Monday, January 23, 2012

Music Spotlight #2 - The Del McCoury Band

Hi everyone.  It's time for another Music Spotlight!

A couple nights ago the lady took me out to the Chicago Bluegrass Festival downtown.  Pretty awesome huh?  The best part of the show was one of my favorites, The Del McCoury Band.


The Del McCoury Band is a bluegrass band. Originally Del McCoury and the Dixie Pals with Del on guitar and his brother Jerry on bass, the band went through a number of changes until the 1980s when the band solidified its line-up, adding McCoury's sons, Ronnie and Robbie on mandolin and banjo, respectively. In 1988, the "Dixie Pals" name was dropped in favor of the current name. Fiddler Tad Marks and bass player Mike Brantley joined in the early 1990s while the band became a national touring act. In 2004 they were nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Bluegrass Album for It's Just the Night, and in 2006 they won that category for The Company We Keep. 
The band recorded with Steve Earle on his 1999 album The Mountain. The band has also often performed in recent years with The Lee Boys, with setlists mixing bluegrass, funk and gospel with extended jams on many songs.
They have been performing since 1967, and here they are with one of my other favorite band, The Chieftains.


 They're fun to listen to, are very talented, and if you haven't listened to or gotten into Bluegrass music, they're not a bad place to start.  Enjoy!


PEACE

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