Initially launched a subscription service, the McCoury Music Club now allows for non-subscribers to purchase individual live shows from The Del McCoury Band without being a subscriber. Delheads can choose to subscribe and receive one show download per month, or pick the shows they want and download them á la carte.

These shows are professionally recorded and mixed and each contains at least one full live set.

Fees range from $10-$15 for each show and an annual subscription bills for $100, with 2 free months for pre-payment. Full details online.

Photographer Bill Merlavage was at the recent Del Fest. The festival persevered through much rain and mud, and so did Bill. He’s posted over 300 photos of the event on his website, and they are great photos. If you were there and want to relive it through photos, take a look. If you didn’t make it and you want a glimpse of what it was like, here you go.

Be sure to visit Merlavage Images to see all 300 photos.

The Del McCoury Band will be a featured guest on this weekend’s edition of A Prairie Home Companion, broadcast throughout the US on public radio stations and on Sirius-XM.

The show will air live on Saturday (5/30) at 6:00 p.m. (EDT) from The Fox Theater in St. Louis, MO, though many stations choose to air the program on Sunday afternoon.

Check the station listing for when the show airs in your area, or you can catch the live airing via online streaming.

Perhaps host Garrison Keiller will ask Del about the Del-uge at last weekend’s DelFest in Maryland - or maybe they will sing Wasn’t That A Mighty Storm?

UPDATE 10:20 -  The folks at Maryland Mountainside (Allegheny County Tourism Department) have posted a video on YouTube that follows Del on The Bluegrass Train from last week, just prior to the opening of DelFest. It was created by videographer Ty DeMartino.

Bluegrass Country’s Katy Daly sent along this report from The Bluegrass Train, which ran on Thursday just ahead of the big DelFest event this weekend.

“DelFest starts today but we had a good size crowd gather in Cumberland yesterday (Thursday, May 21) to ride the Bluegrass Train with Del McCoury.  The Western Maryland Scenic Railroad donated 100 tickets to Bluegrass Country to sell as a fundraiser.  Those tickets (and about 145 others) went quickly.

Del and Jean McCoury and their grandchildren joined us on the train for a 3+ hour roundtrip from Cumberland to Frostburg, MD on the train pulled by a steam engine. The rest of the Del McCoury Band were teaching at the DelFest Academy.

During a 45-minute layover in Frostburg, Vinegar Creek Constituency, who won the Delfest band competition last year, played while the audience picnic’d. Del got up and sang a couple songs with them.

On the trip back Del and Jean and all the other riders signed the Bill Monroe Stamp Petition. Weather was perfect, perfect, perfect!”

The Del McCoury Band will be a guest on today’s (5/15) edition of Lets Talk Live on Newschannel 8 in Washington, DC.

The show airs at noon with a repeat at 3:00 p.m. and the video is streamed live online.

Co-host Doug McElway is a fine banjo picker as well as a TV newser. This performance was taped in advance, and in addition to talking to Del about the upcoming DelFest in Maryland, Doug said that he got to pick one with Del and the boys.

“I kicked off Lonesome Road Blues, where Del modulates up to C to sing the verses, then back to G for the breaks. Mind you, he was singing that at 10 in the morning, after an all night drive from Nashville. My hero…..”

Del’s appearance comes in at about 45 minutes past the hour.

After the repeat this afternoon, video of the episode will be archived for several weeks at letstalklive.tv.

In March we mentioned the forthcoming release of the 50-song box-set, a career retrospective by the Del McCoury Band. This set commemorates Del McCoury’s 50 years in the bluegrass music business with a 5 CD set aptly titled Celebrating 50 Years Of Del McCoury.

Now McCoury Music has announced some special bonuses only available by ordering through the McCoury Music website.

Firstly, all box sets will be autographed and that will come with a Best of Del McCoury Gospel CD that you can’t get anywhere else. You can also upgrade your package to include a live Del McCoury Band show, and an autographed print of the  box set artwork.

In addition to the box set McCoury Music have compiled a By Request CD that includes a dozen songs that the McCourys felt were the songs that they hear the fans request most often during their shows each night. It can also be included with an upgraded online order.

By Request features ….

Items may be ordered now for delivery on May 12, the official release date for the box set.

When you place your order, you’ll receive a secret link and password to a page where you can hear all 50 songs and view all of the artwork online immediately.

Del-heads rejoice!

Del McCoury had a special guest when he performed at the Grand Ole Opry this past Saturday (3/7). The Preservation Hall Jazz Band’s Ben Jaffe was invited to join the band on stage, where he played tuba with The Del McCoury Band.

Del even draped himself with Ben’s sousaphone backstage, and was caught on camera. A new direction for the Delmeister perhaps?

McCoury recorded recently with the Preservation Hall band for a multi-artist box set to benefit Hurricane Katrina victims. The Del McCoury Band will be guests at the Hall on April 26 following their appearance at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival.

        

Rejoice all you Del-heads! McCoury Music is preparing to release a 5 disc, definitive collection of the music of Del McCoury on May 12.

Celebrating 50 Years Of Del McCoury will include 50 tracks marking Del’s five decades in bluegrass, plus a 12 page color booklet.

All of the music was recorded with The Del McCoury Band, the bulk of it in a recent set of marathon sessions. These involved recutting better than 30 songs from the first 40 years of Del’s long career, coupled with 18 top tracks from his recent recordings.

The box set will retail for $49.95, or as Chris Harris with McCoury Music put it, “50 years/50 songs/50 dollars.” This is one every McCoury fan will want to own, and any serious collector of bluegrass music should have in their library.

Track listing follows:

The booklet is said to contain photos from the McCoury family archives, many of which have never been published.

Performing on the set are Del McCoury on guitar and lead vocals, Ronnie McCoury on mandolin, Rob McCoury on banjo, Jason Carter on fiddle, and both Alan Bartram and Mike Bub on bass.

Three-time Grammy-winning jazz bass icon Charlie Haden along with actor and son-in-law Jack Black will make their debuts on the Grand Ole Opry on Saturday night. (February 28).

Leading the two shows on the Grand Ole Opry at the Ryman Auditorium on February 28 are Opry members Ricky Skaggs and Del McCoury, together the winners of a total of 14 Grammy and 30 International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) awards.

The show will also feature multiple IBMA award-winners The Infamous Stringdusters.

The Charlie Haden Family & Friends 2008 Grammy-nominated release and roots music-orientated Rambling Boy features appearances by Skaggs as well as a number of other great musicians, including Haden’s son-in-law, Golden Globe-nominated actor Jack Black.

Among others who both appear on Rambling Boy and are set to be part of the Haden Family Opry shows are renowned musicians Sam Bush, Stuart Duncan, Mark Fain, Rob Ickes, Jim Mills and Bryan Sutton.

“Together, the exemplary artists confirmed for this show have amassed more than 30 Grammy awards and an amazing 50 plus awards from the International Bluegrass Music Association,” said Opry Vice President and General Manager Pete Fisher. “We are looking forward to seeing these masters of their various instruments together on the Opry stage.”

Del McCoury, Jesse McReynolds & The Virginia Boys and Bobby Osborne & Rocky Top X-Press will also perform on tonight’s Friday Opry show.

The Grand Ole Opry is broadcast live on WSM AM 650, on XM channel 11 (XM Nashville), and simulcast worldwide via online streaming at wsmonline.com.

The Tuesday Night Opry resumes on March 3.

Delheads have two chances to experience his Delness this weekend from the comfort of their homes or workplaces.

This morning (1/30) just after 9:00 a.m., he will join Katy Daley on WAMU’s Bluegrass Country to talk about he and the band’s plans for ‘09. Katy tells us that she expects to discuss the upcoming McCoury retrospective project, 50-50 (Fifty Songs for Fifty Years), Delfest 2009… and the Big 7-0!

Del turns 70 years old this Sunday, February 1.

Listen to Katy online at www.bluegrasscountry.org, or on HD Radio 88.5 channel 2 in the DC metro area.

On Saturday, you can catch the Del McCoury Band on The Marty Stuart Show on RFD-TV. The show airs at 8:00 p.m. (EST) and is carried on DIRECTV and many cable carriers throughout the US.

They will pick and sing, and talk with Marty about all things Del.

The inaugural DelFest Academy will take place from May 18-21, 2009.

The Academy, which will take place at the DelFest venue - the Allegany County Fairgrounds, Cumberland, Maryland - provides two levels of instruction: Level 1 (novice to intermediate) and Level 2 (intermediate to advanced) for guitar, banjo, fiddle, mandolin and bass during the four days immediately preceding DelFest itself. Members of the Del McCoury Band and others will provide instruction.

The academic week will begin with a meet and greet for students and instructors and end on Thursday night with a Question & Answer session with the Del McCoury Band, followed by a wrap party.

There is a very limited number of places available for the 2009 Academy. For more information about the Academy visit the DelFest website.

Each Academy ticket includes an Adult 3-day pass for DelFest itself. If you are planning to attend the Academy with a family member or friend who does not wish to attend, a limited number of guest passes are also available. Guest passes allow your guest to camp with you on the DelFest site and enjoy the Monday and Thursday evening events in addition to attending DelFest. Details regarding the purchase of tickets for the Academy and DelFest are available at the DelFest website also.

DelFest itself takes place during Memorial Day Weekend, May 22-24, 2009.

In addition to multiple appearances by the Del McCoury Band, Sam Bush, Railroad Earth, Peter Rowan and The Free Mexican Air Force, J.D. Crowe and The New South, Tim O’Brien, The Infamous Stringdusters, The Lee Boys, Joe Craven, Danny Paisley & the Southern Grass, the Davisson Brothers Band and 2008 DelFest band competition winners Vinegar Creek Constituency are among those already confirmed.

Wayne Yates, brother to former Country Gentleman Bill Yates, passed away last night (12/11) at the age of 75. He is picture on the left in this album cover from a project he and Bill made together.

Wayne worked with a number of bluegrass bands over the course of his life, including stints with both Red Allen and Del McCoury.

Dennis Saterlee, whose book on Red Allen, Teardrops In My Eyes, was published earlier this year, put together a brief history of Wayne’s contributions to bluegrass music.

Wayne Yates, originally from Manassas, Virginia, and his brother Bill, formed The Clinch Mountain Ramblers bluegrass band in the Washington D. C. area in the late 1950s. The Ramblers, which included, legendary banjo player Porter Church, recorded a few sides for the Nashville based Kash label.  To earn some extra money they also teamed up with Patsy Stoneman who had left the famous Stoneman family band to strike out on her own.  It was during that  period that a recently relocated Red Allen, fresh from Dayton, Ohio, started playing as a regular member of The Clinch Mountain Ramblers

Red was fresh from his breakup with the Osborne Brothers who had placed more than a couple of hits on the country music charts. It wasn’t long before Red arrived that he took over the band. They first started playing as Red Allen and the Yates Brothers but soon changed the name to the Kentuckians, Red’s original band name.

As the mandolin playing member of the Kentuckians, Wayne helped record two landmark albums.  One for the Washington based Melodeon label and a second for the fledgling County record label. With the addition of the Yates Brothers, Red had the ability to sing Osborne style harmonies once again. These recording were well received by the fans who remembered Red with the Osbornes as well as by a new audience which was coming to bluegrass music from the folk music explosion that was taking place in the nation.  These albums are currently available on the Rebel, Lonesome and Blue CD released a few years back. (more…)

I don’t know whether you noticed, but in the list of 2009 Grammy nominations for the Bluegrass Album of the Year award is an obscure CD featuring the Del McCoury Band live.

The 18 track album Live At The 2008 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival consists of material recorded and produced by MunckMix using high quality digital multi-track equipment. The album is available as a CD and as downloads at JazzFestLive.com.

Performed during the Del McCoury Band set at this past year’s festival, staged at the end of April and early May (April 25-27 & May 1-4, 2008), are such favorites as Loneliness & Desperation, Nashville Cats, Rocky Road Blues, 1952 Vincent Black Lightning, Queen Anne’s Lace, Get Down On Your Knees And Pray and Gone But Not Forgotten.

However the highlight of the set could be an improvised version of My Love Will Not Change that lasts over 10 minutes.

The nominees for the 51st Grammy Awards have been announced, and the bluegrass category is filled with familiar names.

Here are the nominees for Best Bluegrass Album for 2009.

• Cherryholmes III: Don’t Believe - Cherryholmes
• Del McCoury Band — Live At The 2008 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival - Del McCoury Band
• The Ultimate Collection / Live At The Ryman - Earl Scruggs With Family & Friends
• Honoring The Fathers Of Bluegrass: Tribute To 1946 And 1947 - Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder
• Wheels - Dan Tyminski

Cherryholmes also was nominated in the Best Country Instrumental Performance category for the track Sumatra from that same CD, as was Jerry Douglas for Two Small Cars In Rome from Glide, and Béla Fleck & The Flecktones for Sleighride on Jingle All The Way.

The Steeldrivers were nominated in the Best Country Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals category for Blue Side Of The Mountain from their self-titled debut release.

Alison Krauss received several with Robert Plant for their Raising Sand CD - Record Of The Year, Album Of The Year, Best Pop Collaboration With Vocals, Best Country Collaboration With Vocals and Best Contemporary Folk/Americana Album.

Bill Monroe’s 1940 single recording of Mule Skinner Blues will also be inducted into the Grammy Hall Of Fame this year.

The 51 st Grammy Awards will be broadcast live on CBS February 8, 2009. The bluegrass awards are announced and distributed in a  separate ceremony to be held earlier that day.

Koch Records has announced the release yesterday (11/11), of Charlie Daniels And Friends Live From Nashville concert video.

The DVD, Preachin’, Prayin’, Singin’,  features the likes of Mac Wiseman, Earl, Gary and Randy Scruggs, Del, Ronnie and Rob McCoury as well as Sharon, Cheryl and Buck White as guests. It features songs from Daniels’ Grammy nominated bluegrass gospel release, Songs From The Longleaf Pines, sung at a 2005 concert in the Ford Theater, at The Country Music Hall of Fame And Museum.

Most of the songs are Gospel ones, the exceptions are Salty Dog Blues, 1952 Vincent Black Lightning and Uncle Pen. However, the set is kicked off with a rendition of Walking In Jerusalem, with Mac Wiseman assisting Daniels and The Whites providing background vocals.

The atmosphere in the auditorium is very relaxed and informal, to such an extent that the audience is soon clapping along to the music, as on I’ve Found A Hiding Place.  I’m Working On A Building and The Old Crossroads are given a heavy blues treatment with Daniels’ raspy voice bringing an additional edge to both of those songs.  Contrastingly, The Old Account and What Would You Give are low-key duets with Mac Wiseman.

For a break from the performances Daniels is shown with US troops in Iraq from where he had just returned and he offers a prayer to all the US forces wherever they may be.

Mid set the Scruggs family – Earl, Randy and Gary – join Daniels, initially for Salty Dog Blues, although they stay around for the remainder of the show.  Salty Dog Blues and the closing number, an instrumental version of I’ll Fly Away allowed for extended instrumental breaks such as banjo and guitar breaks from Earl and Gary Scruggs, respectively. (more…)

With Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas still to come, tickets for Del McCoury’s New Year’s Eve have already gone on sale.

McCoury Music has announced that tickets for their New Year’s Eve Party at The Ryman Auditorium, Nashville, Tennessee, are available on line from Ticketmaster.

Joining the Del McCoury Band & Friends will be Colorado’s Emmitt-Nershi Band and The Infamous Stringdusters. The party starts at 8:00 pm on Wednesday, December 31 and tickets are variously selling at $49.50, $34.50 and $24.50

McCoury Music promises over 4 hours of non-stop music, unique musical collaborations and unexpected guests.

Here is the second installment of our IBMA Red Carpet interviews (watch episode 1). Katy Daley, of BluegrassCountry.org, continues as our hostess and interviews an all-star line up here in episode two.

You’ll see Del McCoury, Dan Tyminski, Nicky Sanders (Steep Canyon Rangers), Pete & Kitsy Kuykendall, Larry & Dreama Stephenson, Nancy Cardwell of IBMA, and Casey Henry, all grace our Red Carpet. Enjoy…

This video is brought to you in part, by Huber Banjos.

Our own intrepid correspondent, Richard Thompson [bluegrassmercury], has arrived in Nashville from the UK to attend the IBMA convention next week. This is his first trip to IBMA in 20 years, and we thought that his impressions and considerations would be of interest both to others who are likewise preparing to attend, and our many readers who would love be there but are unable to do so.

bluegrassmercury - Travelogue #2
by Richard F Thompson

We had the pleasure of attending the Grand Ole Opry last night (9/27). I say we, my wife Karen will probably get many mentions over the next week or so; she’s my trusty photographer.

It was my third visit to the Opry, if my memory serves me correctly and Karen’s second experience of the show.

The format never changes; it’s an institution and it works, so why fix it! It is a superb variety show with entertainment for very nearly all tastes. For those that don’t know, each artist is limited to one or two songs on his or her portion of the show, which for this particular evening, was split into four parts, each half an hour long.

There was a good mix of ladies of country music - I mean real country music.

The still beautiful Connie Smith demonstrated why Dolly Parton rates her among the top three female singers in any genre, telling me that she Never Once Stopped Loving You. The feeling’s mutual Connie! Marty, you are one very fortunate fellow.

Canadian Terri Clarke has a rare empathy with an audience and won more favor with a very good version of Loretta Lynn’s first recorded song Honky Tonk Girl. Karen was thrilled by that. And Suzy Bogguss reminded us that the art of yodeling is still alive and well.

Little Jimmy Dickens was in good wise-cracking form and reminded us of his abilities as great ballad singer, even at 87 years of age or thereabouts. In contrast the portly Jack Greene looked as though age had caught up with him a few years ago.

There were four bluegrass acts this evening; Jesse McReynolds and the Virginia Boys, who performed just one song; I’ll Love Nobody But You. He was accompanied by his granddaughter, Amanda Lynne and grandson Garrett (guitar), both singing harmony, and an ever-smiling legend, Jim Buchanan on fiddle, Terry Lease (banjo) and Matthew Madden (upright bass). Jesse still has nimble fingers. (more…)

The Grand Ole Opry is taking on a bluegrass flavor this weekend as the World Of Bluegrass prepares to descend on Nashville.

Tonight’s Friday Opry (9/26) will feature Del McCoury, Ricky Skaggs, The Whites, Grascals and Jesse McReynolds.

On Saturday night, they’ll have Del, Ricky and The Whites again along with Bobby Osborne and The Carolina Chocolate Drops.

The Friday Opry is broadcast from 9:00 to 11:00 p.m. (EST) and the Saturday show runs from 8:30 p.m. until 12:30 a.m. Both shows are available over the air in the Nashville market on WSM AM 650, on XM channel 11 (XM Nashville), and simulcast worldwide via online streaming at wsmonline.com.

Our Richard Thompson will be at The Opry tonight, so perhaps we will have a report from him tomorrow.

The list of acts that will feature during this year’s IBMA Awards Show has been announced.

The IBMA Awards Show, hosted by revered singer and guitarist Del McCoury, will feature a stellar group of performers who will entertain the audience in between the presentation of the awards. The list includes some of this year’s top nominees Blue Highway, Dale Ann Bradley, Dailey & Vincent, The Del McCoury Band, Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver, The Grascals, The Infamous Stringdusters, Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder, The SteelDrivers, The Steep Canyon Rangers and others.

Among the others are the reigning Entertainers of the Year, The Grascals, who hope to take home the crystal trophies they have held in that category for the last two years.

Seven-time Vocal Group of the Year Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver will showcase their tight harmonies and showmanship, while songbird Dale Ann Bradley, reigning IBMA Female Vocalist of the Year, will give the audience a taste of why she is nominated again this year.

If that isn’t enough Cindy Baucom, who with Ned Luberecki has organized the event, had this to say about what’s in store for the night …..

“There will be some wonderful surprises! Bluegrass Fans will not want to miss this one!”

A highlight of the awards show will be the induction of this year’s Hall of Fame honorees–Bill Clifton, a pioneering artist, songwriter and international ambassador for bluegrass music, and the late author and historian, Charles K. Wolfe.

The current list of award presenters includes nominees Sierra Hull, Sonya Isaacs, Claire Lynch, Bradley Walker, Marshall Wilborn and Josh Williams, along with Terry Baucom, Ron Block, Larry Cordle, G2 Bluegrass Band, Carrie Hassler, Kathy Mattea, Lynn Morris, Alecia Nugent and Tony Trischka.

The International Bluegrass Music Awards are determined by the professional membership of the association and recognize outstanding achievement in the bluegrass genre. The show is syndicated to more than 300 radio stations across the country and around the world, and will be broadcast live on XM Satellite Radio, XM 14 Bluegrass Junction. National sponsors for the show include Martha White Foods, GACTV, GHS Strings, Pinecastle Records, MerleFest and Deering Banjos.

The star-studded event takes place on Thursday, October 2 on the stage of the historic Ryman Auditorium, the very place where bluegrass music was born. Tickets go on sale to the public on Friday, September 19, by calling the Ryman box office at 615-889-3060 or Ticketmaster at 615-255-9600.