North Carolinians Fust join alt-country’s new crop with “Mountain Language,” an ode to their people taken off their acclaimed third studio album, ‘Big Ugly.’

 follow our Today’s Song(s) playlist

Stream: “Mountain Language” – Fust

Once again, for the third year in a row, country has flooded the mainstream thanks in no small part to a certain problematic someone.

But so far, 2025’s most pleasantly surprising breakout has come from a much smaller pond.

Alongside their friends and fellow North Carolinians in Wednesday and MJ Lenderman, like a stalk of tobacco, Durham’s Fust have shot up among the new crop of alt-country that’s swept across the broader indie rock landscape. Quoting Shakespeare might sound fancy to some folks, but this hardworking cut off their new album is well-versed in the language of its mountain people.

When Fust aren’t on the road, frontman Aaron Dowdy is pursuing his PhD in English Lit, but unlike Twelfth Night‘s mythical locale, you can still find Big Ugly on a rest stop map. Dowdy’s great grandmother grew up along this crooked creek in central West Virginia, which takes after an early settler who wasn’t such a sight for sore eyes.

To be fair, “Mountain Language” doesn’t exactly paint the place out to be paradise, either.

Heck, even the dead-end jobs pedaling gas station drugs are hard to find. But at the end of yet another long, hard day, the song is about nights shared with those who appreciate the kind of fuzz riffs that would warm ol’ Neil’s heart.

“Oh what country, friends, is this?” Dowdy marvels with soft reassurance. Even if you don’t know the words, by the time Fust round into the chorus, the whole bar is singing along.

Catch Fust on tour this fall with S.G. Goodman!

10/22 – Atlanta, GA @ Terminal West
10/24 – Nashville, TN @ The Basement East
10/25 – Asheville, NC @ Eulogy
10/26 – Saxapahaw, NC @ Haw River Ballroom
10/27 – Washington, DC @ The Atlantis
10/29 – New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom
10/30 – Philadelphia, PA @ World Cafe Live
11/1 – Cambridge, MA @ The Sinclair
11/2 – Northampton, MA @ Iron Horse Music Hall
11/4 – Toronto, ON @ The Great Hall
11/5 – Ann Arbor, MI @ The Ark
11/7 – Chicago, IL @ Lincoln Hall
11/8 – Minneapolis, MN @ Fine Line
11/10 – St. Louis, MO @ Off Broadway

— —

:: stream/purchase Big Ugly here ::

:: connect with Fust here ::

— —

Stream: “Mountain Language” – Fust

— — — —

Connect to Fust on
𝕏, Instagram

Discover new music on Atwood Magazine

 © Charlie Boss

:: Today’s Song(s) ::

 follow our daily playlist on Spotify

:: Stream Fust ::