🎧 This week on What’s the Reason for This?, Kodi and Shay welcome Alabama-born bluegrass firestarters Mountain Grass Unit (MGU) into the dungeon for a long-overdue hang that dives deep into friendship, hustle, growing pains, and what it really looks like when a band is mid–rocket ship. 🚀🪕🔥

What starts with laughs about canceled Colorado shows, tooth pain from hell 🦷😖, and internet rumors quickly turns into a full origin story — from childhood friendships and rival middle-school friend groups 😅 to rock bands, borrowed upright basses, and getting voluntold to play bluegrass before fully knowing what bluegrass even was. 🎸➡️🪕

MGU opens up about: 👬 Growing up together in Alabama and building trust long before the band existed 🎶 Learning instruments the hard way through YouTube tutorials, borrowed gear, and first gigs days after touching an upright bass 🏫 Juggling college life across Berklee, ETSU, and Alabama while trying to keep a band alive from different states 📧 Cold-emailing venues, losing money on early tours, and why investing in yourself matters more than profit early on 🤝 Landing an agent and management and how that changed everything (without magically fixing everything) 🧠 The mental shift from “students who tour sometimes” to “this is the job now” 💿 Signing with Dualtone Records and heading into the studio with Vance Powell to record a new full-length album 🌍 What’s next: WinterWonderGrass, recording all of February, Australia dates, and a stacked 2026 touring calendar

The conversation also digs into MGU’s identity — how they balance traditional bluegrass roots with high-octane energy ⚡, crowd-moving covers, and a jam-friendly mindset that works just as well for seated traditionalists as it does for dancing Colorado crowds. 🕺🪑

Kodi presses on merch stories (yes, the infamous khaki shirts 😬👕), slap-koozies, DIY marketing, and the band’s hilarious social media videos — showing how personality, humor, and authenticity can pull new fans in just as fast as blistering musicianship. 🎥😂

At its core, this episode is about putting in the time and earning it on a long road from backyard jams to festival stages, the willingness to lose money to gain momentum, and the power of sticking together when things get uncomfortable, uncertain, or downright painful. 🌱🤝

🎧 Tap in wherever you listen to podcasts. This is a must-listen if you love bluegrass, band origin stories, or catching artists right as things start to really take off. 🪕🔥