The Family (Ceili Music, 1999) was the Del McCoury Band’s first album for Ricky Skaggs’s new Ceili Music label. The band on the record is Del McCoury on guitar and lead vocals, his sons Ronnie on mandolin and Rob on banjo, Jason Carter on fiddle and Mike Bub on bass; Carter and Bub had joined in 1992. Jerry Douglas plays dobro and is credited as producer, with Ronnie McCoury as co-producer. Béla Fleck sings baritone on “A Far Cry,” Bobby Osborne adds tenor on “Don’t You Think It’s Time to Go,” and Douglas sings baritone on “Cryin’ Heart Blues.”
Del McCoury had joined Bill Monroe’s Blue Grass Boys in February 1963 and left in February 1964; with a banjo player already in the band, he played guitar and sang. On this album he wrote “The Look of a Perfect Diamond” and “50/50 Chance.” The twelve tracks also include two songs by Mark Simos (“Don’t You Think It’s Time to Go” and “City of Stone”), John Sebastian’s “Nashville Cats,” Monroe’s “Get Down on Your Knees and Pray,” Jimmy Martin’s “She’s Left Me Again,” and Ronnie McCoury’s instrumental “Red Eyes on a Mad Dog.” The band was named IBMA Entertainer of the Year in 1999.
Tracklist
- 1 A Far Cry 2:37
- 2 Don't You Think It's Time to Go 2:16
- 3 The Look of a Perfect Diamond 2:30
- 4 Backslidin' Blues 3:28
- 5 Nashville Cats Source Recording 3:41
- 6 Get Down on Your Knees and Pray alt version 3:44
- 7 Red Eyes on a Mad Dog 2:44
- 8 50/50 Chance 2:57
- 9 City of Stone 3:59
- 10 On the Lonesome Wind 2:56
- 11 She's Left Me Again 2:53
- 12 Cryin' Heart Blues 2:59
