News Category
Del McCoury Band onboard Mountain Song at Sea, Feb 1-4, 2013
We’re about to be a part of the biggest bluegrass festival at sea and we’d love for you to join us! Mountain Song Productions is partnering with Sixthman to fill an entire luxury cruise liner with more than a dozen bluegrass and acoustic artists including David Grisman Sextet, Del McCoury Band, Tim O’Brien, Bryan Sutton, Steep Canyon Rangers, Kruger Brothers and many more!
Mountain Song at Sea will set sail February 1-4, 2013, from Miami to Great Stirrup Cay, Bahamas aboard the Norwegian Sky, a luxurious ship full of all the amenities you’d expect – pools, hot tubs, a casino and music on multiple stages, around every corner. There’s something special that happens when a group of artists who share a passion for their music and a community of like-minded fans gather together to journey aboard one ship. Mountain Song at Sea will provide experiences that you can’t get anywhere else – shows with your favorite artists in intimate venues, spontaneous artist collaborations, jams, interactions with artists and through it all the creation of friendships and your own Mountain Song at Sea community. Artists will host Q&A sessions and other activities, like a poker tournament, beer and wine tastings, workshops, games, and more!
You’ve never seen this many bluegrass fans at sea! The entire ship has been chartered for the inaugural Mountain Song at Sea festival, and will be full of like-minded fans just like you. Every person on board will be there for one thing: to live and breathe all the amazing music for three full days! So prepare to sail on the greatest music festival celebrating the traditions, the legends and new evolutions of bluegrass! Check out www.mountainsongatsea.com to find out more details about the event and how you can be a part of the pre-sale and get yourself onboard!
American Legacies show review – Savannah Music Festival
March 23, 2012
SMF: Preservation Hall/Del McCoury @ Trustees
By Jim Morekis
It’s been written before but I’ll write it again: There are only two American musical traditions worth talking about:
1) The African-American tradition, historically centered in the Mississippi River Delta;
2) and the Scots-Irish tradition of the Appalachian Mountains.
That’s it. Everything else that’s come out of this country that’s worth listening to — jazz, R&B, gospel, rock ‘n’ roll, bluegrass, country — has its roots in one or the other, or both, of these.
(The undeniable fact that both of them are Southern traditions is yet another reason for you non-Southerners to be happy we allow y’all to stick around here. You’re welcome.)
Popular portrayals and conventional wisdom insist that we should consider those two traditions as somehow in opposition to each other. But in another of those adventurous double bills for which SMF Director Rob Gibson is becoming famous, the Preservation Hall Jazz Band of New Orleans and Del McCoury’s bluegrass ensemble joined forces at the Trustees Friday night for one of the biggest barn-burners in recent SMF history, one which defied lazy explanation.
While the alliance of the two groups actually happened well before this evening — with their American Legacies recorded collaboration and a Letterman appearance — the overwhelmingly rapturous reception of the show was by no means a given considering the generally conservative nature of many typical SMF audience members.
It’s true that many SMF audiences tend to skew a bit older, but it’s just as true that I can’t recall another crowd at the Trustees Theatre — even for rock shows — demand an encore in as spirited and vociferous fashion as the crowd did this night.
But I’m getting ahead of myself. The takeaway from this show is twofold: A) the Preservation Hall Jazz Band remain a bunch of smiling, genteel killers who can play with anyone, anywhere, and B) it is a very pleasant surprise just how well these two fine ensembles melded America’s two seminal musical traditions.
To read the rest of this review, click here
DelFest early bird ticket deadline today
The first deadline for discount tickets to DelFest is Jan 30, 2012. The Fifth Annual DelFest will take place in Cumberland, MD from May 24 -27.
Until midnight tonight, you can purchase a four day ticket for only $120. Click here to purchase.
DelFest originated from the desire to create a family-friendly music festival celebrating the rich legacy of McCoury music while creating a forum for world-class musical collaborations and to showcase fresh new talent with a down-home feeling. Produced in association with High Sierra Music, the 5th Annual DelFest will again offer a quality festival experience stamped with the unique McCoury touch. Personally chosen by Del, the Allegany County Fairgrounds in Cumberland, MD served as the perfect location for DelFest. Nestled along the Potomac River in the scenic Appalachian Mountains, the Fairgrounds are convenient to four major airports and easily reached by rail or road.
In addition to traditional stage sets by these world-class artists, attendees can again expect to see one-of-a-kind collaborations, special guest sit-ins, various tributes to Del McCoury and his musical legacy, intimate appearances, both at unique “playshops”—informal workshops where the emphasis will be on performance rather than instruction—and in late night indoor performances and picking sessions. DelFest will also include a band competition, with the winners invited to return for a regular set at the following year’s gathering, and for the second year, Delfest will be immediately preced by a 3-day Music Academy hosted by The Travelin’ McCourys, where all levels of musicians can learn from their heroes (the Academy will take place May 22, 23, and 24).
DEL MCCOURY’S TRIBUTE TO THE FATHER OF BLUEGRASS RELEASED ON CD JUST IN TIME FOR THE GRAMMY AWARDS
(Nashville, TN)…The Del McCoury Band’s tribute to Bill Monroe, Old Memories: The Songs of Bill Monroe, will be released on CD just in time for the Grammy Awards. The album was previously released digitally and on vinyl in September 2011 and received a Grammy nomination for “Best Bluegrass Album” in December.
The aforementioned September date, also marked the 100th anniversary of Bill Monroe’s birth, and not surprisingly, there have already been plenty of tributes to the Father of Bluegrass Music, with more still to come. But when listeners turn to Old Memories: The Songs Of Bill Monroe–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.
“I had done songs of his on different albums I made through the years,” says McCoury, who served a life-changing year with Monroe’s Blue Grass Boys from 1963 to early 1964. “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.”
The result is a set 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.
That intimate knowledge of Monroe’s style—and of his repertoire—helps to make Old Memories a truly unique collection. “I put more runs in my guitar playing for this one,” McCoury notes. “Because, you know, Bill really liked Edd Mayfield’s playing, and Edd played runs all the time. So without even thinking about it, I think I played guitar on this record more like the way I played when I was with Bill—I even took a break on ‘Used To Be,’ because Bill had Charlie Cline take a solo on that one. And I got some songs that you don’t hear too often, like ‘Lonesome Truck Driver Blues.’ That one kind of hit home to me, because I used to drive a truck myself, and there are a lot of things in that song about what a truck driver goes through.”
Backed as always by his ace Del McCoury Band—son Ronnie on the mandolin, son Rob on the banjo, along with long-time fiddler Jason Carter and six year veteran Alan Bartram on bass—McCoury works his way through a generous 16-track set that nods to the show he played with Monroe by starting with a quick “Watermelon On The Vine” and concluding with a bit of a favorite closer, “Y’all Come.” In between there are well-known classics like “Close By” and “Rose Of Old Kentucky,” obscurities like the Hank Williams-penned “Alabama Waltz,” rarities like “The Girl In The Blue Velvet Band” and “Train 45”—Monroe was one of the few to record the tune with lyrics—and much more. But whether they’re staples of the bluegrass repertoire or resurrected rarities, what each has in common is an incomparable authenticity, bestowed in equal measure by Del McCoury’s personal connection to Monroe and his music, and by his unalloyed musical integrity. And in the end, that makes Old Memories: The Songs Of Bill Monroe 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.
