The Travelin’ McCourys

Cutting Their Own Grade on the Bluegrass Parkway

When the Travelin’ McCourys were formed almost a decade and a half ago, the thought that crossed everyone’s mind was that Del McCoury was now in his 70s and was needing, and deserving of, a less hectic schedule on the bluegrass trail. 

Not only had Del been playing bluegrass music for well over 40 years by that point, he had also worked his share of blue collar jobs for the majority of his life as well. That lasted until he moved his family to Nashville in the early-1990s to get the Del McCoury Band over the hump and onto the top tier of the bluegrass genre. What that ultimately meant was that Del had two careers that added to his wear and tear over the years.

“My Dad worked hard all of his life, from being a child on a farm all of the way to just every kind of job you can think of,” said Ronnie McCoury. “He always wanted to be outside to work, and he even got into the logging business. When he worked timber, he always wore blue jeans and a thick shirt and he would wear those coveralls when they had to work in the wintertime up in Pennsylvania. He told me that when they worked in the cold wintertime, with usually a three or four man team, they would have to get underneath the skidder, which they used to pull the logs out of the woods, and build a fire underneath it to get the oil pan hot enough and the oil thin enough to get the machine to turn over. He would work from sun up to sun down and he was always pretty quiet when he would come home on those rough days. We always waited until he came home to eat dinner, and when he wouldn’t say a whole lot, you knew he had a long, hard day.”

Del’s wife Jean McCoury had a similar work ethic.  “When I was 18 and I had just got out of school, about 1985, that was the year that Dad quit logging and we tried to work more as a band,” said Ronnie McCoury. “But even then, my Mom continued to work at a factory, and even when we moved to Tennessee, she was like, ‘I have to get a job.’ She was 50 then, and Dad was 54, I think, when we got to Nashville.”

The point is, a lot of folks are retired by the time they are 70, and when Del McCoury was that age, he naturally felt a bit of the ravages of time from spending long days and nights on the road and due to nearly a half century of physical labor on top of it. Therefore, taking some time off from a full touring schedule was his just reward, so why not let the younger generation in his band keep rolling on while he relaxed at home?

There is more to the story of the creation of the Travelin’ McCourys, however, as it was Del’s idea for his sons and the rest of his band to form a new group so they could record and tour on their own, and a lot of his reasoning had to do with his generation’s approach to work and life.

When I interviewed Ralph Stanley II a while ago, he told me that his legendary dad Ralph Stanley suggested that he form his own band and go out on the road by himself because ‘being in a band is not the same as running a band,’ and running a band was something he needed to learn to do on his own.  

It is an old school philosophy, as in “you have to do it to learn it,” and that was Del’s thoughts as well.  “Dad was looking at his age and at his health and said, ‘If something happens to my voice or something happens to me, I wouldn’t want you boys just to start cold, so why don’t you get out there and test the water,’” said Ronnie McCoury. “He had that conversation with us. And, it was a good thing to do and the best thing for us. Now, as Dad is in his golden years, I’d just as soon play with him. But, I also know what we have to do, and what I have to do, to continue to grow from who I am as a musician.”

Brother Rob McCoury agrees.  “Well, the Travelin’ McCourys was my Dad’s idea, actually,” said Rob McCourty. “He said, ‘If I was to get to where I couldn’t do what I’m doing, you boys might have to start over and that could be rough. You ought to get something going on your own now so when the time comes, you’re not starting from scratch.’”

As fate, luck, and the desire to take care of one’s self has shown, Del McCoury is still going strong now at 85 years of age. His recent two-set gig on the Doc Watson Stage in the Appalachian Theatre in Boone, North Carolina, and his powerful set at Poppy Mountain a month or so ago, where a lot of the festival’s lineup took a chair out front to watch, are proof that Del is still doing amazing shows. That means that, by the grace of God and considering the fact that Father Time is undefeated, bluegrass fans have experienced over a decade of both bands making great music.

To further prove that notion, right before these interviews were done with the members of the Travelin’ McCourys in July, the Del McCoury Band was nominated for the 2024 IBMA Entertainer of the Year and the Vocal Group of The Year awards while the Travelin’ McCourys were nominated separately for the 2024 IBMA Instrumental Group Of The Year award. On top of that, Del was nominated for Male Vocalist of the Year, Rob was nominated for Banjo Player of the Year, Cody Kilby was nominated for Guitarist of the Year, and Jason Carter was nominated for Fiddler Of The Year.  All of this, of course, begs the question – what is the difference between the Del McCoury Band and the Travelin’ McCourys? 

Both groups, of course, feature Ronnie and Rob McCoury, Jason Carter and Alan Bartram, and the latter group brought in the great Cody Kilby long ago to inhabit the guitar chair.  To highlight the separate flavors of each band, we decided to ask the band members about their dual life in the bluegrass genre.

What is the difference between playing in the Del McCoury Band and in the Travelin’ McCourys?

Ronnie McCoury – “The obvious difference is that everyone in the Travelin’ McCourys sings, and everyone gets to be in the spotlight a little bit more. We have a new album coming out in the fall, for instance, and Rob will sing on one cut and Cody will sing on another song. And, as a band, we have a different take on some of the songs that we play and we get to stretch some songs out when we want to do it. That is something that I always liked to hear, as I listened to bands like the David Grisman Quintet and New Grass Revival early on and they did that kind of thing. I enjoyed that, but we never really did that with my Dad, except for songs like ‘My Love Will Not Change,’ which is one that has become kind of a jam tune. Those kind of tunes make your mind work in an improvisational way, and I like that.”

Rob McCoury – “Starting the new band definitely did free us up, plus it made us have to get out there and try to find our own material and do our own thing. It can be difficult to find songs that you really like enough to record, and then probably have to play onstage on most nights. I learned from Dad years ago when he said, ‘Don’t ever record a song that you don’t really like because as sure as you do it, that will be the song that everybody else likes and they will request that thing every day. That is the song that everybody is going to love and they are going to want you to sing it every night.’ So, we are always looking for good material to play and record. Sometimes you hear a song from another genre and think, ‘Man, we could do that our way and it might be pretty cool.’ At the same time, all of us do a little songwriting and we have cut songs that Alan and Ronnie have written, and we also have songwriting buddies who will pitch us songs as well.”

Jason Carter – “With Del, he is the star of the show and with our concerts, they definitely all revolve around him and rightly so. And, Del features us all in his shows. I always play a fiddle tune and everybody in the band gets to sing or play a tune. But after that, he goes straight into doing requests from the audience. With the Travelin’ McCourys, we are all featured a little more. I will sing three or four songs during a set, and everybody else will do about the same amount. And now, Cody and Rob have started singing at least one song per night. So, it is kind of cool as its not just one front man, but instead it is a band of several voices and great talents.”

Alan Bartram – “As much as the Travelin’ McCourys are the same as Del’s band, as it obviously contains the same four guys, it is still a lot different. The presentation is different. The material is different. Jason, Ronnie and myself do most of the singing, but Cody is singing now and Rob is as well, so it adds up to a really different show. It is nice to have that outlet. Plus, it is fun to do the other things we do as well. For instance, Ronnie was the spearhead for doing the Grateful Dead sets. At the time, I was kind of into the Dead’s music, yet I had never really dug deep into it. But, once I started learning their material and digging into their songs, I realized what a great songbook that they created. They came up with some really timeless and classic songs, and I have really grown fond of playing them.”

What has it been like to have Cody Kilby become the permanent guitarist in the Travelin’ McCourys?

Ronnie McCoury – “Cody did the first road date that we ever did as the Travelin’ McCourys, which was a show at the Wintergrass Festival in Washington State. Cody had been with Ricky Skaggs for over 15 years. But, we weren’t ready to hire anybody then because we weren’t working enough. So, for a while, we had every guitarist in the world play with us, like Dan Tyminski, Jeff White, Bill Nershi, and we even backed up Tony Rice and Peter Rowan on a couple of runs before we decided to hire a guitar player. But, Cody kept being the top choice for us. He is such a musical guy, and Rob, Jason and I have known him since he was a little fellow. Cody was a prodigy who could play almost any instrument as a kid. Now, he is one of the best that is in this business.”

Rob McCoury – “Man, Cody is incredible. He is one of those guys that if you give it to him and let him have it, he will play as long as you want him to, and he never plays it the same way twice. He is so musical and is a real asset to this band. It got to the point when we started to play more, we realized it is good to have a band member that knows the repertoire. You don’t want a different person coming in all of the time, because then, we would have to teach each new player all of our songs and arrangements.”   

Jason Carter – “I am proud to see that Cody has been nominated again for the 2024 IBMA Guitar Player of the Year award. Cody won that about two years ago, and he is hard to beat. He is as good a guitar player as they come. Picking Cody as the permanent guitarist was not a hard decision at all for me. We brought in a lot of guitarists early on, and I think we named them all on our first album as ‘honorary Travelin’ McCourys.’ Bill Nershi played with us a few times, as did Jeff White, Brett Bass, Andy Falco of the Stringdusters, and Bryan Sutton, and it was a matter of whoever we could get to play with us for a while. But, when we began to play more shows and it was time to hire someone full time, Cody was ready to make the move.”

Cody Kilby – “That first gig that I ever did with the Travelin’ McCourys out in Washington State, I think we rehearsed for maybe 30 minutes in a hotel room before we played the show. Looking back on it now, it just totally clicked when it came down to musicianship and friendship and what we all liked to do. Little by little, I was doing more dates with them when I wasn’t working for Ricky Skaggs, up until 2015 when I took the full time job. I loved playing with Ricky, of course, as he is a very special talent and a great guy. But, I was just looking to do something different. Not in a bad way, but I had been with Ricky for 14 years and in the nicest way, I was looking for something fresh. With the Travelin’ McCourys, we do the jamband Grateful Dead stuff now and again, and we are plugged in so it can be a bit louder than the Del McCoury Band shows. And, as musicians, we get to stretch solos out more. If you are feeling it that night and feel like going for a while, go for it. If not, usually using eye contact with each other, you just pass the torch. Sometimes I’ll get done with a solo and think, ‘Dang, I went way too long.’ But, they have never told me to stop, and that is what makes our shows a different beast every night.”