Article Contributed by Mountain Home Music Company
Published on 2026-03-28
“When Unspoken Tradition first started trying to find our niche,” says the group’s guitarist, Audie McGinnis, “we branded ourselves as ‘working class bluegrass.’ Though we’ve grown and evolved, that is still very much who we are.” And if the down to earth realism and rootedness of their last two singles, “Refugee” and “Rhythm of the Ridge” weren’t enough to make the point, the western North Carolina quintet’s latest single for Mountain Home Music Company drives it home with precision.
“‘Company Man’ perfectly exemplifies this slogan,” McGinnis notes. “Our nation was built by folks just like the man portrayed in this song. I’ve known, and was even raised by a few of them. I’d like to think that the men and women this song was written about would appreciate our music.”
That seems like a safe bet. Starting with a somber figure from the group’s fiddler, Tim Gardner, “Company Man” keeps its mid-tempo focus firmly on the lyric’s depiction of a hard worker:
Headin’ off to work day after day
Lookin’ like that’s where he’s gonna stay
Too far in now to stop
He thinks about leaving from time to time
But this life becomes a state of mind
Punching out but never off the clock
A man you can count on every day
With mouths to feed and bills to pay
He’s always been a company man
Just doing the best that he can
He’s a company man
“The song tells the story of a man who seems to live to work, not work to live,” offers McGinnis. “There’s pride in that, but also a sense of stoic sadness. The lines ‘only thing waiting is a watch and chain’ and ‘old men are really what the company makes’ hit so hard and could have only been written by Tim Stafford and Mark Bumgarner. These guys are two incredibly talented songwriters, and we’re honored they shared this song with us. Evoking images of the hard working people we all know and love, this song is a bittersweet reminder to work hard but not make work your master.”
Listen to “Company Man” HERE.
