Best Bluegrass Album GRAMMY Award goes to the Del McCoury Band for their recent release, The Streets of Baltimore. The band is led by living legend and national treasure, Del McCoury. His two sons Ronnie and Rob McCoury play two parts of an immensely skilled quartet with Jason Carter, and Alan Bartram. The Del McCoury Band will perform in Miami at the 3rd Annual Virginia Key GrassRoots Festival on Saturday February 22nd, 2014.
Del McCoury is the ultimate bluegrass ambassador, persevering with humility, good humor, adventurousness, and enthusiasm for decades. Graciousness spanned the generations last night at the GRAMMY's. "That one's all Dad's!" said son Ronnie McCoury upon receiving their latest GRAMMY Award. Del says of the album, "I just put together a group of songs that I liked and then we got into the studio and tried to make them sound good!". His 75th Birthday will take place on February 1st, and it's clear that Del is as inspired and creatively brilliant as ever.
The Del McCoury Band is the most awarded Bluegrass band in the world, and deserv
edly so. The group has won more than three-dozen International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) Awards, including an astonishing 8 wins for Entertainer of the Year. This is their second GRAMMY Award, having won Best Bluegrass Album in 2006 for The Company We Keep.
Del McCoury himself has won 31 IBMA Awards, including Entertainer of the Year (9 times) and Male Vocalist of the Year (4 times). In 2003 he was inducted into the legendary Grand Ole Opry, received a National Heritage Fellowshop lifetime achievement award from the National Endowment for the Arts in 2010, and the following year was elected into the IBMA Hall of Fame. His son and the group's mandolin player, Ronnie McCoury, won the IBMA Award for Mandolin Player of the Year for 8 consecutive years. The group's Jason Carter has garnered 3 IBMA Fiddle Player of the Year trophies.
The Del McCoury Band is at the top of the bluegrass world and truly the torchbearer for the genre. The world-class ensemble delivers robust melodies, eloquent harmonies, and extraordinary musicianship, performing both traditional and original compositions. The unmistakable authenticity of their music, along with their willingness to evolve, welcoming new sounds and opportunities, garners them passionate bluegrass fans along with a surprisingly diverse crowd of unlikely enthusiasts.
"Del epitomizes the bluegrass musician from the previous era, and also this one...You can finally make a living playing bluegrass, and a large part of it is because of Del McCoury...For him to have come along this far is a testament to his will to stick it out, but at the same time, when he saw that he was going to be able to do it, he started really, really enjoying it, and that's when he started making the best music of his career." says acclaimed resonator guitarist, member of Alison Krauss + Union Station, and producer of several of McCoury's albums, Jerry Douglas.
On Saturday February 22nd, The Del McCoury will perform at the Virginia Key GrassRoots Festival at 5:30pm. The Festival will take place just minutes from downtown Miami at the Historic Virginia Key Beach Park, located across from the Seaquarium on the Rickenbacker Causeway, en route to Key Biscayne. The event takes place over 4 days, with over 50 performing groups, beach camping available, a huge Kids Village, musical instrument and dance workshops, and much more.
Along with the Del McCoury Band, Festival performers on Saturday February 22nd, 2014 include Donna The Buffalo, Elizabeth Cook, Oliver Mtukudzi & the Black Spirits, ChocQuibTown, John Brown's Body, Driftwood, Preston Frank & His Solieau Zydeo Band, Monsieur Perine, and many more. Day tickets for Saturday are $35 in advance or $40 at the gate, 4-Day tickets are $100 in advance, $120 at the gate.
