Del McCoury and bluegrass go hand-in-hand. In a recent conversation, he said in 1950, when he was 11, he first heard an Earl Scruggs tune on the radio.

“Well, I heard it before I knew what it was,” McCoury said. “I’m sure I heard the term bluegrass before then, My dad and my brother listened to the Grand Ole Opry all the time on the radio.”

He said he learned to play the banjo listening to Scruggs on the radio.

Growing up in Pennsylvania, near Pittsburg, he said the radio signal from Nashville was clear. In the years during World War II, many Southerners moved north to find jobs in steel mills and shipyards. His father made gun turrets for ships and several uncles worked at either an airplane factory or the shipyard in Baltimore.

We asked him about his long career in bluegrass.

When did you decide that music is what you wanted to do?

Probably when I was 11 and I heard Earl Scruggs. I graduated from high school in 1956. Elvis Presley was hotter than a two-dollar pistol then. All the kids were listening to Elvis and Jerry Lee Lewis and Johnny Cash. I was bitten by the Earl Scruggs bug.

Was it difficult in the beginning to mae a living playing bluegrass?

It sure was. It was even difficult for major stars especially since rock ‘n’ roll hit. I didn’t start until the late 1950s and country music had it rough. It was tough on everyone.

Who were your bluegrass heroes?

Earl Scruggs, Bill Monroe, Jimmy Martin, the Osborne Brothers. I would say they were the main ones. Flatt and Scruggs, they were really good. They later joined the Opry. They got really famous with the (theme song from) “The Beverly Hillbillies.” That’s when the popularity for bluegrass really went up. Flatt and Scruggs became the highest paid act on the Opry. Bluegrass has had its ups and downs and plateaus. What really boosted bluegrass was the festivals starting up. The second big boost was international bluegrass.

Young people have access to learning better. They can take lessons off the internet. They get good early. That’s really important. The earlier you learn to play things right, the better off you are.

Two of your sons are performing with you now. Were you a little wary of letting your son play with you?

He started when was just a kid (Ronnie was 14). I really did have worries. He went on the road with me in the summer when he was out of school. I had this tour lined up for a month in Europe. He talked to his principal before he said anything to me. They called me to the office. The principal questioned me about the tour. We were going to England, Ireland, Scotland, Germany and Sweden. He said, “I’ll let Ronnie go with you. I think he would learn more on that tour.”

Now, I had to take this kid with me. I didn’t want the responsibility. My wife dreaded it. When they talked on the phone, she cried, he cried. He didn’t like the food. He’d tell his mother, “I’m about to starve to death.” That would get to her. He was used to his mom’s cooking. But he went and he’s been in the band ever since.

My other son, Rob, is four years younger. He didn’t start playing with us until he was out of high school. He first started playing bass and ended up playing banjo. Jason Carter came with me when he was 19. He plays the fiddle. Alan Bartram has been with us about five years. We all kind of know each other so we don’t have to rehearse as much.

Do you have grandchildren?

Ronnie’s got two boys and a girl. His oldest plays everything, he’s 13. Rob has two young ones.

Are any of them interested in playing in the band?

They probably will be when they’re older. They start younger than when I was a kid.

You have a varied list of fans from other musical genres. Do you now they are when they come up to you?

There is this band called Phish. They invited us to play at their festival. They had their festival at an old airport runway. We said we’ll just go up there and I said, “It looks liKe a lot of people there.” There were 77,000 people there, and I said these guys must know what they’re doing. I hardly knew who they were. This guy, Trey Anastasio came up and said, “What can we do together?” I wasn’t sure if they knew. Trey said, “How about ‘Blue and Lonesome’?” This is a Hank Williams son, old Hank. Old Hank died in 1953 and he co-wrote the song with Bill Monroe. He asked, “Can we do that?” Yeah, man. He (Anastasio) had studied the music. Then we did songs I wrote and some more. He came and played the Ryman Auditorium. He wanted us to come, me and the boys. His manager came to us and said he wants you to come on the bus. He said, “Hey, what can we sing?” I told him we came to listen to him; we didn’t have instruments. Ronnie went next door to George Gruhn’s shop and comes back with a good ole mandolin and a good ole banjo. Nashville is the only place you can do it.

Have you performed with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band before?

Yes, what we did was we played a date out in San Rafael, Calif., together. Then we went to San Francisco and recorded an album together. It was 14 songs with both bands playing everything. The record will be out soon. It’s an LP. I haven’t done one of those since the late 1980s. You need a record player to play it on, man. I’m really excited about that. Those horns are really great. They influenced bluegrass in the beginning. Our music is influenced by jazz. It’s amazing how they fit together. You have to sing hard when you play with those horns, but it’s really fun. We did two shows already. It works good live. And it works good on record.

What’s the show like?

One band will play and then the other band will play. We both do a short show. Then we do all this stuff together. We have our own dates. We have the dates with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band. The boys have their own thing. I’m 72. I have to prepare these guys for when I’m not with them. I’m kind of wanting to slow down. I enjoy working and I’m able to work. My voice is still strong.

Whose idea was to sell the flash drive of your performances right after each show?

I guess we still do that. I remember they did that in California. It could have been Rob’s idea. He tapes everything we do. He keeps up with the live stuff. It’s great; you can take the show home with you. A lot of people like to take show home with them to listen to the way the band played that night. We play differently every night.