It’s not often you get two legendary acts in one show – but hold onto your seats, because we’re giving you the opportunity to experience just that here at City Winery Chicago! Del McCoury and David “Dawg” Grisman are visiting us on October 8th for two shows, and we want you to be there.
Del McCoury has been a staple of bluegrass music for more than 50 years. You might not have guessed a hard working bartender from Baltimore would have gotten into the Bluegrass music world, but as his passion for the new genre, and the banjo, grew, Del made a name for himself. As Del said himself, “everybody else was crazy about Elvis – but I loved Earl [Scruggs]”.
Del’s professional music career began more than 50 years ago, when he joined the father of bluegrass music Bill Monroe’s Blue Grass Boys in early 1963. After almost a year, Monroe had switched Del from banjo to guitar, and made him his lead singer. However, in order to provide for his new and growing family, Del took a break from launching his own music career and moved back to Pennsylvania, his birth state.
Not able to stay away from the music for too long, Del formed a band called The Dixie Pals, and by 1986, both of his sons had joined the band as well. In 1992, the Del McCoury Band made the big move to Nashville, where their music would take off and turn them into the name they are today.
It was in the mid-60s that Del and Dawg (a nickname given to David Grisman by good friend and fellow musician Jerry Garcia) first met; ever since then, they have collaborated on and off, twice before at City Winery Chicago.
Just like Del, Grisman has always been a strong name in bluegrass music. Dawg grew up in New Jersey and learned to play the mandolin as a teenager in the style of Bill Monroe. As time went on, Dawg incorporated new genres into his bluegrass sound, sounds like jazz and contemporary music. A member of countless bands, Dawg’s career took a turn when he founded Acoustic Disc in 1990 where he produced 67 critically acclaimed CDs, five of which were Grammy-nominated. Grisman has been on tour for almost 50 years continuously!
The epitome of a bluegrass dynamic duo, Del and Dawg have been making music for over 100 years combined. Separately, these two have been to City Winery Chicago 12 times, and have been here together twice, with two sold-out shows. That 100 years of musical experience is coming to our stage once again on Saturday, October 8th.
These two captivating, light-hearted artists will be here for two shows, at 5:30 & 8:30pm. For tickets, go to http://bit.ly/DelDawgCWC. We can’t wait for you to experience this iconic duo!