Ronnie McCoury

Ronnie McCoury is a mandolin player, singer, and songwriter born March 16, 1967.[1] He is the son of bluegrass musician Del McCoury, and is best known for his work with the Del McCoury Band.[2] He has also recorded several solo albums.

Ronnie McCoury (mandolin) with Del McCoury Band - Old Settler's Music Festival (2013).

Ronnie McCoury was born in York County, Pennsylvania[3] on March 16, 1967. He was exposed to bluegrass from a young age, as his father had his own band, Del McCoury &The Dixie Pals. At the age of 9 he started taking violin lessons. He took lessons for two years before giving the violin up for sports. When he was 13, after seeing Bill Monroe perform, he decided to try the mandolin. He practiced it for six months before his dad invited him to join the Del McCoury Band. Ronnie joined the band in 1981.

Ronnie graduated from Susquehannock High School in 1985, and in 2009 he and his brother Rob both won the High School's Distinguished Alumni Award.[4]

In 1995 Ronnie and his brother Rob released a self-titled CD on Rounder Records. In 1998 Ronnie teamed up with David Grisman to create the CD titled "Mandolin Extravaganza", which made its appearance on the Acoustic Disc label in 1999. This CD was nominated for a Grammy Award and also won Instrumental Album of the Year and Recorded Event of the Year at the IBMA awards show in October 2000. 2000 also brought along with it Ronnie's first solo project, Heartbreak Town.

Ronnie lists his musical influences as Bill Monroe, David Grisman, Sam Bush, Jerry Douglas, Alan O'Bryant and The Osborne Brothers.

Ronnie currently lives in Nashville, Tennessee. He is married to Allison Bliss, and has two sons and a daughter.

References

  1. ↑ Jay Orr (October 19, 2000). "McCourys Rack Up at Annual Bluegrass Awards". CMT. Retrieved 2010-07-16.
  2. ↑ "The Del McCoury band will play May 10". The Cedartown Standard. May 8, 2003. p. 2. Retrieved 2010-07-16.
  3. ↑ "McCoury's Delfest bridges old-school bluegrass and other music genres...". Winnipeg Free Press. June 3, 2010. Retrieved 2010-07-16. Archived May 31, 2010 at the Wayback Machine
  4. ↑ http://www.sycsd.org/alumni.cfm?subpage=1028578
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