A new studio album from the Del McCoury Band‏

The Year of Del McCoury Continues With Release of New Studio Album

Nashville, TN, September 1, 2009: Released to great acclaim earlier this year, the epic Celebrating 50 Years Of Del McCoury boxed set might have appeared to be the summary and crowning achievement of a fabled career. But with the release of Family Circle on October 27th, the Del McCoury Band serves notice that the final chapter of the bluegrass patriarch’s story has yet to be written—and that there are still a few surprises left, too. Recorded this summer at sessions sandwiched between appearances at some of the country’s most popular and prestigious festivals—Merlefest, Bonnaroo, Grey Fox, and McCoury’s own mind-bending Delfest—Family Circle is a potent blend of old and new that finds Del and the boys (sons Ronnie and Rob, fiddler Jason Carter and bass player Alan Bartram) ranging more widely than ever for songs and arrangements.
Favorite writers like Billy Smith and Shawn Camp are back with new entries, along with Californian Joe New, whose “She Can’t Burn Me Now” was a highlight of McCoury’s Grammy-winning The Company We Keep, and Del revives pop classic “I Remember You” (learned from country singer Slim Whitman’s version), but like the pitchmen say, wait—there’s more. McCoury tends to his roots with “Sweet Appalachia” (from West Virginia’s Alan Johnston) and “Revenuer’s Blues,” written by Rob McCoury and long-time buddy (and hit songwriter) Ronnie Bowman, but he also grabs up songs from country and Americana’s Jim Lauderdale, Verlon Thompson and Buddy & Julie Miller—the McCoury reading of their “Does My Ring Burn Your Finger,” a hit for Lee Ann Womack, is one of the most unexpected and gripping performances in the set—and Dire Straits’ Mark Knopfler, and even throws in a dash of rockabilly with the Charlie Rich-penned Jerry Lee Lewis number, “Break Up.”
Yet no matter its source, each song on Family Circle is accorded a treatment that does perfect justice to its essence while preserving the distinctive sound that’s brought the Del McCoury Band its unexcelled legions of “Del-Head” fans and array of awards—and that balance is the McCoury magic that’s kept them winning new fans while keeping the loyalty of old-timers who have followed Del’s career for decades. Fifty years may have passed since Del’s first days as a bluegrass musician, but today, more than ever, the Del McCoury Band is making some of the freshest and most exciting music around.