Sparks/Reno, Nev. – Del McCoury and David Grisman are unto themselves among the most accomplished bluegrass-Americana musicians on the planet. See both of these extraordinarily talented performers in one show, with their individual bands, February 22-23, in the Celebrity Showroom at John Ascuaga's Nugget.

With lightning speed and boundless enthusiasm, life-long bluegrass craftsman McCoury delivers music that has experienced resurgence in modern cultural popularity. McCoury has had a long career in bluegrass. Although originally hired as banjo player, he sang lead vocals and played rhythm guitar for Bill Monroe's Bluegrass Boys in the 1960s, with whom he first appeared on the Grand Ole Opry in 1963. McCoury briefly played with the Golden State Boys, before taking a series of day jobs in construction and logging, while continuing to work as an amateur musician in Maryland, Virginia and Pennsylvania. In the 1980s his sons began performing with him, and they relocated to Nashville, Tennessee as they began to attract attention. He became a member of the Grand Ole Opry in October 2003.

For over 40 years, mandolinist/composer Grisman has been busy creating "dawg" music, a blend of many stylistic influences (including swing, bluegrass, Latin, jazz and gypsy) so unique he gave it its own name. In doing so, he has inspired a whole new genre of acoustic string instrumental music - with style and virtuosity, while creating a unique niche for himself in the world of contemporary music. Grisman discovered the mandolin as a teenager growing up in New Jersey, where he met and became a disciple of mandolinist/folklorist Ralph Rinzler. Despite a warning from his piano teacher that it wasn't a "real" instrument, Grisman learned to play the mandolin in the style of Bill Monroe, the father of bluegrass music. He took it with him to Greenwich Village where he studied English at New York University and became immersed in the proliferating folk music scene of the early 1960s. His unique instrumental style found a home in 1974 when he formed the Great American Music Band with fiddler Richard Greene. Within a year, Greene moved on to join a pop act, and Grisman met guitar wizard Tony Rice, who moved to California where they started rehearsing a new group, the David Grisman Quintet, which also included bassist/ mandolinist Todd Phillips and violinist Darol Anger. The rest is string band history.

Del McCoury and the David Grisman Quintet play Friday and Saturday, February 22-23, in the Celebrity Showroom at 8 p.m. Tickets are just $50 and are available by calling (800) 648-1177 or (775) 356-3300 or by visiting janugget.com. Dinner and show packages are available. "Do The Nugget Tonight!"

Images available at www.janugget.com/press/photos/