Ever wonder how they play bluegrass in New York City?
Well three strong young pickers in Brooklyn who go by Down North can show you how they do it with a debut single that covers the old time number, I Wish I Was A Mole in the Ground, most commonly associated with Bascom Lamar Lunsford.
Down North is Landon Trust on guitar and lead vocals, Sam Chester on banjo, and Tom Gause on fiddle. They are working on finishing up an EP to be released in the spring of 2026, assisted by Erik Alvar on bass and David Chernack on mandolin.
Gause shared a little bit about their genesis, upon request.
“We started playing together last year after connecting at jams in NYC (Jalopy, Mona’s), having some fun sessions in our tiny Brooklyn apartments, and taking up a couple of residencies in the neighborhood that have become their own little hubs of the community. We’re all in our mid-20s, we’re mostly self-taught (aside from a couple private lessons). We’ve really just learned from listening to and playing with great musicians. We do most of our playing live on small stages, and we’ve grown a lot together as both a band and as individual musicians. Our goal with this project was to learn as much as we can and try to capture some of the fun we get while playing live, and we’re thrilled with how it’s coming along.
We pull inspiration from all over, but as of late, lots of Russell Moore, Dan Tyminski, East Nash Grass, and our own Michael Daves, who gives so much to the community here.”
Here’s a listen to the single, which shows Landon to have a unique and distinctive singing voice. Down North calls themselves a progressive bluegrass group, but they sound pretty mainstream to us.
I Wish I Was a Mole in the Ground is available now from popular download and streaming services online. Radio programmers can contact the band online to obtain an airplay copy of the track.
We look forward to hearing more from this bunch.
