Stagestruck

THE DEL MCCOURY BAND
@Austin City Limits, Austin, TX
July 31, 2001
In the opinion of a few dedicated fans, Austin City Limits doesn't host bluegrass shows nearly often enough, so the presence on the venerable stage of the Del McCoury Band, AKA the best bluegrass band in the world, was more than welcome. Drawing mostly from their latest album Del and the Boys, the quintet ripped through a twelve-song set of catchy tunes that mined tradition faithfully while at the same time sounded utterly contemporary. Kicking off with a surprising cover of Richard Thompson's "1952 Vincent Black Lightning" (which also opens the album), the boys sang the blues ("Learning the Blues," "I Feel the Blues Movin' In," "Travelin' Teardrop Blues"), told stories ("The King's Shilling"), spread the gospel ("Recovering Pharisee," "Get Down On Your Knees and Pray"), kissed off a bad romance ("Count Me Out"), celebrated the music they love ("Bluegrass Country") and the musicians they share a town with ("Nashville Cats") and revitalized the train-as-death metaphor with the thrilling but unsettling "All Aboard." Mandolinist Ronnie McCoury also showed off his eight-string chops with an original instrumental, "Goldbrickin'," and an encore of Bill Monroe's classic "Rawhide." The McCoury Band features smart song selection, the best musicians in bluegrass (Ronnie, banjoist Rob McCoury, bassist Mike Bub and fiddler Jason Carter) and a stunningly soulful singer (Del himself), but that's not what made this performance special. What set it apart was, believe it or not, the mistakes. Del occasionally forgot lyrics, Ronnie's licks sometimes outran even his lightning fingers, and they blew the opening to "All Aboard" multiple times. It was a nice reminder that this is music made by human beings rather than machines, and that even a band as tight and talented as the McCourys playing a music as precision-dependent as bluegrass can fuck up once in a while. Besides, no matter how unsteady the boat became, the band always righted itself before capsizing. For the Del McCoury Band, this performance was a demonstration of pure, unvarnished soul. Michael Toland