Nashville, TN….Bluegrass giant Del McCoury passes another career milestone on Tuesday, October 27th, when he’ll simultaneously release Family Circle, his band’s first full non-gospel studio release since 2005’s Grammy winner, and announce the initial lineup for the 2010 edition of his popular DelFest music festival.
The double-barrelled occasion caps one of the legend’s busiest years yet, starting with the release of a critically acclaimed, career-spanning boxed set, and including appearances at premiere festivals like the New Orleans Jazz Fest, Merlefest, High Sierra, Bonnaroo, the Newport Jazz Fest and the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival—along with a weather-challenged spring DelFest that became a triumph of good-spirited community over adversity.
Kicking off both aspects of the day, Del will visit IBMA Broadcaster of the Year Katy Daley on WAMU’s Bluegrass Country (http://www.bluegrasscountry.org) at 9 am EDT to announce the DelFest lineup, air selections from Family Circle and take calls from fans.
DelFest has quickly become one of the premier music festivals in America. Set at the beautiful Allegany County Fairgrounds in Cumberland Maryland, the first two years saw performances by Old Crow Medicine Show, Vince Gill, Sam Bush, David Grisman, Dierks Bentley, Dark Star Orchestra, J.D. Crowe, Leftover Salmon, among others. With such a varied mix of headliners, the DelFest team of McCoury Music and High Sierra had their work cut out for them to put together a lineup for the 3rd annual event that would measure up to the first two years—and though the lineup is not yet complete, the initial lineup to be announced on the 27th should surpass them.
Though Family Circle becomes available for purchase on the 27th, the album has been available for streaming online at delmccouryband.com, and early responses have been overwhelmingly positive. Not content to rest on his laurels, McCoury took charge of production for the project, and the result is a compelling and deeply personal set of bluegrass and more, crafted by an ensemble—sons Ron (mandolin) and Rob (banjo), along with long-time fiddler Jason Carter and bass man Alan Bartram—that’s capable of following their leader anywhere his musical sense of adventure takes him. “I pretty much put this together on my own—and I really like it,” Del says with his typically genial reserve. “I didn’t start out to do something different, but that’s how it turned out!”
Early bird tickets available at www.delfest.com and a free track download and full album streaming available at www.delmccouryband.com.
