As will be evident throughout this weekend's 37th annual Delaware Valley Bluegrass Festival, bluegrass is an expansive but deeply traditional genre.
Del McCoury, who plays tonight, is as deeply rooted in the bluegrass tradition as they come. He got his start playing and singing with the legendary Bill Monroe in the '60s. His band, which includes his sons Ronnie and Rob, still harmonizes around a single microphone when it performs. He's also bluegrass' greatest ambassador, relentlessly touring, beloved by Phish-heads and other jam band fans. He takes chances such as on
The Mountain,
his 1999 collaboration with Steve Earle.
But the new
Moneyland
finds the 69-year-old in the unfamiliar role of social and political commentator. The multi-artist compilation, out on McCoury Music, focuses on the economic hardships faced by rural farmers and factory workers at the hands of corporate greed and political neglect. It's framed by excerpts from FDR's Depression-era fireside chats, and features four new Del McCoury Band tracks, including a bluegrass take on the Beatles' "When I'm 64" that turns the song into a comment on Social Security benefits, a humorous look at a yuppie farm owner called "40 Acres and a Fool," and the title track, a Pete Seeger-like diatribe by former Greenbriar Boy John Herald.
Merle Haggard, who has three tracks on the album, has often made his politics overt in his songs, but not so McCoury, whose last album was a collection of gospel songs.
"I've never recorded anything like these songs," he says from his home near Nashville. "But we kind of thought, it's really tough for so many folks in this country. I grew up on a farm, and I have a lot of passion for farmers. I know what they go through; it's just hard work every day, you know. Of course, the corporate farmers, they're doing good, but the family farmers, they can't make a living on a farm anymore."
Don't expect any politicking from McCoury this weekend, however. He was uncomfortable when John Edwards' presidential campaign tried to use an advance version of
Moneyland
18 months ago, and while he knows the album is timely in an election year, he doesn't want to tell anyone how to vote.
"I don't know how to fix it," he says of the plight of rural workers. "I don't know if anybody knows how to fix it. Just that, we thought, at least we can sing about it and maybe call attention to a few things."