the tao of del

On Thursday night at the International Bluegrass Music Assn. Awards at the Ryman Auditorium, on the very stage where the music was introduced to the world, Del McCoury was inducted into IBMA's Hall of Fame. This was an inevitable induction, but it was gratifying to see a legend inducted while still very much at the top of his game and not, for example, dead. Del’s sons Ronnie and Rob offered a warm career overview, and when Del came up on stage, he invited along his extended family, including a grandson Del. And looking like a patriarch at the center of a Christmas card photo, Del made the loveliest, funniest, sunniest acceptance speech one could imagine.

My heart was full and my eyes moist, but none of it topped what happened a couple hours later when, following an awards after-party at the Hard Rock Café, I walked back up the hill toward the Renaissance Hotel. I cut through the Ryman parking lot and there, at about 12:45 am, was Del and his wife Jean, his managers and a couple other family members saying good-night around their cars. It was a great opportunity to stop and say congratulations. 

I've met and spoken with Del several times in my years of fandom/reporterdom, and I've tried to cultivate a kind of professional nonchalance about meeting great artists so that I could do my job. But I literally trembled as I shook Del's hand, and I had a hard time getting the words out to say how much I appreciated his contributions. He was his usual self-effacing and beatific self, his smile like a warm July sun. My heart accelerated. It was a moment I'll never forget.

This is because Del McCoury is a much bigger deal and a more complex figure than even many of his fervent fans or the Hall of Fame induction committee understand. I feel certain that without his searching musicality, truth be told his liberal outlook on his art form, bluegrass would be much less energetic, diverse or exciting today. There have been many large, bridge-building careers in this era, but I believe the Del McCoury Band is responsible for more new young bluegrass fans and bands than anyone else. And thus we have to ask ourselves, on the occasion of this historic induction, how it's possible that Del McCoury is the lodestar of bluegrass for arch-traditionalists AND jamgrass-oriented newbies, even as a significant segment of the bluegrass community encourage others to think of Yonder Mt String Band and their ilk as a threat to the music. Del's never seen it that way. And yet even his off-the-charts cred with what I call the Bluegrass Birthers isn't enough for them to relax and let the industry at large do nothing more than follow Del’s example.

On Tuesday of IBMA’s just-ending World of Bluegrass, I conducted a Keynote Interview with Ben Kauffman and Dave Johnston of the super-hot Yonder Mountain String Band. We talked about business, audience building and the state of bluegrass of course, but I also made a point to talk about Del and their collaborations. They were effusive with respect and awestruck reverence about how Del had embraced and encouraged them and the wider music scene. And this has been going on since before Yonder was a serious band. Starting in the mid 1990s, the Del McCoury Band played traditional and non-traditional venues for bluegrass music and pursued on-stage and in-studio collaborations with all kinds of other artists. Here’s a 1998 interview with one of those bands – Phish – in which Trey calls Del one of his “true links to traditional American music.” And the band cites the then-new Groovegrass project, which included Del, Doc Watson and Bootsy Collins, of all people, as well as an insane recording of the Macarena. This was also around the time when Del collaborated with Americana rocker Steve Earle on the remarkable The Mountain album. Historians may be able to dig up some evidence of a backlash among the Bluegrass Birthers at the time, but this is the stretch when the Del McCoury Band won nine IBMA Entertainer of the Year Awards in eleven years, so it seems he never lost his traditional cred. We who have spent the past year defending the idea of a “big tent” IBMA and bluegrass infrastructure can only scratch our heads that there’d be any resistance whatsoever in light of Del’s accomplishments. Del’s tent has been huge for the entire stretch of his current band’s career. And guess who’s also the most recognizable, successful BLUEGRASS band of the modern era?

Speaking of big tents, it was under one that I saw the Del McCoury Band have the honor of being the only hard-core bluegrass band invited to play the first Bonnaroo festival in 2002, then regarded as the apotheosis of 21st century jam band festivals. I’ve often cited that set as one of the most moving and important I’ve seen in my life. I feel lucky to have been there. When Ronnie introduced his father a few songs in, a roar went up from deep in the hearts and diaphragms of those six or seven thousand people. And it went on and on, and then it got BIGGER, and the memory of that crescendo is so clear and vivid to this day that I nearly choke up recalling the emotional swell of that moment.

I knew how wonderful Del and the Boys were at that time, but I really had no idea how far they’d penetrated the jam band audience. And when I say jam band audience, I do so with immense respect because in my adult life, no musical fan base has invited in so much new, searching, exploratory music or given the its love and money to alternative, non-commercial music with so much enthusiasm. This was a synaptic, cultural connection of the most real and exciting kind, like discovering that two dear friends from different parts of your life know each other.

The implications of this connection and affection are many, but I’ll just cite one. The Steep Canyon Rangers, who just took the IBMA Entertainer of the Year on Thursday night along with their temporary “leader” Steve Martin were directly inspired by Del. Those guys were part of the collegiate generation who heard Del because he was coming to them, not waiting for the college crowd to find him in Galax, VA or Denton, NC. They started performing before they were very good on their instruments or as a band, they will admit, but nobody can deny that they practiced their way to the top of the bluegrass mountain. And I think they’d agree that without the Del McCoury Band as a beacon, it wouldn’t have happened.

So for those who seem to think that tradition and evolution are some kind of mutually exclusive choice, I give you Del. He’s proof that you’re wrong. Tradition and evolution are interwoven and mutually supporting. They are complimentary forces whirling around each other like the Taoist Yin-Yang symbol or two hippies twirling in Golden Gate Park, as they are no doubt doing right now at this weekend’s Del-crazy Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival. That event got it so right with its name. Bluegrass is not and has never been a Strictly thing. It’s as loose as our imaginations, which are in reality, not worth a damn or even biochemically possible without a grounding in and appreciation for the past. It’s the reason that I love this music more than just about any other and why it keeps refreshing itself. I’ve never been so bullish on the upside for bluegrass music and its large crop of emerging bands, and I’d refer you to Chris Pandolfi’s April Bluegrass Manifesto and his Keynote Speech this week at WOB for more on that, if you haven’t read/seen them. There are many reasons this music is going to continue its rocket ride into the mainstream, but I don’t think it would have really had the engines lit without Del and the Boys.

 

Comments

[Stephen Mougin]

What an inspired and inspiring essay! Thanks for sharing!

[Ken Innis]

Del McCoury in my eyes is one of the few true bluegrass entertainers left in this world today.He was the one that drew me to bluegrass years ago and he still is what keeps me there.No words can describe the man...he is just Del...the bluegrass man

[Zach Bevill]

Beautiful, Craig, beautiful. The 2002 Bonnaroo Del set was actually the first traditional bluegrass show I ever saw. One of a few experiences around then that changed my life, no doubt. I remember how in awe I was of the way they worked the mic together. I'll never forget it. Count me in as one more young person reached by Del, and inspired to make my own go at it.

What a great piece of writing, man. Spot on in every way. Thanks for writing it.

[climbtosafety]

This is a great article. Del was also the one who opened my eyes to the awesome power of bluegrass music. I too have had the opportunity to talk with Del on a few occasions and I am a mess of nerves every time. It never fails that Del is always as kind as can be to get the opportunity to chat with his fans and more so than any artist I have ever met, makes you feel like you are genuinely important and that he enjoys the chance to chat. He's an amazing man and living legend. Congrats on the much deserved induction Del!

[Jason Cummins]

I was fortunate to have 2nd row seats at a small venue where DMB performed in June 2009 about 30 miles from my home. It was my 3rd time seeing them. Well, the next day I was driving thru town to watch my son's swim meet, when I noticed an SUV drive by and swore I saw Rob McCoury in the passenger seat. I pulled away from the stoplight, following them--not just to follow, but because that's the direction I was going. I got beside them, and there was Ronnie driving, with Alan and Jason in back. I waved and know I looked like a goober, but it was obvious to them that I knew who they were. In the SUV in front of them was Del & Jean. They were pulling over to look at a map because they'd gotten lost. I pulled over with them to help them out. It was a simple, understandable mistake because the road they'd gotten on was new and not yet on a map. I was able to help them out and they were quite appreciative and just as nice as anyone could hope. Del & Ronnie & Jean were super people.

And, yes, their hair looks the same off-stage as it does on-stage. :)

[Ronnie McCoury]

Craig,
Wow! Thank you for such a heart-felt article..you brought tears to my eyes..we're even! ;-)
Your friend,
Ronnie McCoury

[Peter Cooper]

Craig, this is a brilliant piece. Thank you.
-Peter Cooper

[Jim DiSabito]

What a fabulous article. I have been following Chris Pandolfi's blog and wholeheartedly agree with his viewpoint. I am a bluegrass fan and musician and have heard all the "trad. vs progressive " arguments. Your story is a perfect illustration of musical cooperation, collaboration and the wonderful results that can come from it. Each style can feed the other! I hope this movement for an " all inclusive " bluegrass family takes hold for good! Thanks to folks like you and Chris for speaking up. There is so much great music to come......