York’s own Del McCoury stands alone among the pantheon of music’s finest artists. From the emerging sound of bluegrass that charmed hillbilly honkytonks, rural schoolhouse stages and the crowning glory of the Grand Ole Opry to the present-day culture-buzz of viral videos and digital streams, McCoury is the living link.

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From his humble beginnings in York County, PA nearly eighty years ago, Del McCoury was not the likeliest of candidates for legendary status. As a teen, he was captivated by the banjo playing of one of its masters, Earl Scruggs, and decided he’d be a banjo picker, too. The Baltimore/Washington, D.C. bar scene of the early 1960s was lively and rough. Del caught a break… and joined Bill Monroe’s Blue Grass Boys in early 1963. Considered the Father of Bluegrass, Monroe transformed McCoury, moving him from the banjo to guitar, anointing him lead singer, and providing him with a priceless trove of bluegrass teachings.

Now helming the Del McCoury Band with sons Ronnie and Rob, the ensemble did and continues to represent in a larger, growing musical community a peerless torchbearer for the entire sweep and scope of bluegrass history. Those many years, not to mention a good-natured willingness to stay alert to the latest sounds and opportunities around him, earned McCoury a whole new generation of fans, including some in unlikely places.