hypersongs

Del McCoury Band

The band of the North Carolina-born singer and guitarist Del McCoury and his sons Ronnie and Rob, multiple IBMA entertainer of the year winners, whose version of Richard Thompson's "1952 Vincent Black Lightning" won the IBMA's song of the year in 2002.

From Bakersville to the Blue Grass Boys

Delano Floyd McCoury was born on February 1, 1939 in Bakersville, North Carolina, and his family moved to York County, Pennsylvania in 1941. His mother, Hazel, sang and played several instruments, his brother Jerry played bass and his brother G. C. taught him guitar; inspired by Earl Scruggs he learned banjo. He played in the Stevens Brothers, Keith Daniels and the Blue Ridge Ramblers, Marvin Howell and the Franklin County Boys and Jack Cooke and the Virginia Mountain Boys. In February 1963 he joined Bill Monroe's Blue Grass Boys, playing guitar and singing because Monroe already had a banjo player, appeared at the Grand Ole Opry and recorded six songs for Decca, and left in February 1964.

His first album, Del McCoury Sings Bluegrass, dates from 1967 or 1968 depending on where Wikipedia is read, and his sons began performing with him in the 1980s. Jerry McCoury played bass in the band from 1967 to 1989, Ronnie joined on mandolin in 1981 and Rob on banjo in 1987. Jason Carter on fiddle and Mike Bub on bass joined in 1992 after the move to Nashville; Alan Bartram replaced Bub in 2005, and Christian Ward replaced Carter in 2025.

The band of the 1990s and after

Blue Side of Town (1992), A Deeper Shade of Blue (1993), The Cold Hard Facts (1996), The Family (1999) and The Mountain (1999, with Steve Earle) built the band's reputation; Del and the Boys followed in 2001, and It's Just the Night (2003), The Company We Keep (2005), The Promised Land (2006), Moneyland (2008), American Legacies (2011, with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band) and The Streets of Baltimore (2013) after it. Side projects include the McCoury Brothers (1987) and Del, Doc and Mac with Mac Wiseman and Doc Watson (1998).

He was named IBMA entertainer of the year multiple times (1999 among them), was a male vocalist of the year in 1990, 1991, 1992 and 1996, and the band won album of the year in 1994 and 2004; the IBMA counts 31 awards in all. They won Grammys for best bluegrass album in 2006 (The Company We Keep) and 2014 (The Streets of Baltimore). The Opry took him in as a member in October 2003, and he received an NEA National Heritage Fellowship in 2010 and entered the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame in 2011. In 2008 he founded DelFest in Cumberland, Maryland, where the band plays every night; in 2009 they played The Clearwater Concert at Madison Square Garden for Pete Seeger's 90th birthday, and their fans are called Del-Heads.

Albums

  • Del and the Boys 2001 · Ceili Music

    Their 2001 album on Ricky Skaggs's Ceili Music label, opening with "1952 Vincent Black Lightning".

Songs

  • 1952 Vincent Black Lightning Del and the Boys · 2001

    Richard Thompson's song of a thief, a girl named Red Molly and a rare British motorcycle, in the McCoury band's bluegrass arrangement, named IBMA song of the year for 2002.

Sources

  1. Del McCoury, Wikipedia
  2. Del McCoury Band, Wikipedia
  3. Del and the Boys 25 years later, Bluegrass Today (2026-06-15)
  4. DelFest, DelFest