The Del McCoury Band - It's Just The Night (CD)

bracing and novel, yet still respecting tradition

By Joe Ross  Oct 13, 2003

Pros: Great Playing and Singing

Cons: None

The band's signature sound is best described as bracing and novel, yet still respecting the sideboards of traditional presentation. I'd sure like to know more about their song selection process, and how they decide what songs to adapt to the...ir bluegrass presentation. In keeping with a past winning formula, this project, their first on their own new McCoury Music label, opens and closes with two Richard Thompson love-gone-wrong pieces, "Dry My Tears and Move On," and "Two-Faced Love." And whoever would've thought that they'd cover Delbert McClinton and Gary Nicholson's "Same Kind of Crazy As Me," but why not? The song emphasizes the blues in bluegrass. Young country musician and excellent songwriter Shawn Camp co-penned the spirited "My Love Will Not Change" with Billy Burnett. Other numbers come from various other well-known Nashville musicians and songwriters like Austin Cunningham, Verlon Thompson, and Charley Stefl, and ones I know less about like Ron Smith, Linda Gifford, and H.R. Cook.All of us baby boomer bluegrassers should be able to relate to Smith's waltz-timed "Let An Old Racehorse Run," and Del's modulation to a higher key reinforces the message and shows that he still feels his oats too. A perfect song for Halloween, the slower title track appears a third into the album, and the Fairfield Four's spooky vocal fills contrast to Del's confident assurances. It's nice to see the band's solely instrumental barnburner, "Hillcrest Drive," come from the pen of their own Ronnie McCoury. And with a strong nod to tradition, Don Reno's "I Can Hear the Angels Singing," showcases the band's dynamic quartet. Solidly contemporary bluegrass in styling, but lacking something unique, is "I'm Afraid I Forgot the Feelin'" that comes from Dan Presley and his son, Jeff, guitarist with the Virginia-based bluegrass group, Shenandoah Blue. "Mill Towns" comes from David Francey, a Canadian folk singer and songwriter/storyteller, and it tells of many industrial towns' demise as residents moved elsewhere in search of work. Lyrics for all songs are included, but it's interesting that we never find the band members credited within the album jacket. The entire record gives us an inspired musical journey from some entertaining bluegrassers with adventurous tastes. You couldn't ask for much better playing and singing. It's fun to hear a familiar old Gospel number as much as it is to hear them deliver, with impeccable musicianship, tunes from contemporary country, bluegrass and folk songsmiths. That may be partly why we're seeing this group in front of different kinds of audiences from performing art centers to mixed bag festivals, jamgrass events to traditional festivals. The Del McCoury Band has been seminal in the continuing stylistic interpretation, definition and growth of present-day bluegrass music. That may be the best reason why this album belongs in your collection. (Joe Ross, staff writer, Bluegrass Now) Read more Less