This Is Big: Jason Carter Leaves the Del McCoury Band
In as titanic of a move as you will ever hear about in the world of bluegrass, fiddle player Jason Carter is leaving the Del McCoury Band to pursue a solo career after 33 years by Del McCoury’s side. The move also means that Jason Carter will vacate his spot in the Travelin’ McCourys, which is the same band without Del.
Jason Carter is considered one of the premier fiddle players in all of bluegrass, and held perhaps the most prestigious position in bluegrass for a fiddler. As Jason Carter explained in a lengthy letter about the resignation, it was his life’s pursuit to perform with Del McCoury from an early age.
“From the moment I heard Del, I wanted to play in his band. At first, I played guitar and mandolin. I talked so much about playing with Del as a kid that eventually my Dad had to tell me that Del’s sons played banjo and mandolin and Del was the guitar player, so if I wanted to be in this band, I would probably have to learn fiddle or bass, and we had a fiddle at the house. I was so obsessed with his music that every day of my senior year in high school, my mother drove me to school and we’d listen to ‘I Feel The Blues Moving In.'”
Jason Carter was named the International Bluegrass Association’s Fiddle Player of the Year in 1997,1998, 2003, 2013, 2014, and 2023. Originally from Ashland, Kentucky, he’s also considered part of the Country Music Highway legacy of musicians born and raised near Kentucky’s Route 23.
“I wound up getting a job with the Goins Brothers right out of high school and six months later, in February 1992, we were in Nashville at the same festival as Del. Tad Marks was the fiddle player in his band and he told me that the McCourys were moving to Nashville and he wasn’t making the move. He knew that I wanted his job and he encouraged me to go talk to Del. So I gave Del my number and a couple weeks later he called our home. He said I was the first to ask for the job so I was the first to get to try out if I wanted to. I’ve been there ever since.”
Though most associated with The Del McCoury Band, Jason Carter has been well-respected as a solo artist. In 1997 he released his debut solo album On The Move via Rounder Records. Then in 2022, he released another solo album called Lowdown Hoedown. He’s also more recently been releasing singles with fellow fiddle phenom Michael Cleveland in a duo called Carter & Cleveland, which leaving The Del McCoury Band will allow him to spend more time pursuing as well.
“Not long ago, I realized that when Del made the move to Nashville in 1992 and I started with his band, he was close to the same age I am now. This is just another example of how I have been inspired by Del McCoury. At this point in time, I feel that everything in my world is pointing me in the direction of starting my own band and pursuing my solo career,” Jason Carter says.
Carter is married to fellow fiddle player Bronwyn Keith-Hynes, who along with her own solo career, is also a member of Molly Tuttle’s band Golden Highway. Keith-Hynes was nominated for a Grammy for her 2024 album I Built a World, and the couple was married in a ceremony at the Grand Ole Opry House in 2024.
The remaining members of the Del McCory Band have been posting tributes to Jason Carter ever since he made his announcement, saying after he revealed his departure, “We love Jason Carter, are so grateful for the past thirty three years, and we wish him all the success in the world.”
No replacement for Jason Carter has been named at the moment.
– – – – – – – –
If you enjoyed this article, consider leaving Saving Country Music A TIP.
February 14, 2025 @ 6:44 am
The first time I saw The Del McCoury Band was in ’93. It was a double bill with them and The Nashville Bluegrass Band. I was more into NBB at the time, having been exposed to them via WAMU-FM in DC and had purchased their latest album (Waiting for the Hard Times to Go). The musicianship of DCB was intense. And Del’s players were so young, particularly Ronnie, Robbie and Jason. Bass player Mike Bibb seemed like he might have been a little older. Jason looked completely different. I’m guessing he was in his late teens. Had a mullet and a mustache. Wearing jeans a nd sneakers. I remember he got a turn up front and sang a song called Me and My Fiddle. Another song I remember them doing was Ernest Tubb’s Thanks a Lot, with Ronnie on lead vocal, sounding just the old man (maybe higher). And what a player.
February 14, 2025 @ 9:07 am
He will be back after an unsuccessful year or two.
February 14, 2025 @ 12:06 pm
I think Jason will do well on his own. It will be a challenge, but it is doable. I wish him a ton of success.
February 16, 2025 @ 9:38 am
I got his solo album when it came out maybe a year ago. It’s very good. Id see him in a heartbeat without the McCourys. His wife stole the show over and over when I saw Molly Tuttle. Be cool if they did a joint thing-
February 14, 2025 @ 9:10 am
He’s a fiery showstopper. Take his playing on All Aboard for example. You get some really cool double stops for effect, and then he busts out a flurry of single string fast notes that just grab your ear. His playing is exciting and creative. Even his fills are killer.
Over the years I’ve seen a lot of mediocre fiddle players in bands. Not this guy. He’s a real barnburner and when he’s soloing, all eyes are on him.
Any band he puts together is gonna be 4 on the floor top notch picking.
Carters a tough act to follow. Who replaces him? Andy Leftwich already has a cool gig with Skaggs.
February 14, 2025 @ 1:30 pm
Billy Contreras is the fiddler for Skaggs. Leftwich left a while back.
February 22, 2025 @ 9:45 am
Leftwich is a top notch fiddler no doubt. BUT i saw contreras with skaggs and he boggled my mind. the complexity and creativity of his playing is beyond description. he doesn’t play like anyone I’ve ever seen before, and I’ve seen cleveland six times and donnell leahy three or four times and I met Jana Jae Mark O’Connor and Texas Shorty.
Contreras is different. There’s no other way to explain it.
Jeff White got me in to see skaggs and had me play a gig with him in exchange for tickets to see DMB. Jason Carter is an incredible fiddler BUT Contreras is just… totally unique, unlike any other fiddler who comes to mind.
I saw Joshua Bell some thirteen years ago and saw O’Connor do the improvised violin concerto (And i got to see Midori but that’s another story) and the solos contreras was playing with kentucky thunder were somewhere between a typical bluegrass solo and the cadenzas i recall Joshua Bell playing. totally musically incendiary and pushing the limits of what the instrument can do in the context of the material and genre.
February 14, 2025 @ 10:19 am
Q: What’s the difference between a violin and a fiddle?
A: A violin is carried in a case. A fiddle is carried in a tow-sack.
February 14, 2025 @ 2:28 pm
I’ve always heard it as,
“A violin has strings, a fiddle’s got strangs.”
February 14, 2025 @ 11:19 pm
I found 10 different answers and if I had checked for posted comments, there might have been a hundred more.
Violin vs. Fiddle Jokes
When you are buying one, it’s a fiddle. When you are selling one, it’s a violin.
It’s the nut who’s holding the bow.
$125 per hour and a tuxedo.
You can’t play a violin barefoot.
It’s OK if you spill beer on your fiddle.
A violin has strings, and a fiddle has strangs.
About $5,000.
You’ll never find a violinist with a mullet.
A violin sings, but a fiddle dances.
It’s a matter of style. If you have style, it’s a fiddle.
February 15, 2025 @ 10:37 am
I took some violin classes back in my schooldays, but the teacher told me to stop fiddlin’ around.
February 17, 2025 @ 8:18 am
The official answer is that fiddle is a broad category of bowed instruments including rebecs, crwds, Rebabs, tagelharpas hardangers etc etc etc.
The violin is a specific instrument.
NOW, the violin sold like hotcakes, so people playing music from all over the world traded in their crwds and rebabs for violins but kept played the same kind of music.
so technically all violins, as bowed instruments, are fiddles as are cellos violas etc etc.
February 14, 2025 @ 1:21 pm
I just hope his new band features Ronnie McCoury on Mandolin, Rob McCoury on banjo, Del McCoury on guitar and Alan Bartram on Bass!
All kidding aside, I’m very happy for his transition into a front man. More superlative bluegrass for everyone to enjoy.
February 14, 2025 @ 5:15 pm
So…Dan is know you are familiar with the bluegrass world pretty well…who is out there that would have the virtuosity of Jason? As I mentioned, Leftwich could possibly. I know Ross Holmes lost his gig in Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, and his sister Katie Shore is no longer in Asleep At The Wheel, but they play very differently than Carter. Any thoughts?
February 14, 2025 @ 5:59 pm
I doubt he takes the McCoury gig, but Michael Cleveland would be my answer to that.
February 14, 2025 @ 6:07 pm
Oh yeah, he’s the reigning fiddle master. But he’s in a good place, he commands pretty high billing in the trad-grass realm. I asked John McEuen who is the next Vassar. He immediately said no one touches Cleveland. I guess I’m wondering if there are any young prodigys out there lurking that have the potential to be the next big one.
Let’s not kid ourselves, Jason Carter is in the top two or three greats. Mighty big shoes to fill. But what a dilemma for The McCourys.
February 14, 2025 @ 7:24 pm
That is the truth. It might be a little ways off, but I reckon Maddie Denton might could be on that track. It’s probably some 12-year-old in Floyd though lol.
February 17, 2025 @ 8:14 am
Michael Cleveland has more in common with Benny Martin than Vassar Clements… in fact the only person who could ever imitate Vassar was a young Mark O’Connor.
Vassar was first and foremost a jazz and swing player who played bluegrass, Benny was a bluegrass fiddler. Cleveland is a dead ringer for Benny Martin’s aggressive style, two-fifths alternating by a half step phrases and assertive glissandos.
BUT
Vassar did these long glissandos more like a jazz player slides into a note, his double stops were more diverse, flavored and complex a la Bobby Hicks,
Plus, Vassar utilized a right hand technique normally reserved for classical violinists which gave his bowing an unusually smooth sound, without the distinction of direction changes, usually this smoothness is reserved for the long bow fiddlers that studied Benny Thomasson.
Vassar’s playing was infinitisemally more melodically complicated with blue notes, accidentals and chromatic long bow runs.
Benny Martin had a more limited area of expertise and only really mastered a couple ‘types’ of songs. Martin could knock a three chord bluegrass song out of the park but outside his element its obvious he played on singular instinct. Vassar could play ANYTHING in any style with the ease of someone who grew up playing said style.
Vassar was also a natural improviser who could imitate other musicians around him.
Cleveland gets outside bluegrass but he’s got nothing on Vassar’s phrasing, style and use of glissandos.
Plus, Vassar had a unique tone to his fiddle that was distinctly earthy. you can always tell Vassar by that tone. Cleveland’s fiddle is almost indistinguishable tonally from any other bluegrass fiddler on the circuit.
February 17, 2025 @ 8:02 am
If we’re talking fiddlers who could step into Jason’s role, Shane Cook is probably the most qualified, but given the long history of DMB it won’t be anyone under 45 and most likely it will be someone older and more experienced. THAT narrows it down UNLESS Stuart Duncan is seriously considered (and his willingness to tour is… not significant)
February 17, 2025 @ 11:03 am
Fuzzy, you clearly have the knowledge on all things fiddle. Glissando…ive heard the term, but it’s definitely not in common everyday usage.
I view Stuart Duncan as a legend, who calls his own shots these days. Can’t imagine he’d wanna be tied down to a touring band anymore. He gets studio gigs when he wants them, way easier than touring. Whoever joins DMB also likely joins The Traveling McCourys. Thats a demanding schedule. I know nothing about Shane Cook, but I will look him up.
As for Cleveland vs Vassar, McEuen gave an opinion. It carries some weight. McEuen had a lot to do with supercharging Vassars name recognition and career opportunities. But you may be more correct on this.
I will say, I’ve watched Cleveland play live in person and am blown away by his technical proficiency. Never saw Vassar live, to my regret. I did get to see Bobby Hicks though, one year he was touring with Skaggs and just blew me away. Seen Andy Leftwich as well. Ditto Alison Krauss. But of all of them, Jason Carter made a huge impression on me. It’s the way he mixes up the techniques in such an interesting way that is so intriguing.
February 17, 2025 @ 12:34 pm
I’m a career fiddler and luthier who took the better part of a decade of instruction from a former judge at the national fiddle contest at Weiser Idaho who himself competed and placed higher than famous fiddlers like Junior Daugherty. I like to think I have at least a basic understanding of the craft. My teacher knew more and saw more than I could ever hope to and had hands on up close experience watching and learning from Benny Thomasson and Byron Berline (and the often overlooked Virgil Evans who was every bit Byron’s equal except in recognition)
I think equating Cleveland and Vassar is a bizarre exercise when the two have such a vast difference in their material and style.
I’ve seen Cleveland live six times, and only once did i catch any imperfections. BUT he falls into certain patters, certain methods and approaches whereas Vassar was endlessly improvising and never played a phrase the same way.
Shane Cook isn’t a true ‘bluegrass’ fiddler any more than Benny Thomasson is/was BUT he was on a level at 19 that most professionals struggle to reach and if we consider ‘bluegrass’ fiddling as more diverse than the explosive double stops and hokum bowing of many ‘modern’ bluegrass fiddlers, he’s more than qualified.
Comparing Jason Carter OR Michael Cleveland to Kenny Baker (or Jana Jae) really illustrates how much ‘bluegrass fiddling’ has become distinct from fiddling or even ‘playing bluegrass’
Kenny Baker and Paul Warren were/are EXCELLENT musicians and fiddlers, probably with a better repertoire, better ability to play waltzes and airs, better at jigs fox trots and schottisches, than most contemporary bluegrass fiddlers.
According to my teacher, Smoky Mountain Boy Howdy Forrester was the top fiddler, better than the rest.
I say it’s either Don Rich or Texas Shorty.
February 14, 2025 @ 6:05 pm
Haha Michael Cleveland could… but he is busy with Jason 😛
Christian Ward is filling in and he does a fine job. Other folks to think of are Aubrey Haney, Jim VanCleve, Tim Crouch.
February 15, 2025 @ 7:24 am
Aubrey Haney! Forgot ol Aubrey. Great player!
February 15, 2025 @ 11:29 pm
Proud for him .IAM a picker myself ..My dad taught ..Keep up the good work Jason ..keep passing this good Bluegrass fiddling on..Your One Of The Best My Brother.
Till we get Home in Heaven BLESSINGS
February 17, 2025 @ 3:58 pm
Jason’s fiddling is A huge asset to those bands. But you are forgetting that his replacement is going to have big SINGING shoes to fill as well. 💕🙋🎶