If you're like me, until Dierks Bentley introduced me to Del McCoury way back with "Train Travelin'"--the last cut on Dierks' first album, I would have never known about this great talent!Now, Del McCoury is on my radar. So when I read about him winning National awards, I feel compelled to share this article from thetennessean.com:
Del McCoury gets national heritage fellowship: Famed bluegrass musician and Grand Ole Opry member Del McCoury is among this year's recipients of the nation's highest folk and traditional arts honor, the National Endowment for the Arts' NEA National Heritage Fellowship.
McCoury first came to bluegrass attention in the early 1960s as a member of Bill Monroe's Blue Grass Boys band. At 71, he remains a leader in the field: His Grammy-winning Del McCoury Band is a headlining act and he contributes other-worldly high harmonies on Dierks Bentley's revamp of U2's "Pride (In the Name of Love)."
As one of the nine Heritage Fellowship recipients, McCoury will receive an award of $25,000.
*Special thanks to Meg for finding the story!
~Ronna
DB Congress Chair
It's beyond me how you can be around country music and not know who Del McCoury was before Dierks sang with him! Del is an honest-to-God living legend of bluegrass. I'm glad he was so highly honored! He deserves it!
ReplyDeleteI know! Well that was 6 years ago and I had not been exposed to much bluegrass up until then! I am glad I am now! I love it!
ReplyDeleteI learned about Del McCoury through Dierks, too. Sometimes I think of Dierks as the pied piper of Bluegrass.....he leads those to Bluegrass who maybe weren't so inclined before.
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