If you like bluegrass music, you need to be listing to Mountain Grass Unit.
The four piece bluegrass group has been sending waves throughout the bluegrass world over the past couple years on the heels of their incredible live show, but now they have more new music out there to back up their live performances. Featuring five songs, Mountain Grass Unit’s brand new EP Runnin’ From Trouble, produced by Old Crow Medicine Show’s Mike Harris, features five incredible bluegrass tracks that everyone needs to make sure are on their radar.
With songwriting that you may expect from one of the scene’s most seasoned veterans, this up and coming band of college students bolsters the unexpectedly strong lyricism with top-tier instrumentation that is intricately complex yet easy on the ears.
Go ahead and give a listen to a few tracks yourself.
“Cicadas”
“Boxcar” ft. Ron Block
Now, in the same way that Steve Goodman knew what made the “perfect country and western song” in “You Never Even Called Me By Name,” the David Allan Coe hit, I think Mountain Grass Unit may have unironically made the perfect bluegrass project in Runnin’ From Trouble. With songs about feeling lonesome, crime, the outdoors, mama, and most importantly, trains, they’ve managed to check all the boxes in an incredibly impressive manner.
Hailing from Birmingham, AL, Mountain Grass Unit was formed by a trio of childhood friends in Drury Anderson (vocals, mandolin), Luke Black (guitar), and Sam Wilson (upright bass). Together, they released the band’s first EP Where I Land in 2021, before following that up with their debut album Places I’ve Been in 2022 and the live project Mountain Grass Unit at Audiotree Live in 2023.
Now in college, Wilson attends the University of Alabama while Anderson and Black are at Berklee College of Music in Boston, but the band has managed to stay together and toured heavily during the summers when they’ve had a break from school. While they’ve been spectacular all along, the band made the decision to bring fiddle player Josiah Nelson into the equation this summer, and the new four piece lineup is absolute force to be reckoned with.
With a live bluegrass show that leans heavily on improvisation, Mountain Grass Unit is well on their way to becoming one of the premiere jamgrass bands, and I highly recommend catching a show before the venues get bigger. They are on the verge of a massive breakthrough, and while their only shows left are big time festival and opening gigs, be on the lookout for their next headlining run. You will not be disappointed.
9/21 – Bourbon & Beyond – Louisville, KY*
9/27-9/28 – Renewal 2024 – Buena Vista, CO*
11/9 – Live on the Plains – Opelika, AL*
11/29 – Boulder Theatre – Boulder, CO^
*Festival Date
^Supporting Leftover Salmon
