Photo provided The Del McCoury Band will perform Friday at the Brown County Music Center.
BROWN COUNTY — The Del McCoury Band will be making a stop at the Brown County Music Center this Friday. Although prolific bluegrass artist Del McCoury leads the band, audience members will control the show.
Since his start in the 1960s, McCoury has gone on to perform across the country and the world with tours in Europe and Japan. In 1963, he became a part of celebrated bluegrass artist Bill Monroe’s Blue Grass Boys, one of the first highlights of his career, he said.
“Of course, I had played quite a bit before I went with Bill,” McCoury said. “I did start playing with a band when I got out of high school in 1956, but that was probably the biggest highlight at the time.”
Later that decade, McCoury started his own band called the Dixie Pals, where he built up a songbook of classics remade in his own style as well as original songs, according to his website. He later renamed this band to the Del McCoury Band in the 1980s.
This band features McCoury on guitar, his sons Ronnie and Rob McCoury on mandolin and banjo respectively, Alan Bartram on bass and Christian Ward on fiddle. Ward joined the band earlier this year, replacing previous fiddle player Jason Carter, McCoury said.
“… (Jason Carter) told me, he said, ‘you know, I’m thinking about getting my own band,’” McCoury said. “And I said, ‘well, it’s the best time to do it,’ because his popularity was up.”
The Del McCoury Band has gone on to release several albums, receiving many awards, with 10 International Bluegrass Music Association Entertainer of the Year trophies and one as recent as last year. In 2003, McCoury became a member of the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, which he called the next highlight of his career. He said it’s always a pleasure to play at the Opry.
“It’s the oldest radio show in the world, can you believe it?,” McCoury said. “And when I think back about all the artists (who) have been members there and played on that stage, it really humbles you to do that because people like Hank Williams, old Hank, you know, a lot of big country people played at that stage, and Bill Monroe and Flatt and Scruggs, you name it, they’ve been there and been members, really.”
No two Del McCoury Band shows are the same, as rather than having a setlist, McCoury said they take requests from the audience as to what they should sing next. Oftentimes, he said audience members request a song he had recorded in the ’80s, ‘70s and even the ‘60s, but once the kickoff at the start of the song ends, he said the words just come to him.
“It keeps you on your toes. But I like that, it keeps the show more interesting for the people that are the fans and for the musicians and it don’t get monotonous, I’ll put it that way,” McCoury said. “I know a lot of bands, they follow that setlist every night and I couldn’t do that. That’s just too monotonous, you know?”
McCoury said he also enjoys talking with the audience during his shows, saying that they sometimes entertain him more than he entertains them. He said he and his fellow bandmates are looking forward to coming up to Brown County, where he said he used to often play with Bill Monroe at the Bill Monroe Music Park.
“I’ve got a lot of fans in Brown County from 1963,” McCoury said. “And of course, we have a lot of new fans too, but that (Brown County Music Center) venue there that we play, That’s really a nice place, it is.”
Tickets for the Del McCoury Band are available at browncountymusiccenter.com.
