Del McCoury Sings Bluegrass (Arhoolie F 5006, 1968) was recorded on December 9 and 10, 1967, in Glenrock, Pennsylvania, by Chris Strachwitz, the founder of Arhoolie, on portable equipment. Tracy Schwarz arranged the session and wrote the liner notes. Strachwitz had first heard McCoury in May 1963, when he and Bob Pinson produced shows in California with Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys; McCoury, then in the band, sang lead on several songs, and Strachwitz singled out “I Wonder Where You Are Tonight.” McCoury had joined Monroe in March 1963, first on banjo and then on guitar, and stayed about a year.
For the 1967 session McCoury, who by Strachwitz’s account had no regular band at the time, brought together Billy Baker on fiddle, Bill Emerson on banjo and Wayne Yates on mandolin, with Tommy Neal on bass the first day and Dewey Renfro the second. Discogs credits McCoury with lead and tenor vocals, and Emerson and Yates with lead vocals as well. The twelve songs include Johnny Bond’s “I Wonder Where You Are Tonight,” Doc Williams’s “Willie Roy,” Monroe’s “Used to Be,” McCoury’s own “Dreams,” and a Jimmie Rodgers “Blue Yodel,” with “Fire on the Mountain” as an instrumental. Strachwitz called it McCoury’s first album. Arhoolie later reissued it on CD as I Wonder Where You Are Tonight, adding two previously unissued tracks from the same sessions.
Tracklist
- 1 I Wonder Where You Are Tonight alt version 2:40
- 2 Willie Roy 3:58
- 3 Prisoner’s Song alt version 2:29
- 4 You're a Flower in the Wildwood 2:38
- 5 Hey, Hey Bartender 2:39
- 6 Fire on the Mountain alt version 2:03
- 7 Used to Be alt version 1:56
- 8 Dreams alt version 4:18
- 9 Whose Shoulder Will You Cry On alt version 2:13
- 10 Del McCoury Sings Bluegrass alt version 2:44
- 11 Blue Yodel alt version 2:35
- 12 A Beautiful Life alt version 2:23
