The Del McCoury Band & The Chieftains - Rain And Snow

[blues917]

Del McCoury Band & The Chieftains; what an Incredible Tandem! Thanks for the great post, tarodnet.

[GratefulVince]

I've loved this song forever being A HUGE Grateful Dead fan. Their cover is the best but I love this one too.

[blueridger28]

Makes me wonder about those 9 sick fucks that "Dislike" this video. Strange?

[jeanhartely]

One of the Grateful Dead's most enduring pieces. It shows how tuned into old music Jerry was.

[chronosynclastic8]

White people have forgotten how to dance............

[The72137able]

The fiddle player in this band is the best and doesn't get near the credit that the

rest of them get. I love them all and there is no end to their talent. Its a God given

gift no doubt.

[DERAG0TH]

Fiddle player gonna take yer mans eye.

[noseeumish]

Theye performed this song at Merlefest 2011 last Friday. Amazing. Best high lonesome still around.

[chronosynclastic8]

Damn, that singing style makes me want to drink, cry in my beer, and bust up a place........ Good stuff.

[textech00]

just great---what a show

[Astrodan2600]

do you have to be Scot Irish to say this is yours. It belongs to everyone everywhere Cabin Creek West Virginia ,Belfast or a Tibetan working in a Base Camp on a mountain can say this is my song

[MinisterAilingTongue]

Love blue grass...

[blueridger28]

And some people say Americans dont contribute nothing to the world. This is just one example

[KyRipsnorter]

Bluegrass did not originate in Eastern Kentucky, but rather Western Kentucky, ie, Owensboro area.

[bluegrasslives60]

@KyRipsnorter  Eastern Ky is mountain music!!!

[tessabianca]

@bluegrasslives60 Then what is Bristol, TN/VA? LOL

[bluegrasslives60]

@tessabianca same music, mountain!!!!

[bluegrasslives60]

@KyRipsnorter I dont think so, probably a little farther south,

[xiane1111]

What an excellent pairing. The original music and its transformation in the USA, both bands with impeccable musicianship.

[Freakfolker]

YEP, BLUEGRASS is a mix of Irish/Scottish fiddle tunes, English broadside ballads and Afro-American blues, among others. Instrumental licks/breaks and vocals are heavily laden with blues style.

[jayphill16]

Bluegrass is strictly a Appalachia thing. not just tennessee or north carolina but TN, NC, VA, KY, WV, Thats where Bluegrass was Built and thats still where its at. yeah they may have bluegrass bands in Yank States but they still dont have the feel, here in Southern West Virginia Bluegrass is still being played on the Porch, theres a holler just a mile from here and every evening you can go down that road and you'll hear a bunch of people just Pickin old songs on the porch, now thats Appalachia

[kolz28]

@jayphill16 My Scot/Irish family from the South Carolina foothills have been here since 1700's and we have bluegrass and Irish music here also. Still pickin' n grinnin'.

[blueridger28]

@jayphill16 lived here in the Blueridge of NC all my life and thats how it is here

[phishhed44]

Wow!

[TheJjrohk]

This song made the hair on my neck stand up being Scotch-Irish I love it. I am a huge Del fan been for years!!! @ WanderingMidget >> You are correct !!!!!!! 

[katekakes]

love this songggggg

[Wyobiker1]

This is my roots. My family, both the German & Scot-Irish is recorded as settling in the Smokey Mountains, Tennessee in 1720.

[rafhenlow]

I thought when first hearing this that it was Lonnie Donegan singing, father of skiffle in the U.K. in the 50's.

[GwaiiEagle1]

Worlds collide....

[TTipper]

Awesomeness!

Thanks from a Canadian fan.

[greensouthern]

This is one of my family's FAVORITE songs - it is TrueBlueGrass and Classic Irish! Howisthat? Cause BlueGrass is just the grand child of Irish/Scottish ballads & reels. Nuff said! (As wanderingmidget knows - if it's in your blood it doesn't take any explaining - the words & music flow like they were born in you.)

[hawaiiandobroblues]

Just to mention to those mentioning the familiarity of Rain and Snow -

the melody is the same as Reuben/Reuben's train, which probably goes back to the post American civil war era. If it is an Appalachian tune, as it clearly it, then it likely has significant Irish influence.

[scottstanton1]

so cool !! love this

[WanderingMidget]

Some of you are saying that bluegrass bands aren't familiar with reels? You've got to be kidding me. Bluegrass music comes from eastern Kentucky mainly. Most people in eastern Kentucky are of Scotch-Irish descent. The same reels are used in bluegrass because the musicians are Irish. I can listen to plenty of Irish folk songs and know nearly every word, with a few variations, because the songs were brought to America and because I was born, raised, and still live in eastern Kentucky.

[k0vert]

what you said.

[ctw1966]

THANK you.

[Saygrace67]

Really? I am from the mountains of North Carolina and I've never seen or heard of this Irish thing you speak of. For that matter bluegrass is a foreign thing to us.

It's true Bill Monroe came from Kentucky, but the Irish/Bluegrass music in your hills was here all along. Where do you think Earl Scruggs is from? You know, the guy that made Big Mon's band sound like bluegrass. He actually invented the Scruggs way of playing a banjo, You know instead of the clawhammer style

[sanjuancb]

@WanderingMidget Scots-Irish...Scotch is a drink.

[mandotoot]

@sanjuancb In the appalachians it's called Scotch-Irish

[mandotoot]

@WanderingMidget Your forgetting other areas where bluegrass also comes from. East Tennessee Western NC Virginia all have roots in bluegrass

[rainharper62]

@WanderingMidget -preach it brother--they think we don't know nothin-but we do,

i live here in tenn & travel to the clinch mtns-there's bluegrass all over the state of kentucky

and tennessee, reels, waltzes, clogging music-you name it we got it

[BlueHeeler1952]

@WanderingMidget - same here in Oz. The music is timeless because it has roots. They are my roots.

Del McCoury was a late in life discovery..... thank God it happened!!!!!. Yer man's a special.

[FHLeghorn]

@WanderingMidget

Don't forget the Germans who played the fiddles!

[duchampdeb]

@WanderingMidget .. as a Kentuckian I must agree. thanks

[mikesbasstube]

DMB is off the charts....

[AngusOnkel]

Indeed.... Folkmusic all around the World.. fit together :-))

[68kira]

yanks have blue grass, irish have green grass, so i guess this is aqua grass... a beautiful colour and a perfect sound.. i like.

[tessabianca]

@68kira Yes, indeed!

[koayechan71]

@68kira Yeah.........We;Arabs`ve dry grass....

[phishhed44]

Incredible.

[cocusflute]

Pretty commercial trashy stuff. Del is wonderful and his band is great. I never thought I'd feel that the Chieftains were irrelevant but in this case they certainly are. They get in the way! The Chieftains are great too, don't get me wrong. But I wouldn't want to see or hear them do a Brandenberg Concerto either. As I said, great commercial appeal but way over the top except as a soon forgotten oddity.

[tenjed2]

Are you serious? Trashy? Jackass...

[tenjed2]

The Dead played this tune for years....and their commercial? wow

[ctw1966]

I'm sorry, but the Dead are lame.

[mujiel]

@ctw1966 who pissed in your cheerios

[ctw1966]

@mujiel Nobody; sorry, just a matter of personal taste. :)

[mujiel]

@ctw1966 haha no worries bud. its k

[DresAwakening]

great video

[drzzzziggy]

My stars ,how I do love it so. Thanks

[453609]

You old boys debate the origins all you want....all I know is I was brought up on this stuff in Louisville KY in the 60s, my granny was from Eastern Ky. I now make my living playing music with old time Kentucky music as my base. Beautiful stuff.

[froggman1975]

As an eastern Kentucky boy myself (Greenup County) I second that. Its the mother's milk we're all raised on, even if we hid our bluegrass tapes under the bed because they weren't "cool"

[mandomuchacho]

Awesome. Del is The Man. Bless the Chieftains for creating such a great show. What is the piece (a jig?) that the bands play in the latter part of this video (after completion of "Rain and Snow", that is)?

[rockinredneck57]

I believe that is a reel. Pretty common in bluegrass music too. I don't know the name of the song, but they blend so well it's hard to tell where the Irish folk songs end and the Bluegrass begins.

[mandomuchacho]

thank you, rockinred . . . i agree that last minute or so after "Rain and Snow" seems to be a reel . . . the tune is very familiar & I think it is one I've heard first in Celtic music (such as by The Chieftains or The Boys of the Lough) which may be why Del & his band seem to have such a "playing hookey" grin on their faces as they are outside their usual territory on that reel . . . . thanks again!

[mandomuchacho]

"Miss McLeod's Reel" I think is the tune in the last minute of this video when Del & his band smile like they're "playing hookey" . . . does that title sound right?

[froggman1975]

Psh... Those are shit-eating grins of happiness! Watch Jason Carter saw that fiddle! He isn't anywhere outside the familiar. He knows exactly what he is doing. Ronnie looks like he turns around at one point to see what the fiddlers behind him are playing, just to sneak a peek at their fingers to make sure he's not too far off maybe, but bluegrass grew out of traditional music roots. These guys are definitely familiar with reels.

[arkhatych]

Celtic music & bluegrass song is the best combiation!

[sullivangang]

i like jerry garcia too! go jerry!

[JasonCleghorn1975]

I am one of their descendants...

[SlickSmooth22]

Celtic music is to Bluegrass as peanut butter is to jelly.

[rockinredneck57]

I like that! They do blend well, don't they?

[mcbarron23]

UP WATERFORD!

[jimncheryl]

This is the real deal!!  Awesome

[Slamgrass1]

Very Nice!

[BAMAROLLTIDE412]

It all goes back to IRELAND. UP IRELAND

[moosey62]

Viking music

[crossman20]

The Vikings invaded Ireland among other places in the 8 and 900s'

Is there a noticable similarity between this piece of music and that of Norway/Sweden/Denmark ?

It would be only natural that Vikings influenced the music of these countries as they influenced language, customs, trade etc. A good proportion of Irish surnames are of Viking/Norse origin.

[scati1971]

No there are not, they did dna tests for viking blood and there is only a tiny trace in dublin the capital, none outside. You dont get to influenced that those that are trying to kill you.

[lykopis]

tight band

[deadheadwookie17]

Very cool. I'm used to the dead version but i thought this was really cool. I like how the fiddle, banjo and mandolin all played right with and off of each other. Not that everyone didn't play good but i especially dug the way they played.

[claddaghmike]

This is a prime example of the heritage that the mountain people have with they're homeland.

[rivrev65]

Beautiful

[GwaiiEagle1]

world's collide. the exiles and those that never left....

[psyhobill5150]

what a world treasure they are!

[IJS84]

A pitty those chieftains mess it up

[munsterfloyd]

yeah, you seem to be a real expert. Most of the worlds most famous and not so famous musicians have played with them because they mess things up so much. They are obviously wrong and you are right.

[grassdance]

not to mention that these songs came from Irish roots. but that cant be true huh?

[munsterfloyd]

!00 years ago you would have heard this music played with alot of the instruments on display here, brought over to the states mainly by Irish, and Scots, fleeing famine and poverty in their own native lands.

[FunBoy15]

the banjo is an african/american instrument, and the mandolin is south european, the fiddling and vocal style, plus the songs that were brought over are very irish/scottish, with english influence too

[rockinredneck57]

The mandolin is a 1st cousin to the Lute which traces its origins back to King David in the Bible.

[rockinredneck57]

I meant to say to the Lyre, which is related to the Lute and then the Mandolin.

[FunBoy15]

yes, it does trace its routes back to the middle east.

[seanth014]

that is one of the coolest videos \i have ever seen. hats off to all those guys...brilliant and cool as cool can get...

[jnhllnd88]

its a 10 i was there live

[FieryLocks]

AWESOME!

[SclaviThrash]

A winning combo. Great musicians doing a great song.

[ScotchIrishNY]

I'd love to get the entire video of this show.

[plowhand247]

I saw the Del McCoury Band last night at the Newberry Opera house. They are amazing. They played for a solid 2 hours. I had a front row seat and studied Del's picking pattern. Best bluegrass ever!

[54spiritedwill54]

Very nice, fantastic musicianship

[knm33]

ah this is so great!

[conrailcliff]

love this song

[greedonia]

A little history- Elizabeth 1st sent Scots Protestants to Ulster to settle the Pale and push the Catholics back farther inland "beyond the pale" The Irish did not want the settlers (invaders) and the Brits turned on them. The Ulster Edicts made life intolerable. Many of the Scots from Ireland (Scots Irish) resettled in America via Penn., moved down the Shenandoah Valley of Va. into the mts of Va., NC, Tn and Ky. (the Southern Appalachains) This was in the 1740's long before the Famine.

[murphycline]

There was a famine in Ulster in the 1740s.

[rll1954]

My grandfather, Martin Leonard, came to the U.S. frim Ireland in the mid 1800's. They settled in Abingdon, VA, for a while and moved to Chattanooga, TN. He and his family were Baptists.

[peavy81]

The original Irish settlers were Scotch-Irish,they were more or less kicked out of scotland and settled in northern Ireland.The Irish catholics came later during the potato blight and settled in large mainly northern citys.

[frailer2007]

Every time I hear this song, I get chills up my back

[blugrssss]

SO DO I! nothing but chills

[roselovr2004]

I highly recommend Peter singing it on the Muleskinner CD--I fell so in love with him over that damn song/vocal/album!

[Mar10Guitar]

Peter Rowan? Del blows him out of the water with his version.

[roselovr2004]

Whatever. The comments on this song/video seem snotty.

[arrrrghSky]

this band is bringing me back home, i forgot how good this music is....

[chefwheeler]

we love del and would like to see him soon love chris&kate

[topmama54]

I heard somewhere that traditional bluegrass music has its roots in traditional Celtic music. Nice reunion

[lecter316saysfuckyou]

yup before 1960 the South had one of the most homogenous cultures in America, with the majority of people being descendants of the Ulster people from Ireland, that's why the South is notoriously Protestant and why so many of the classic folk / bluegrass songs have a parent song in Irish folk

[scati1971]

I dont understand that statement. The South of Ireland or the republic is mostly catholic. What do you mean by notoriously Protestant are you refering to Northern Ireland, still under British rule, which is mostly protestant.

[winkieandleah]

I think the person means the southern U.S.A.

[murphycline]

Would protesting against Protestants make you a Protestant or a Protester?

[WayneGuindon]

love to see wit...too bad no else picked up on it...... Nowadays it would make you an evangelical..

[Alhipdude]

I never knew there was such a thing as blue eyed blue grass soul before

[Crapzorsbutachin]

Aghhh dont clap with it! it sounds so great why ruin it

[lantarla]

Every time I've seen the Chieftains live somebody ruins a great piece by starting that.

[Kitinetnies]

because that's what you're SUPPOSED to do. It's part of the music, they WANT you to.

[lantarla]

It only works if you can keep time. And most people can't.

[Kitinetnies]

its called crowd participation. it's not like they get snare drums and are supposed to be the metronome. I've been a musician almost 20 years, and if the crowd clapping along is a bad thing, then you've missed the point of live music.

[rivas420]

yes...red as a rose...i love this version. thank you.

[MrWallas]

Wow, I didn't like Del McCoury's voice but it really grew on me, now I love it.

[TheShufflemeister]

Del is the man.

[giggleblaggle]

the man, man

[wingandaprayer]

Very nice, fantastic musicianship but I still prefer the Pentangle version...for atmosphere and soul...

[derryhawk]

I'm getting to the bluegrass through the irish, but isn't it great.

[34fitz]

Bluegrass and Irish folk is a winning combination. Good stuff!!!

[DoctorFleischmann]

Who is the man that introduce the show? Perhaps Frank McCourt?

[lubridermm]

yes

[jeroendevries]

great song, i loved the reels at the end

[yobnez]

YeeeeeeHaaaaah...ride ´em cowboy. Great...

[OlafGunnarsson]

Nashville :-)

[colmsmith]

Thanks for posting....where was this?

[sector9hummingbird]

this version is one of my favorites, and Down the Ol' Plank Road is an all-around excellent cd..check it out if you get a chance

[OlafGunnarsson]

absolutely the best! chieftains are very wonderful! and mccoury... what a country voice!!!!!

[jojobobo627]

ucch so good it's silly

[sano17]

beautiful...

[ilovefreedom80]

WHY someone has not put their song "My love will not change" on here! The video is so cool!