Jul 18, 2024 5 min read

Del McCoury, Bluegrass Legend (Interview)

Back in June, I had the honor of interviewing 85-year-old bluegrass legend Del McCoury. Yes, the Del McCoury, who sang alongside Bill Monroe in the Bluegrass Boys for decades. It's safe to say it was a wonderful experience and one of those "pinch me" moments as a writer and bluegrass fan.

Lately, I've been kicking myself over all the missed opportunities by not publishing the audio or video of some of these conversations and building out my own channel. I've tried it in the past, and it flopped spectacularly, mostly because I got in my own head about how much I awkwardly bumble and babble while talking, filled with "likes" and "ums." Seriously, I sound like a broken record of a nervous yet annoyingly overconfident teenager with way too much surfer brah slang. No one wants to hear that.

The idea of being a podcaster makes me wince so hard I could pull a muscle in my orbital, but maybe it's time to embrace the cringe? I mean, I know I sound ridiculous and long-winded sometimes, but surprisingly, people seem to enjoy it. Take my friend Joey, for example—I ran into him at the Rolling Stones concert at SoFi Stadium last week and told me, to my surprise, how much he enjoyed the conversation. He even shared it with a buddy of his who loves bluegrass. It was so damn gratifying to hear that. Maybe I'm onto something here?

So, here it goes: I'm a reluctant podcaster. For the first time ever, I published the audio of my conversation with Del as a podcast, which I’m calling "The Mostly Occasionally Show."

Since farming digital content for advertising pageviews is my trade, I also wrote about it on BroBible in two different articles.

The first article is about Del playing his biggest show ever, in front of 77,000 people with Phish in 1999 at the band's Camp Oswego festival in upstate New York. That happened 25 years ago to the day, on 7/18/1999.

You can check out that article out over on BroBible.

Del, who has been making classic albums for six decades, knows what he’s looking for in a song. As he puts it, “I like a challenge. I’ve always liked a challenge.”

The second article dives into Del McCoury's take on the state of modern bluegrass, including some fun commentary on the genre's biggest superstar, Billy Strings. Growing up in Central Pennsylvania, Del's music was the soundtrack to my ski trips, hikes, and fishing adventures. I must have listened to his album Del & The Boys (2002) and The Mountain (1999) with Steve Earle hundreds of times in high school. So, you can imagine how proud I am of these conversations and both articles.

One really cool tidbit I learned: Del played his first-ever radio show with a band in my hometown, Chambersburg. Here's an excerpt from the second article I published on BroBible:

"Hold on a second!" Del McCoury interjects with a chuckle, pausing our conversation to reminisce about a pivotal moment in his early career.

I had just mentioned to the 85-year-old bluegrass legend that I was from Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, about an hour down the Lincoln Highway from his hometown of York, Pennsylvania. As soon as I said 'Chambersburg,' Del's memories came flooding back. It was a true 'a-ha!' moment.

“I'm going to stop you right there!" Del orders.

"The first time I played with any band of stature was in Chambersburg,” Del reminisces. “WCBG Chambersburg. The band name was Stevens Brothers, and those boys were from West Virginia. They're brothers. And I was playing banjo with 'em.”

I could picture where the studio was, in an area of Chambersburg known to old-timers as Radio Hill because the studio and transmitter were there, perched above town.

It was a cool moment. Finding common ground with one of your music heroes is rare. I always thought it was neat that Del McCoury grew up in the same neck of the woods as me, the rural Pennsyltucky part of Pennsylvania sandwiched between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. But learning that his first gig with a band was in my tiny hometown in 1956 or '57? Too cool. Maybe my grandparents heard it on the radio in passing? Man, who knows.

This unexpected connection set the stage for an intimate dive into Del McCoury’s illustrious career. Across six decades of making classic albums, including his latest release, Songs Of Love And Life, Del knows what he’s looking for in a song. It includes covers of Roy Orbison's "Only The Loney" and Elvis Presley's funky "If You Talk in Your Sleep," recorded by the King of Rock'N Roll in 1974.

“I like a challenge. I’ve always liked a challenge,” he says. “I like to learn different things. Doing the same things is mundane to me.”

Read both articles over at BroBible:

If you’re up for a bit of bluegrass nostalgia and some light-hearted self-deprecation, give "The Mostly Occasionally Show" a listen and maybe think about subscribing. And if you think I'm a terrible podcaster, well, I know you're not wrong and at least you’ll have some fun at my expense. Subscribe on Apple or Spotify!