He played the Golden State Boys and the Shady Valley Boys in California, but returned home in June to work a day job doing logging with his father, while working weekend gigs in Maryland, Virginia, and Pennsylvania.

Fiddler Tad Marks and bass player Mike Brantley joined McCoury's group in early 1990s.

McCoury has influenced a great number of bands, including Phish, with whom he has shared the stage several times,[11][12] and who have covered his songs.

[13] He has also performed with The String Cheese Incident and Donna the Buffalo, and recorded with Steve Earle.

[14] McCoury has covered songs by artists as diverse as The Lovin' Spoonful, Tom Petty, and Richard Thompson.

In October 2009, The Del McCoury Band began offering fans recordings of their performances on USB flash drives available immediately after their concerts.

In 2008, Del McCoury started DelFest, an annual bluegrass festival in Cumberland, Maryland, held at the Allegany County Fairgrounds.

The 5th annual DelFest occurred in May 2012,[19] and major bluegrass acts played such as Steve Martin with the Steep Canyon Rangers, Yonder Mountain String Band, Leftover Salmon, Infamous Stringdusters, Railroad Earth, Béla Fleck, and Sam Bush, most of which had returned from previous years at the festival.

In previous years, acts such Peter Rowan, David Grisman, Jesse McReynolds, The Avett Brothers, Old Crow Medicine Show, Trampled by Turtles, Greensky Bluegrass, and Psychograss have played.

[19] Del McCoury has won 31 International Bluegrass Music Association Awards, including Entertainer of the Year four consecutive times[20] (nine total[15]).