Article Contributed by Mountain Home Music Company
Published on October 30, 2025
Unspoken Tradition returns with their first new music since this summer’s Resilience album. The band, like their western North Carolina home, is not finished with the turmoil of hurricane Helene, nor with the bigger trends that have shaped its mountain communities. That unfinished business finds reflection in their latest single, “Refugee,” released via Mountain Home Music Company.
“What makes this song special is that it challenges us as listeners to meet in the middle,” says singer-guitarist Audie McGinnis. “People from all walks of life are feeling that something isn’t right with society and the governing of it. It’s bigger than politics. Way too many of us strove for excellence just to become a cog in a wheel. In addition to that, I think people across the country, but especially those in western North Carolina and broader Appalachia, know that when we need them most, the cavalry isn’t coming. At least not as fast or as effectively as our tax contributions would have us believe. In fact, many of us often feel forgotten altogether. And in the worst cases, it doesn’t even take a hurricane, floods, or wildfires to make it so.
“This song is about the hard lessons we’ve learned over months, years, decades, and generations,” he continues. “But the hope is found when we realize this song is about all of us. We may have all approached from different paths, but we’re all here. Scanning our barcodes. Walking down the line. Now we’ve got to lay down our differences and focus on our common concern: the plight of the common, working men and women out there who invested in a dream that left them behind.”
With its swirling signature instrumental theme and distinctive vocal arrangement, “Refugee” embeds its message in classic bluegrass style, with harmony singers Sav Sankaran (upright bass) and Tim Gardner (fiddle) framing McGinnis’s strong lead while mandolinist Ty Gilpin and banjo player Zane McGinnis fill in around the lyric’s defiant chorus:
To think they’ve got the power to say I can’t exist
We are way beyond the hour, to show we can resist
Their gold and silver dollars never trickle to the holler
Or the beggar on these busy city streets
Notes McGinnis, “Aaron Bibelhauser also wrote ‘Irons in the Fire,’ which appeared on our Imaginary Lines album. I’d encourage everyone to listen to these two songs together. Through the struggle, there is always hope. Now more than ever, we have to find that hope in each other.”
Listen to “Refugee” here.
Unspoken Tradition is about new, original Bluegrass. Inspired by their own influences and the roots of traditional and newgrass music, this North Carolina-based quintet brings a sound that is both impassioned and nostalgic, hard-driving and sincere.
Their latest single, “Weeds Don’t Wither,” reached No. 1 on the Bluegrass Today chart, and seven singles from their 2022 album Imaginary Lines charted in the top 20 including “California” at No. 1, “Irons in the Fire” at No. 2, and “Carolina and Tennessee” at No. 4. Their 2019 release, Myths We Tell Our Young, debuted at No. 5 on the Billboard Bluegrass charts and saw five top-charting radio singles, including a No. 1 on the Bluegrass Today chart with “Dark Side of the Mountain.”
Unspoken Tradition’s material is mostly original and reflects the ever-changing culture of Western and Central North Carolina where they call home. The band has earned a fervent following in the Southeast, selling out shows in Asheville, NC as well as the legendary Station Inn in Nashville, TN. They have also performed twice on the coveted Watson (main stage) at MerleFest. With heavy airplay on SiriusXM’s Bluegrass Junction and ever-growing streaming numbers, Unspoken Tradition is a fast-rising voice of a new generation of roots music artists.
