Del McCoury (born 1939) sang lead and played guitar for Bill Monroe in 1963 and has led his own band ever since. The Del McCoury Band has won IBMA Entertainer of the Year ten times and two Grammy Awards for Best Bluegrass Album. McCoury has won IBMA Male Vocalist of the Year six times. The International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame inducted him in 2011.
Why McCoury matters
McCoury is the living link to Monroe’s band, and he plays the guitar the way that band needed it played. His rhythm is tight and dry, and his voice sits high over it. He also proved that a traditional bluegrass band could fill rock festivals without changing its sound. The Del McCoury Band plays Bonnaroo with the same acoustic lineup it brings to a bluegrass festival.
Life and career
McCoury was born on February 1, 1939, in Bakersville, North Carolina. His family moved to York County, Pennsylvania, in 1941. Around age 11 he heard Earl Scruggs on record and took up the banjo. In the early 1960s he played banjo in bands around Baltimore and Washington, D.C.
In February 1963 he joined Bill Monroe’s Blue Grass Boys as a banjo player. Monroe moved him to guitar and lead vocals. He left in February 1964, got married, and moved to California for a time. He recorded his first album, Del McCoury Sings Bluegrass, for Arhoolie in December 1967. Through the 1970s and into the 1980s he led the Dixie Pals, recorded for Rounder and Rebel, and cut timber and worked construction to pay the bills.
His son Ronnie joined on mandolin at age 14 in 1981, and his son Rob joined on banjo in 1986. The group took the name the Del McCoury Band and moved to Nashville in 1992. The Cold Hard Facts (Rounder, 1996) spent seven months at the top of the bluegrass chart and earned a Grammy nomination. The band won its first IBMA Entertainer of the Year award in 1994 and went on to win it nine more times. The tenth win came in 2024.
McCoury joined the Grand Ole Opry in October 2003. The Company We Keep won the Grammy for Best Bluegrass Album in 2006, and The Streets of Baltimore won it in 2014. He received a National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts in 2010. He started DelFest in Cumberland, Maryland, in 2008. The band released Songs of Love and Life in 2024.
Playing style
McCoury plays rhythm guitar the way Monroe’s guitarists had to play it. The bass note lands on the beat with a firm downstroke, the strum on the offbeat is short and dry, and there is little ring between them. That gives the mandolin chop room and keeps the band from getting muddy at speed. He does not take many guitar breaks. His guitar is a rhythm instrument, and his lead instrument is his voice.
His singing is the other half of the style. He sings high, straight, and in tune, with the rough edge Monroe wanted from a lead singer. He picks songs from outside bluegrass, including 1952 Vincent Black Lightning, which won IBMA Song of the Year in 2002, and he sings them as if they were old Monroe numbers.
Influences and legacy
McCoury’s first influence was Earl Scruggs, which is why he started on banjo. Bill Monroe turned him into a lead singer and guitarist, and the year with Monroe shaped everything after it. He has recorded with Steve Earle on The Mountain (1999), with Doc Watson and Mac Wiseman on Del, Doc & Mac (Sugar Hill, 1998), and with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band on American Legacies (2011). Rock and jam band audiences know him from the Bonnaroo festival and from DelFest. His sons Ronnie and Rob McCoury have played in his band since the 1980s.
Signature tunes and songs
1952 Vincent Black Lightning High on a Mountain Uncle Pen The Streets of Baltimore.
Essential recordings
Del McCoury Sings Bluegrass (Arhoolie, 1968) Don’t Stop the Music (Rounder, 1988) The Cold Hard Facts (Rounder, 1996) It’s Just the Night (McCoury Music, 2003) The Company We Keep (McCoury Music, 2005)
Awards and honors
IBMA Male Vocalist of the Year (1990, 1991, 1992, 1996, 2021, 2022) IBMA Collaborative Recording of the Year (1991, 1997, 2003, 2004, 2019) IBMA Entertainer of the Year, the Del McCoury Band (1994, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2024) IBMA Album of the Year, True Life Blues: The Songs of Bill Monroe (1997), It’s Just the Night (2004), and Del McCoury Still Sings Bluegrass (2019) IBMA Instrumental Group of the Year, the Del McCoury Band (1996, 1997) IBMA Song of the Year, 1952 Vincent Black Lightning (2002) Grand Ole Opry member (2003) Grammy Award, Best Bluegrass Album, The Company We Keep (2006) NEA National Heritage Fellowship (2010) International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame (2011) Grammy Award, Best Bluegrass Album, The Streets of Baltimore (2014)
Watch and listen
The Del McCoury Band plays an NPR Tiny Desk Concert. With no stage volume, you can hear how dry and short McCoury’s rhythm strokes are.
The band plays Uncle Pen, the Bill Monroe song, for Relix. Watch how the guitar and mandolin split the beat.
What to learn from McCoury
Learn Uncle Pen as a rhythm player. It is a Monroe song, it is in every jam, and McCoury’s version shows how the guitar should sit under a mandolin chop. The technique to steal is his short, dry strum. Mute the strings with the side of your palm as soon as the strum lands, so the chord stops before the next bass note. Play it at a jam and listen to the mandolin. If the chop gets clearer, you are doing it right.
Sources
Del McCoury, IBMA award recipients The Del McCoury Band, IBMA award recipients Del McCoury, NEA National Heritage Fellowships About, the Del McCoury Band Del McCoury, Wikipedia The Company We Keep, MusicBrainz
Related players
See the guitar players hub and the guitar guide for more rhythm players. Lester Flatt and Jimmy Martin held the Monroe lead singer job before McCoury. He recorded with Doc Watson in 1998. Carter Stanley filled the same role in his own band a generation earlier.