The Grand Ole Opry is set to honor Opry member and beloved bluegrass legend Del McCoury, in celebration of his 80th birthday with a special Wednesday night “Grand Del Opry” February 13th.
McCoury, who will mark his milestone 80th birthday on February 1, will be joined on stage for the “Grand Del Opry” by members of his award-winning Del McCoury Band plus friends and fellow award-winners Sam Bush, Vince Gill, Ricky Skaggs, Marty Stuart, and The Travelin’ McCourys, as well as others to be announced soon.
McCoury first played the Opry in 1963 as a member of Bill Monroe’s Blue Grass Boys. Countless albums, festivals and awards later, McCoury, by then heading his Del McCoury Band (now the most awarded band in bluegrass), became an official Grand Ole Opry member in 2003. He was invited to join the cast while accepting an International Bluegrass Music Association Award for Entertainer of the Year, an award he has won nine times. In 2011, he was elected to the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame. McCoury’s own festival DelFest, is entering its 12th year and has become one of the premier string band events in the country, regularly listed as one of the top 5 must-see festivals in the country. DelFest has featured artists ranging from Vince Gill and Dierks Bentley to String Cheese Incident, Trey Anastasio, and Richard Thompson, and of course a fan-favorite each year, The Travelin’ McCourys, the group spawned to carry on McCoury’s legacy for decades to come.
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