Mountain Grass Unit nodded to hometown heroes Widespread Panic while visiting the band’s birthplace of Athens, GA, debuting a cover of “Chilly Water” during a sold-out show at the Georgia Theatre. Though Panic was playing 1,038 miles away that same night in Boston, there were evidently still some diehard fans left back home as the Athens crowd doused the band with cool, cool water during the live favorite.
Anticipation for Saturday’s show on the University of Georgia campus was high long before guitarist Luke Black, mandolinist Drury Anderson, bassist Sam Wilson, and fiddler Josiah Nelson stepped onstage. Following an appearance at Grand Targhee Bluegrass Festival in Wyoming (which included a sit-in with Daniel Donato at the festival), MGU was forced to take an unexpected break in its mammoth, 50-date Runnin’ From Trouble Tour due to “an urgent medical situation in [the band’s] camp.” As a result, Mountain Grass Unit missed a four-show Colorado run and shows in Oklahoma, Missouri, and Mississippi, making the Georgia Theatre gig the band’s first live performance in nearly three weeks.
Any lingering rust was imperceptible as Mountain Grass Unit took the stage Saturday, Black kicking off the show with a fakeout of “Ghost Riders in the Sky” before Anderson took over with the original “Where I Land”. The band wasted little time endearing themselves to the crowd as Black strummed out the familiar opening chords to Panic’s “Ain’t Life Grand”. Given that Drury was looking out over a sold-out crowd after weeks of canceled shows, just about the only thing there was to say was “ain’t life grand?” to which the Home Team crowd enthusiastically concurred.
Mountain Grass Unit — “Where I Land”, “Ain’t Life Grand” (Widespread Panic), “Roll In My Sweet Baby’s Arms” (Traditional) — 8/23/25
Fast forwarding to the tail end of the show, MGU came out for the encore with a surprise. Following some friendly SEC trash talk between University of Alabama alumnus Sam and the entire audience—plus some gratitude from Drury, who said the band’s last Athens show in 2024 drew less than 200 people—Luke turned on his distortion pedal for a quick snippet of Van Halen‘s “Eruption”. But instead of paying homage to the hair metal heroes, Mountain Grass Unit brought it all back around to Widespread Panic with the band’s debut of “Chilly Water”. As if the Athens crowd had been prepared for it the entire night, streams of water went streaking through the air when water bottles were unholstered as soon as Drury hit the refrain.
Though Luke’s two-handed tapping drew attention before the song started, Josiah’s fiddle playing was the star of the ensuing jam. Rather than simply relying on Luke’s guitar playing for the rock cover, Mountain Grass Unit adapted the song to fit bluegrass—rather than changing bluegrass to fit the song, just one of many stylistic hallmarks that make MGU one of the jamgrass community’s most exciting new bands. In the end, however, Black did have to give a hat tip to WSP’s Jimmy Herring by turning his distortion back on for some final electrified soloing to close the show.
“We’re gonna get a picture real quick, don’t throw beers at us,” Drury quipped at the end of the show, hoping the crowd had run itself dry.
Watch a clip of Mountain Grass Unit debuting Widespread Panic’s “Chilly Water” below. nugs subscribers can rewatch the entire show on demand, with the encore beginning around 2:22:15. Not a nugs subscriber yet? Start your seven-day free trial here. [Editor’s note: Live For Live Music is a nugs affiliate. Ordering your subscription via the links on this page helps to support our work covering the world of live music. Thank you for reading!]
MGU is back on the road this week with shows in Tennessee, North Carolina, Virginia, and Washington, D.C., en route to Rhythm & Roots Festival in Charlestown, RI. Find tickets and tour dates here.
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