Nashville, TN. (Top40 Charts/ IBMA) - Legendary bluegrass artist Del McCoury will host the 19th Annual International Bluegrass
Music Awards on Thursday, October 2, at 8:30 p.m. (central), at the historic Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee.
"The IBMA has been really good to the band and our families from the beginning," McCoury comments. "So after 50 years in this business, having the opportunity to give a little something back by hosting our music's biggest night is a special honor. My experience has given me a unique perspective on our industry's ups and downs, which leads me to believe the best is yet to come. Bluegrass is being welcomed into new musical communities across the world, and on October 2nd we get the chance to acknowledge the good work of our peers and celebrate the new opportunities awaiting us in the year to come."
The Del McCoury Band has taken home the industry's top Entertainer of the Year award for an unprecedented nine times from 1994-2004, and overall they are the most awarded group in the history of IBMA. The group has been nominated for six Grammys, winning the award for Best Bluegrass Album in 2006. Del has seen his videos welcomed by CMT; joined the Grand Ole Opry; represented the cream of the bluegrass crop on national television, making appearances on Austin City Limits, Late Night with Conan O'Brien, The Late Show with David Letterman and PBS Sessions at West 54th; and the band anchored PBS' first, immensely successful national foray into America's original roots music as featured performers on the All*Star Bluegrass Celebration.
While the accolades are appreciated, Del McCoury will tell you-and mean it-that he was happy when he was cutting timber alone in the woods during the week and playing music on the weekend. "I used to travel 40 miles and make seven dollars to play a night of bluegrass," Del McCoury says. "I always loved playing, always loved the road." He earns a little more and travels a little farther nowadays, but the essential truth remains: Del McCoury plays and sings because he loves making music for a living and appreciates the people who have made that possible.
McCoury's love for life and bluegrass music is contagious. Regularly drawing crowds which run the gamut from tie-dyed neo-hippie jammers alongside button-down Yuppies and suspendered good ol' boys, The Del McCoury Band may well boast the broadest, most inclusive fan base this side of the Grateful Dead. They are undeniably one of the most talented, revered and vital groups in bluegrass history. The Washington Post called Del "a national treasure," while numerous music publications have credited The Del McCoury Band with increasing the bluegrass "hip factor," generating much of the genre's steady upswing in popularity with a more youthful crowd. He's equally welcome at traditional bluegrass festivals, jam band gatherings, and the most prestigious music venues in America-from MerleFest, to Bonnaroo and Carnegie Hall.
In 1950 he was an 11-year-old boy living on a Pennsylvania dairy farm when he had his first taste of Earl Scruggs. He hasn't been the same since. "He put me on fire for music," McCoury says. "Later on, everybody else was crazy about Elvis, but I loved Earl." McCoury worked in a string of Baltimore honkytonks before signing up as a Blue Grass Boy with Bill Monroe in 1963. But eventually Pennsylvania called him home again, and there he turned his attention to raising his family, earning his living in construction and logging while continuing to travel the bluegrass circuit, never straying far from his first love. Through the years he recorded the occasional brilliant album, but it wasn't until 1992 that everything meshed perfectly for McCoury, when he formed The Del McCoury Band with his sons, Ronnie and Rob.
Looking back, McCoury says, "I've played music forever, but it all just seemed to come together in the last 10 years or so. The thing is, I've never changed my style at all. I've always done my own thing, always had confidence in myself. I always knew that someone would like my sound." McCoury says that new fans of bluegrass are spreading the word about the music. "Young people are just wild about bluegrass. This music has grit and young people like that. The general public hears something real in bluegrass. That's why it's more popular than ever, I believe."
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. National sponsors for the show include Martha White Foods, GACTV, GHS Strings, Pinecastle Records, MerleFest and Deering Banjos. Tickets may be purchased from IBMA at 888-438-4262 or online at ibma.org
