DEL McCOURY

Delano Floyd McCoury, a living bluegrass legend, was born in York County, Pennsylvania in 1939. He started playing bluegrass music, primarily as a banjo player, in the mid 1950s, working with bands led by Jack Cooke, Bob Baker and others throughout the southeast. In 1963 he played his first gig as banjo player with Bill Monroe’s Blue Grass Boys at a concert at New York University, where he first met David Grisman. Later that year he joined the Blue Grass Boys in Nashville switching to singing lead and playing rhythm guitar at Monroe’s suggestion.

After a year of touring with Monroe, McCoury briefly played with the Golden State Boys in California before returning to the east coast where he continued playing bluegrass. He recorded his first album for Arhoolie records, Del McCoury Sings Bluegrass, in 1968 and established the his own group, the Dixie Pals, shortly thereafter. In the 1980s Del was joined by his two sons, Ronnie (mandolin) and Rob (banjo) in forming the award winning Del McCoury Band, which continues to the present as the pre-eminent bluegrass band in the world.

Del maintained a musical friendship with David Grisman and appeared on many of his recording projects, including Early Dawg which features live tracks from their first gig together in 1966, and Bluegrass Mandolin Extravaganza, produced by Dawg and Ronnie McCoury in 1999. In 2014 they started playing duo gigs together as Del & Dawg and currently have two Acoustic Disc releases.