The Mountain Grass Unit joins Matt Malick on KGNU’s Old Grass, GNU Grass, performing live and discussing their music. The band, originally from Birmingham, Alabama, includes Luke Black (guitar), Drury Anderson (mandolin and vocals), Sam Wilson (bass), and Josiah Nelson (fiddle). They share their journey from childhood friends to forming the band, and talk about their upcoming album releasing on September 20th. They also discuss their KGNU Presents show at the Bluebird Theater in Denver (Interview date: 8/10/2024)
Matt Malick: We’ve got the Mountain Grass Unit right here, right now. Welcome to Old Grass, GNU Grass, guys. Let her rip.
You guys need a fire extinguisher in there to put that out? Oh, holy cow, man. Well done. Really good stuff.
Mountain Grass Unit (Drury): We’re super stoked to be here. Thanks for having us.
Matt Malick: Thanks for coming in to KGNU this morning. Is this your first time playing the front range of Colorado?
Mountain Grass Unit (Drury): Let’s see, we played Globe Hall in Denver one time and the Aggie Theater in Fort Collins, Ogden opening up for the Kitchen Dwellers. But these are the first couple of shows around here that we’ve had with the addition of Josiah Nelson on fiddle, which has been really special to have.
Matt Malick: Yeah, definitely. Why don’t you guys go around the horn, introduce yourselves, and tell us what instruments you’re playing.
Mountain Grass Unit (Luke): This is Luke Black, and I play guitar.
Mountain Grass Unit (Drury): My name is Drury Anderson. I play mandolin and sing.
Mountain Grass Unit (Sam): My name is Sam Wilson. I play bass.
Mountain Grass Unit (Josiah): I’m Josiah Nelson. I play the fiddle.
Matt Malick: All right. Welcome guys. Josiah, you just drove down the road, right?
Mountain Grass Unit (Josiah): I’m originally from Fort Collins. I live in Tennessee now, but yeah, we just stayed at my parents house last night. East of Fort Collins, about 10 miles.
Matt Malick: How do they feel about that?
Mountain Grass Unit (Josiah): Oh, they love it.
Matt Malick: Cool. You guys, let’s start from the beginning. Where are you guys from? How did you guys get together?
Mountain Grass Unit (Luke): Me, Sam, and Drury here are all originally from Birmingham, Alabama. We actually grew up together, went to elementary school together, and all that jazz. Drury and I started an acoustic group and eventually added Sam and changed the name to the Mountain Grass Unit, but in between there somewhere we also had a rock band. We had a bunch of different configurations before we actually settled on the bluegrass thing, but I guess that’s how we got our start.
Mountain Grass Unit (Drury): That’s right, and we started playing locally around Birmingham for a good while and eventually started doing a little bit of a tour in the southeast. Since then we’ve been fortunate enough to travel around the country and see some cool spots and come to places like this.
Matt Malick: Yeah, how long have you guys been together as the Mountain Grass Unit then?
Mountain Grass Unit (Drury): Probably about four or five years.
Matt Malick: Man, that’s a tight band for that short amount of time. Good job.
Mountain Grass Unit (Luke): I appreciate it.
Mountain Grass Unit (Drury): Thank you so much.
Matt Malick: What’s the bluegrass scene like in Birmingham?
Mountain Grass Unit (Drury): It’s pretty good. It’s a large amount of pickers. We have some local bluegrass picking sessions that we do and a lot of folkier songwriter type stuff down there as well. It’s created this really cool community, mainly through a festival that was put on right north of Birmingham called the Acoustic Cafe. That went on for a good 20 years and people started getting together there and realizing the importance of bluegrass, I think.
Mountain Grass Unit (Luke): Yeah, Acoustic Cafe was definitely a melting pot of bluegrass and jam band and folk music. That’s where I met my guitar teacher. He was a big influence to all of us, Alan Tolbert. The whole music scene in Birmingham in general is just great. I’ve had a lot of good mentors teach me and show me how to play, and all of us as well.
Matt Malick: Yeah, mentors are huge. Tell us about the two tunes that you just did. Are those available, are those new releases, old releases?
Mountain Grass Unit (Drury): Both of those, “Boxcar” and “Hey Mama”, are gonna be coming out on September 20th. I think “Hey Mama” might be coming out as a single on September 7th. Either that or the 13th. I’m not quite sure. We probably should have done this research before we got here, but the collective work will be out on September 20th. I know for certain.
Matt Malick: If it’s any consolation, it happens to every band that comes in here.
Mountain Grass Unit (Drury): Oh yeah, I know. Why would we need to know that day? We don’t need to know that day.
Mountain Grass Unit (Josiah): But you got to hear it today.
Mountain Grass Unit (Drury): Yep. And then we’re gonna do one more here in a second that’s also going to be on the album. It’s called “Lonesome Dove”.
Matt Malick: Okay. So that’s all new stuff that we’re hearing then?
Mountain Grass Unit (Drury): All new stuff.
Matt Malick: How many other releases do you have out right now?
Mountain Grass Unit (Drury): We got two works out. We got a three song EP out called Where I Land that we released in 2021. And then in 2022, we did a full eight track album called Places I’ve Been. And I think you were playing “Another Day in Disguise” from that work.
Matt Malick: Yeah. Great tune. Holy cow.
Mountain Grass Unit (Drury): That’s Scott Vestal from the Sam Bush band. He did all the mixing and stuff for that.
Matt Malick: Oh, yeah, sounds like it. Good stuff. So you’ve got a show tonight. Tell us about that.
Mountain Grass Unit (Drury): Yeah, we’re going to be playing at the Bluebird Theater in Denver tonight. We’re going to have High Horse Ensemble opening up for us. And we might have a few surprises here and there. So come out, come check it out. It’s gonna be a good time. Get your tickets now at mountaingrassunit.com. ‘Cause it seems like they’re going pretty fast.
Matt Malick: There you go. You wouldn’t wanna give us just a hint of what the surprises might be, would you?
Mountain Grass Unit (Drury): We have four people sitting here. That’s all I’ll say.
Mountain Grass Unit (Sam): And we might have some five .
Mountain Grass Unit (Drury): You might have the number five somewhere in there.
Matt Malick: Cool. All right. You’re not telling.
Mountain Grass Unit (Sam): You gotta come out and see.
Mountain Grass Unit (Drury): Theoretically, we might have someone that plays the five string over at the gig tonight.
Mountain Grass Unit (Sam): That’s just a theory, though. If you aren’t able to make it to the show and you do Nugs, we’re gonna be live streaming on Nugs as well. If you’re a part of that deal, check us out on there. It’s our second ever live stream. We did one at Terminal West, about a week ago as of today. Go check that out.
Matt Malick: Wow, cool. How can people reach out to your social media websites?
Mountain Grass Unit (Drury): Check us out, mountaingrassunit.com. We’re on Instagram, @mountaingrassunit, Facebook @mountaingrassunit. You can sign up for our newsletter on our website. It’ll keep you updated with everything. And like Sam was saying, we’re on Nugs as well. We got all our shows on there if you want to listen to some old tracks or whatever.
Matt Malick: Cool. You guys got another one in you?
Mountain Grass Unit (Drury): I think so. You want to do “Lonesome Dove”?
Matt Malick: All right. This is Mountain Grass Unit. They’re playing the Bluebird Theater tonight at 8:00 p.m. Let her rip, boys. “Lonesome Dove”, Drury, Sam, Luke, Josiah, the Mountain Grass Unit, right here on Old Grass, GNU Grass. Alright, thanks guys for coming in, very much appreciated.
Mountain Grass Unit (Drury): Thanks so much for having us.
Matt Malick: Have fun tonight.
