Haggard and more.

“Del epitomizes the bluegrass musician from the previous era, and also this one,” says acclaimed resonator guitarist Jerry Douglas, a member of Alison Krauss + Union Station and producer of several of McCoury’s 90s albums. “You can finally make a living playing bluegrass, and a large part of it is because of Del McCoury; he became like the new Bill Monroe. For him to have come along this far is testament to his will to stick it out-but at the same time, when he saw that he was going to be able to do it, he started really, really enjoying it, and that’s when he started making the best music of his career.”

[krispyweiss]

Album Review: Jason Carter - Lowdown Hoedown

Twenty-five years after On the Move, Jason Carter is back with Lowdown Hoedown.

The Del McCoury Band and Travelin’ McCourys fiddler and in-demand session man called in a bunch of friends and favors to make the LP, which is not a fiddle record.

Carter does play, of course, but it’s his sonorous baritone that carries bluegrass covers of Bruce Hornsby’s “King of the Hill,” John Hartford’s “The Six O’Clock Train and a Girl with Green Eyes,” the Eagles’ “Midnight Flyer,” the Grateful Dead’s “Bird Song” and nine additional tracks.

The McCoury family all play and sing along, as do friends including Sam Bush, Jerry Douglas, Billy Strings, Marty Stuart, Bronwyn Keith-Hynes, Vince Gill, Tim O’Brien, Aoife O’Donovan and Sarah Jarosz among others.

Such large collaborations often become too busy and wind up unfocused on wax. Carter is too adept to let that happen and Lowdown Hoedown makes the case for another solo record before the next 25 years slip away.

Grade card: Jason Carter - Lowdown Hoedown - B

1-5-23

[wmucradio]

Q&A With Billy Strings

We talked to bluegrass wonderkid Billy Strings about his music background, Eddie Vedder, the new album, and Delfest. His newest album Turmoil and Tinfoil is out now!

How old were you when you first picked up a guitar?

I was probably 3 years old, really

Did you know right away it was the instrument for you even though you were only 3 years old?

Well my dad played, you know, and when I’m young like that I just looked up to my dad. He’s an awesome guitar player and singer and so, you know, I just wanted to be just like him. He was my hero. So that’s how I got my start, it was really natural “I’m gonna play guitar like my dad.” That’s how it happened.

Do you have a favorite guitar that you play? Did your dad show you some cool guitars when you were younger?

Yeah, he’s got this Martin guitar and that was always my favorite. Whenever I got a chance to play dad’s Martin, you know, it was a big deal. And so my grandpa bought that guitar for him and it’s a really special guitar. It’s been in our family for a long time and I think it will be forever, hopefully.

Did you grow up listening to bluegrass music?

Absolutely. My dad turned me on to Doc Watson and Bill Monroe and Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs and Ralph Stanley and Carter Stanley from The Stanley Brothers, and I listened to a lot of Larry Sparks growing up, Jimmy Martin, stuff like that. So I started with bluegrass and eventually, when I was in middle school, I graduated to an electric guitar and I really wanted to play music with people that were my age, you know. I was always playing with my dad and all his older friends and I was like they’re like 3x my age. So when I was in middle school, I finally decided “Man I wanna play some music with some people that are like in the same grade as me or whatever.” And so I joined a metal band and played in that for a while and I played in some other like Rock n Roll outfits and stuff but came back to bluegrass full circle.

You’ve had the opportunity to play alongside a lot of great Bluegrass musicians. Is there anyone you haven’t played that you would REALLY wanna play with in the bluegrass world?

That’s a great question. Yeah, I don’t know. There’s so many great players. I guess I would like to meet Ricky Skaggs. I never got to meet him yet and also I would love to meet Tony Rice. He doesn’t play anymore but I would just love to shake his hand and sit there and talk to him for a little while.

Is there anyone outside of the bluegrass world that you would wanna play with?

Eddie Vedder. I wanna meet him so bad. Yeah I’m a big Pearl Jam fan, but I just love Eddie. His vocals, his writing, his whole personality, what he stands for. He is just a beautiful person, you know? Yeah, I think if I could maybe meet anybody right now, it might be Eddie Vedder. He’s so cool. He’s been busking on the streets of Chicago. Eddie Vedder is just playing a drum-kit on the sidewalk just like hanging out, busking on the streets. It’s so cool.

So, you played Delfest last year. What are your thoughts on Delfest? What is Delfest like from an artist’s perspective?

It’s definitely my very favorite festival that I’ve ever been to. And there’s a lot of different reasons that go into that: the lay of the land, what other bands are there, and everything like that, but honestly it’s how they treat us. It’s like Delfest really takes care of their artists. They make sure we can make it to the stage, they have helpers and stuff, and it’s really well organized. They have the best bands: Tedeschi Trucks Band, Gov’t Mule, David Grisman, all the bluegrass bands of course. But like you show up there and you have an artist liaison. That person is there to take care of you all weekend. And there’s a couple of festivals that do that, but man, I think Delfest has all the kinks worked out as far as just making sure everybody’s taken care of including the volunteers and the attendees.

I’ve always wanted to know, what is the McCoury family like? Are they as cool and awesome as they are on stage?

That is who they are. They are the royal family of bluegrass. They’re just the kindest people I’ve ever met. It’s so genuine. Del is smiling just like that – in the green room, on-stage, at home, when he’s putting his pants on, you know, he is just so genuinely kind. And so are his boys and Jean and I really love Jean and she kinda likes me too – she says I remind her of her grandson. So I’ve developed a relationship with Del and Jean and also Ronnie and Rob and the rest of the McCoury’s, you know, Jason Carter McCoury. I don’t even know what else to say, you know, they’re the real deal. From a couple years, meeting Del and meeting the McCoury’s and going on tour with them, sometimes when I pull into a gig and there’s a weird situation going on, say somebody from the venue is like being rude or something, I actually think

“What Would Del McCoury Do?”

because he’s so kind that it doesn’t matter if the situation was so hairy, he would just still be cool about it, as a cucumber. And that’s a good way to be out here. You know, stuff happens. Sometimes you get stuck in traffic, sometimes load in gets twisted around or sometimes the promoter doesn’t remember this or that and you just gotta roll with the punches and just be there to jam. Del is a huge inspiration to all of us, but especially for someone like me who’s like trying to do this music thing. And to see him up there at that age, not only up there, but I mean killin’ it, it’s super inspirational. This year at Delfest when I showed up, I showed up just in time to see the Del McCoury Band on stage and I ran down there and he just had tears in my eyes, you know tears of joy, and I started crying a little bit thinking about him and how many years he’s been doing this and how inspirational it is and am I even gonna be alive at that age? He’s just a huge inspiration. They’re really the nicest people I know.

Moving on to your new album, is there a specific track you’re excited for people to hear off of it?

I think the title track, you know, which we’ve played a few times live, so people have already it. The title track Turmoil and Tinfoil is really personal for me and kinda hard to put into words. It’s sort of hard to describe what it’s really about. It’s sort of just about missing someone who’s standing right in front of you. If you’ve ever had a friend who was addicted to drugs or alcohol or anything and you just see them slipping, and you just miss their old self. It’s like “I miss you, but you’re standing right there.” And so it’s really about somebody who’s very close to me and I can’t really speak on that. It’s a really personal song for me. And yeah, everything. I’m also very excited for people to hear the guitar track that I played with Brian Sutton cause I think it’s probably the tastiest guitar track I’ve ever been a part of. It’s called Salty Sheets, it’s a traditional medley. It’s the only tune that I didn’t write on the album. Brian Sutton is a huge inspiration as well and he’s always been one of my heroes and recently we’ve sort of become friends, you know. I decided to call him and see if he wanted to come pick a tune on the album and he said “Hell yeah,” and he just showed up.

Is there anything else you’d like to add?

Just to mention that if there’s a band out there that’s playing more gigs than us, I’d be surprised, I’d like to see it. We are playing 200+ gigs a year. We’re constantly out. Check out our website and our schedule because we’re probably coming to a town near you and that’s what we’re doing. You know, we made an album and all that, but we’re a live music band – you gotta come see the show.

Written by WMUC Music Director and A to Z DJ Maddie Metcalfe

[whileiamdying]

Aug. 1, 2018 | Bob Boilen -- There is a moment, near the top of this Tiny Desk concert — when three voices gather 'round a single microphone to deliver the chorus of "That Ol' Train" — that is so pure and beautiful it made my eyes well up with tears when we filmed it. Not since bluegrass legend Ralph Stanley played the Tiny Desk in 2009 have I felt vocals resonate so deeply. Del McCoury is another bluegrass legend, singing, playing guitar and writing songs for the past 60 years, including his days with the "father of bluegrass," Mr. Bill Monroe. The Del McCoury Band itself is 50 years strong, and these days includes Del's sons Robbie on banjo and Ronnie on mandolin and vocals. All are astonishing players, here joined by the five-time award-winning fiddling of Jason Carter and this year's International Bluegrass Music Association bass player of the year Alan Bartram. For their visit to the Tiny Desk, the group brought along some traveling songs. The first (of two) train tunes, "That Ol' Train," comes from their new album Del McCoury Still Sings Bluegrass, while their closing gospel tale "All Aboard" is a staple from 2001's Del and the Boys. The other (a motorcycle song), "1952 Vincent Black Lightning," was written by another master of his craft, British folk icon Richard Thompson, and has been a part of Del's repertoire for a while now. It shows not only the deep connection that bluegrass has to British folk music, but also Del McCoury's willingness to keep his sound fresh all these years on. These are story songs; Del is, of course, quite the storyteller, taking his time between them to reminisce. At 79 years old, he's got a lot of them tell. Set List "That Ol' Train" "1952 Vincent Black Lightning" "All Aboard" Musicians Del McCoury (vocals, guitar), Ronnie McCoury (mandolin), Rob McCoury (banjo), Alan Bartram (bass), Jason Carter (fiddle) Credits Producers: Bob Boilen, Morgan Noelle Smith; Creative Director: Bob Boilen; Audio Engineer: Josh Rogosin; Videographers: Morgan Noelle Smith, Bronson Arcuri, Khun Minn Ohn; Production Assistants: Catherine Zhang, Téa Mottolese; Photo: Samantha Clark/NPR.

[marketprdaily]

Preview Picks: Rex Orange County, ‘The Sleeping Beauty’ and more

Preview Picks: Rex Orange County, ‘The Sleeping Beauty’ and more

1. Travelin’ McCourys

Bluegrass patriarch Del McCoury is 81 and doesn’t quite drive (literally) the tour bus like he used to, nor does he perform as much as he did. Fortunately he raised a pretty incredible family of musicians who carry on the family tradition. The Travelin’ McCourys includes his sons Ronnie on mandolin and Rob on banjo. Even without the old man, they remain one of the best…

[americanahighways]

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The first big evening of the festival was in the main festival area with two stages. They did a wonderful job of positioning the stages so that even though there was music playing at the same time you could not hear music from the other stage. The sound guys were fantastic as were the lighting technicians.

The afternoon kicked off right on time with John Moreland on one stage and The Last Bandoleros on the other. Both stages had decent crowds considering it was still early and it was pretty hot. John Moreland was amazing. I had never seen him live and I was very impressed. His songs are dark and lean towards the depressing side but his voice and guitar playing are beautiful and uplifting.

Texas native Amanda Shires took main stage next and she was incredible. I had seen her perform with husband Jason Isbell previously but had not seen her perform with her band. It was a lot of fun and she definitely raised the already hot temperature in the crowd. She was joined on stage for a couple songs about halfway through her set by Jason. He stayed in the background as this was clearly Amanda’s show. I read somewhere that Amanda Shires may be Jason Isbell’s wife, but in Texas Jason is Amanda’s husband.

I did manage to steal myself away for a few minutes to head over and catch a few minutes of the James Hunter Six band who were playing on the other stage at about the same time as Amanda. I felt like I had stepped back in time to the era of the Beatle’s and early Rolling Stones. The band is very soul and blues influenced and are a really fun band to watch and listen to. There was lots of dancing going on too.

I wandered back to the main stage via the artists and vendor section of the festival. There was everything from tie-dyed t-shirts to metal art, a very cool photo booth in a vintage streamline trailer, circus acts, hula-hoopers and giant bubbles for the kids. There was also a great big tent for kids to create all kinds of art. This is a very family-friendly event.

Back on the Original Blacks’ Barbecue main stage blue grass legend Del McCoury was playing. Del McCoury has been playing bluegrass music for 50 years and is still going strong. His band is made up of his sons Rob on banjo and Ronnie on mandolin. In addition there is Alan Bartram on upright bass, fiddle player Jason Carter and they are all led by Del himself on guitars and vocals. Del has 31 International Bluegrass Music Association awards, two Grammys, membership in the Grand Ole Opry and was inducted into the Bluegrass Hall of Fame in 2011.

Meanwhile over on the Bluebonnet Stage Robert Ellis aka the Texas Piano Man was rocking the stage. Ellis was decked out in a white tuxedo complete with tails, a white cowboy hat and cowboy boots. His piano was covered with a cow hide with a vase full of yellow roses and there was a Texas Longhorn skull on the front. This was a true Texas honky-tonk show without the honky-tonk. At one point Ellis seemed to be inhabited by the spirit of Jerry Lee Lewis, standing up and pounding away at the keys. It was a truly fun site to witness.

Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit put on an amazing and rare acoustic performance on the Black’s Barbecue Stage. The weather was perfect and the crowd was feeling great. Jason’s band includes his wife Amanda Shires, who Jason performed earlier in the day with, on fiddle. Browan Lollar –guitar, Derry deBorja – Keys and accordion, Jimbo Hart – bass, vocals, Sadler Vaden – guitar, vocals, and Chad Gamble – drums, vocals. The band opened the set with “24 Frames”. Other songs in the set included “The Life You Chose”, “Alabam Pines”, “Tupelo” and “Codeine”. He and wife Shires sang a duo on “Last of my Kind”. Before launching into “Maybe It’s Time” from the movie “A Star is Born” Jason joked “I don’t have a hit song, but I have a song that played a hit song in a movie”. They closed out the set with “If we were Vampires.”

Over on the Bluebonnet Stage North Carolina’s Mandolin Orange was playing at a smaller yet surprisingly large crowd, considering they were playing at the same time as Jason Isbell. Mandolin Orange is a husband and wife duo made up of Andrew Martin on mandolin and Emily Frantz on fiddle. They play a mix of bluegrass, gospel, pop, and traditional country. the group has toured throughout the U.S and Europe, including appearances at Austin City Limits, South by Southwest, Edmonton Folk Music Festival, Telluride Bluegrass Festival, Newport Folk Festival, Pickathon, Rooster Walk, and MerleFest. Check for photos and write-up on Thursday night, here: Show Review: Old Settler’s 32nd Annual Music Fest: Night 1 https://oldsettlersmusicfest.org/

Show Review: Old Settlers 32nd Annual Music Fest: Night 2 @oldsettler @jasonisbell @jameshuntersix @amandashires @delmccouryband @johnmorelandOK @mandolin_orange @robertellis_ #americanamusic #photosjohn The first big evening of the festival was in the main festival area with two stages. They did a wonderful job of positioning the stages so that even though there was music playing at the same time you could not hear music from the other stage.

[marleighfarlowthings-blog]

"One Kind Favor" is a song originally by Blind Lemon Jefferson (often called See That My Grave Is Kept Clean) with a rich history of iconic artists covering it, including BB King, Grateful Dead, Peter Paul and Mary, Widespread Panic, and now this group of friends including: Dre Anders (of Dre Anders and The Collective), Del McCoury, The Gibson Brothers (Eric Gibson and Leigh Gibson), members of The Travelin' McCourys (Ronnie McCoury, Rob McCoury, Alan Bartram, Cody Kilby, Jason Carter), Sierra Hull, Justin Moses, and Ethan Jodziewicz.

[jollydreamertaco-blog]

The 5 String Flamethrower Rob McCoury

The 5 String Flamethrower Rob McCoury

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