via Gary Jared / courtesy of Del McCoury / DelFest
Across his six decades of making classic albums, Del McCoury knows what he’s looking for in a song. “I like a challenge. I’ve always liked a challenge,” says Del. “I like to learn different things. Doing the same things is mundane to me.”
It’s not every day that a bluegrass legend like Del McCoury finds himself playing to the biggest crowd of his career at a rock festival. But that’s exactly what happened when Phish invited him to their sweltering 1999 Camp Oswego festival, where he performed before an audience of 77,000 on the second day.
This unlikely collaboration was years in the making, rooted in Phish’s occasional bluegrass side quests and deep respect for McCoury’s music.
Del McCoury, a name synonymous with bluegrass music, has been a vital force in the genre for over six decades. From playing proverbial Nashville institutions like the Ryman Auditorium and Grand Ole Opry to mentoring and recording with rising stars like Billy Strings, Del’s journey through the music industry is as vibrant as the tunes he plays. His new album, Songs Of Love and Life, features an eclectic mix of new songs and covers, from Elvis to Roy Orbison, showcasing his versatility, constant reinvention, and love for variety.
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Yet, one of the most intriguing chapters of Del’s storied career is how he veered into the musical orbit of the improvisational rock band Phish.
Phish first covered McCoury’s upbeat bluegrass tune “Beauty of My Dreams” on February 16, 1997, in Cologne, Germany, during their winter European tour. The performance, which was rebroadcast on German television, marked the beginning of a special relationship between the two acts. “Beauty of My Dreams” became a staple in Phish’s set lists, appearing 54 times since its debut. This song has seen various memorable renditions, including a notable version on October 7, 2023, at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena, where Trey Anastasio gave a shout out to Del before launching into the tune.
You can listen to my conversation with Del in the Apple Podcast player below on your device of choice, in the inaugural episode of The Mostly Occasionally Show. Subscribe on Apple or Spotify!
The story about Del playing with Phish starts towards the middle of the conversation, around the 29:40 mark.
The Unexpected Call from Phish
Del remembers the moment he was invited to Phish’s Camp Oswego. “I knew they recorded my song, and they called either my manager or my booking agent, and they said, ‘Hey, we wanna book Del and the Boys up at our festival.’ So I remember him saying that. Now, this is a rock festival. I don’t know if you wanna play it or not. And I said, ‘Well, I don’t care as long as it’s a date.'”
The festival in question was Phish’s summer extravaganza, and the idea of a bluegrass legend performing at a rock festival was both bizarre and brilliant. Del, ever the adventurer since his days on the road in Bill Monroe’s band, took the plunge.
Meeting Phish
“When I got there,” Del recounts with a chuckle, “Trey, the leader, Trey Anastasio, he’s kind of the leader of the band and plays guitar and sings. When I got there, he said, ‘Now we wanna do some songs on stage with you all too.’ And I said, ‘Oh, oh, I don’t know if this is gonna work.'”
The cultural chasm between the psychedelic jams of Phish and Del’s bluegrass roots seemed vast. But music, as Del would soon discover, has a way of finding common ground.
Phish, it turns out, were not only fans but also scrappy bluegrass musicians themselves. Phish fans, of course, know that bluegrass has always had its place in the band’s musical lore. Buegrass standards like “Nellie Kane” and “Old Home Place” were woven into their set lists since the early 1990s, with the band even recording a ragtag documentary called “The Bluegrass Sessions” in 1994.
Del recalls, “He said, ‘Now we could do that song that you wrote, we can do that with you, but what else do you think would be good for us to do?’ And I thought, oh man, I have no idea what to do with you guys.”
The uncertainty didn’t last long. “He said, ‘Do you know a song Blue and Lonesome?’ And I said, ‘Well, I know a Blue and Lonesome, but I don’t think it’s the same one that you do’… ‘Cause their band was so different from ours, you know?”
via Rob Laughter / courtesy of Del McCoury / DelFest
77,000 Strong
Seventy-seven thousand. It was, as Del acknowledges, probably the largest crowd he had ever played for. “I’d played to some pretty big… See, when I was with Bill Monroe, he was still playing what they call package shows. They’d package him along with say, Roy Acuff or Webb Pierce or George Jones, and we played some big crowds then.”
Del vividly remembers the Camp Oswego collaboration. The crowd was an ocean of Phish fans from all over the world, gathered at an airport in Upstate New York in broiling hot July temperatures.
Del continues, recalling his conversation with Trey about “Blue and Lonesome” taking the stage in front of the massive audience.
“He said, ‘Well, I’ll tell you what, it’s the one that Bill Monroe and Hank Williams wrote.’
‘Oh.’ I said, ‘I used to do that every night with Bill Monroe till I got sick of it.’ And I said, ‘You know that song?’ Yeah, I know that song. He said, ‘You want to try singing it?’ I said, ‘Yeah.’ I said, ‘What part do you want me to sing? The lead or the tenor?’ And he said, ‘No, no, I can’t sing tenor. You have to do that part.'”
Del recounts with a laugh, “So we did it on stage, and then we figured out. From that, I thought, well, these guys know more about this music we do than I thought they did, you know? And then we figured out some other things I think I’d recorded. I knew there was a big crowd there, but I didn’t know how big till later on they told me there was 77,000 people there.”
“Was that one of the biggest crowds you’ve ever played to?,” I ask.
“I think it might’ve been,” Del recalls. “I think it was. I’d played to some pretty big… See, when I was with Bill Monroe, he was still playing what they call package shows. They’d package him along with say, Roy Acuff or Webb Pierce or George Jones, and we played some big crowds then. In fact, we played the first, we played a date in Detroit at the Civic Centre was the first day that Hank Jr., ever did a big stage. He was, I was backstage in the green room… Just standing around back there and Bill Monroe and Red Foley, the old country singer were standing there talking. Well, this guy starts singing on the stage and I didn’t pay no attention to it. But Red, he said, wait a minute here. He said, ‘I got to hear this.’ So he ran out there and he came back and he said, I thought I was hearing a ghost. It was Hank Jr. And he was singing all of his old dad’s old songs, and he was 14.”
via Gary Jared / courtesy of Del McCoury / DelFest
“His mom was putting him out on the road ’cause she’d be going, I’ll make some money with this kid,” Del laughs.
“Go into the family business,” I quip.
“Yeah, yeah,” he continues. “And so that was his debut. Great big debut. And so, yeah, we played to big crowds, but I don’t think it was ever 77,000 people till that day.”
A Mutual Respect
At Camp Oswego, the Del McCoury Band played on a side stage before taking the main festival stage with Phish on the second day of the festival. Del and the boys sat in on Phish’s “Back on the Train,” which debuted just two weeks earlier on that summer 1999 tour, followed by three Del songs:
- “If You Need a Fool”
- “I’m Blue, I’m Lonesome”
- “Beauty of My Dreams.”
During “I’m Blue I’m Lonesome,” Del McCoury broke a string, sparking a lively bluegrass breakdown as the band filled the time while he swapped it out.
Del McCoury’s Oswego guest spot wasn’t the first time a McCoury played with Phish. Just a couple weeks before, on July 1, 1999, in Antioch, Tennessee outside Nashville, Phish performed “Beauty of My Dreams” with Jerry Douglas on dobro, Tim O’Brien on fiddle, and Ronnie McCoury, Del’s son, on mandolin.
It opened the door for a collaborative month between the Phish world and the McCoury’s slick, suit-wearing bluegrass world. It wasn’t the last time their paths crossed. In 2017, Trey headlined DelFest with the Trey Anastasio Band, running it back with “Blue and Lonesome” at Del’s namesake early summer bluegrass festival in Cumberland, Maryland.
Songs Of Love and Life
“I don’t do as many fast songs as I used to do years ago,” Del explains when I ask about the album. “They’re hard to come up with. A good, really uptempo song is the hardest thing to find. Medium tempo and slow songs, they’re easy to find. I just don’t have as many fast songs that I used to on the record.”
“But I like it!” Del warbles. “I like the record!”
Produced by Del and his son, Ronnie, Songs of Love and Life is a glorious 15-song collection that follows 2021’s celebrated, Grammy-nominated release, Almost Proud. The album features Del touching down on an eclectic set of tracks—vintage and contemporary—as he and his crackerjack band nod to icons Kenny Rogers, Roy Orbison, and Elvis Presley, and welcome next-generation talent Molly Tuttle to the party on cuts like “She’s Heavenly”.
When Del McCoury leads his band, it’s like a sweet mountain breeze guiding you home. This album captures that sentiment perfectly, bottling up everything that makes Del an American treasure. Del and the boys move through musical eras with the grace of a country waltz, delivering a fresh batch of tunes that’ll stick with you like a favorite old song your grandfather used to hum. Their sound is just as crisp and refreshing as ever, just like spring water from a mountain stream.
On Songs of Love and Life, Del’s music continues to capture the heart and soul of classic Americana. His tenor harmonies blend seamlessly with the band’s precise picking, creating a timeless appeal that’s as comforting as a front porch swing on a summer evening. His voice, rich with the deep sense of roots and longing, touches both new listeners and lifelong fans alike. Every note he sings feels like a warm embrace, carrying the spirit of a timeless American landscape.
Whether you’re just discovering bluegrass or grew up loving it all your life, this album and Del McCoury’s music will captivate you completely.
The Legacy Continues
Del McCoury’s new album might feature Elvis and Orbison covers, but it’s stories like hanging with Phish, Billy Strings, or Lukas Nelson that highlight his influence in the music world. His own adventurous spirit that has kept him on his toes. As he continues to tour and record, Del shows no signs of slowing down.
In his own words, “I look forward to doing it, getting out on stage and singing and talking to the people. You know, I tell you, the audience entertains me more than I entertain them.”
I ask why?
“They’re funny, man,” Del chuckled. “If you just keep your ears open, they say funny things.”