Rob McCoury and his older-by-four-years brother, Ronnie, grew up in the music world. Their father is Del McCoury, who has big shoes to fill -- Del is the most awarded artist in bluegrass, garnering nine IBMA Entertainer of the Year awards. He is also a National Heritage Fellow and received a lifetime achievement award from the National Endowment for the Arts. He became a member of the Grand Ole Opry in 2003 and was inducted into the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame in 2011.
Under no pressure, Rob and Ronnie grew up on stage, and it was as natural as anything else they might spend time doing with their dad. Ronnie got his start in music in elementary school by playing the violin. He was 13 when he first saw Bill Monroe perform. He decided to try the mandolin, but Del made him practice for six months before joining his band on stage.
Rob’s entry into Del’s band came later. “My dad’s brother Jerry was a great bass player. He left his bass at our house and I had been thumping around on it to records. One day, my dad was leaving to play at a weekend festival in Bath, New York, and his bass player didn’t show. We didn’t have cell phones then, and my dad waited as long as he could before leaving so he could make the gig that night. He had gotten hold of Ernie Sykes, who said he could play the next two nights, but Dad needed someone that night. He told me to go to my closet and grab a suit and the bass. I got on the bus and played my first show that night. I was familiar with my dad’s material enough to fake it. I ended up staying on bass with the band for about a year before switching to banjo.”
Rob says that playing with seasoned professionals helped. “The guys my dad had in the band were so kind, helpful, and supportive. It was a great environment for a kid. They never got mad at us if we messed up. They just took the time to show us how to do it right.”
Ronnie and Rob still play in the Del McCoury Band, but they also have a side project that has gained a lot of notice. Since its founding in 2008, The Travelin’ McCourys has honored its traditional bluegrass upbringing while exploring innovative new sounds. They recorded their first album, Pick, in 2012 with Keller Williams. The band’s self-titled album won a GRAMMY for Best Bluegrass Album in 2018. Ronnie says that if you put your mind, skills, and ability into it, you can make almost anything work on bluegrass instruments. “That’s a really fun part of this – figuring the new stuff out and surprising the audience.”
An example of that is their version of the Adele song, “Someone Like You,” featuring Sierra Ferrell. Rob says the recording happened in a roundabout way. “Sierra is friends with The Davidson Brothers from West Virginia, who we got to know during the pandemic. We were with Lukas Nelson at Delfest, and we were in a rehearsal room at BMI when someone asked why we were in town. We told them we were there for Delfest, and he thought we said “Adele Fest,” which we thought was funny. Then we started playing around with some Adele songs, and we sang Adele’s “Someone Like You” at Delfest, and Sierra jumped in to sing it. Two weeks later, we were in the studio cutting the song with her.”
The Travelin’ McCourys also pay a bluegrass tribute to the Grateful Dead with their Grateful Ball, which began as a one-off performance in 2016 at a brewery in St. Louis with the Jeff Austin Band. It was so popular that the bands toured together, each playing a set and then joining together to play bluegrass arrangements of Grateful Dead songs. They have since played Grateful Dead music with other artists on more Grateful Ball tours.
The band has a full lineup of seasoned musicians, including fiddler Jason Carter and bassist Alan Bartram on bass, who also plays with the Del McCoury Band. Cody Kilby rounds out The Travelin’ McCourys on guitar. Every member of the ensemble has been recognized with an IBMA award for their instrument at least once. The band was recognized last fall at the 2024 IBMA Bluegrass Music Awards as the Instrumental Group of the Year, and the Del McCoury Band was named Entertainer of the Year.