Alan Bartram

He was born on 19 April 1977. Before joining the McCourys he sang harmony on Becky Buller’s Little Bird (Bell Buckle, 2004) and joined the Kenny & Amanda Smith Band, making his first record with them on Always Never Enough (Rebel, 2005), with Jason Robertson, also new, on mandolin. He played bass on six tracks of the Infamous Stringdusters’ first album, Fork in the Road (Sugar Hill, 2007), among them “40 West” and “Letter from Prison,” sharing the album with the band’s regular bassist, Travis Book.

In 2005 he replaced Mike Bub, who had held the bass chair in the Del McCoury Band since 1992. With Del, Ronnie and Rob McCoury and the fiddler Jason Carter he recorded Family Circle (McCoury Music, 2009), playing bass throughout and singing baritone. When Ronnie and Rob, Carter and Bartram began working without Del, a first tour with the gospel and funk band the Lee Boys in January 2009 started the Travelin’ McCourys, who used a rotating set of guitarists, among them Jeff Autry, Ronnie Bowman and Jeff White, until Cody Kilby joined in 2015. The band made Pick (SciFidelity, 2012) with Keller Williams, and from 2016 toured the Grateful Ball, a bluegrass tribute to the Grateful Dead. He also played bass in 2015 on the debut album of Band of Ruhks.

The IBMA’s bass award in 2017 made the Travelin’ McCourys, by the band’s own account, the only group each of whose members had won an IBMA award on his instrument. By 2026 the band’s fiddler was Christian Ward, Carter having left to pursue a solo career, while Bartram and the McCourys continued in both bands.