Mumford & Sons

Emerging as one of the most prominent groups from the English folk-rock resurgence of the new millennium, Mumford & Sons merged bluegrass, folk, country, and rock into a welcoming sound that quickly connected with listeners across Britain and beyond after the arrival of their first full-length release, Sigh No More, in 2009. Their second album, Babel, reached the summit of the charts in 2012 and captured Album of the Year honors at both the Brit Awards and the Grammys, which in turn secured the band’s headlining slot at the 2013 Glastonbury Festival. The group expanded its sonic range on Wilder Mind in 2015 by embracing a bolder, arena-focused alt-rock direction, an approach they sustained on the 2018 album Delta, produced by Paul Epworth. After a six-year absence from the studio, they resurfaced in 2024 with the single “Good People,” a partnership with Pharrell Williams.

Marcus Mumford (vocals, guitar, drums), Winston Marshall (vocals, banjo, Dobro), Ben Lovett (vocals, keyboards), and Ted Dwane (vocals, bass) assembled the quartet in 2007, drawn together by a common affection for roots music and selecting a name intended to suggest a long-established family firm. At the same moment the folk circuit in West London was gaining fresh energy through contemporaries such as Laura Marling, Noah and the Whale, and Johnny Flynn. The band made its Glastonbury debut in 2008 and issued its first EP, Love Your Ground. The follow-up release, the Cave and the Open Sea EP, attracted notice from Island Records and from Markus Dravs, producer for Arcade Fire, who would guide the Mercury Prize-shortlisted debut album Sigh No More. Issued stateside and in Canada the next year on Glassnote Records, the record surpassed a million copies sold in those territories and received Grammy nominations for Best New Artist and Best Rock Song. During the ceremony the quartet performed an animated “The Cave” before joining Bob Dylan for a cross-generational reading of “Maggie's Farm.”

Babel, again produced by Dravs, entered at number one on the U.K. Albums Chart and the Billboard 200 in 2012 before claiming the Grammy for Album of the Year. Captured across two nights at Colorado’s Red Rocks Amphitheatre, the live film and album Road to Red Rocks appeared late that year. Once the ensuing worldwide tour concluded, the members announced an indefinite hiatus. Early in 2015 they confirmed both their return to performing and the completion of a new record. The resulting third album, Wilder Mind, produced by James Ford and notable for its stylistic breadth, reached stores in early May and topped charts in seven countries. While touring South Africa the following year, the band recorded an EP with Baaba Maal, the Very Best, and Beatenberg. Released in June and titled Johannesburg after the city of its creation, the set featured the Record Store Day single “There Will Be Time.”

Back in the studio with Paul Epworth, Mumford & Sons delivered their fourth album, Delta, in 2018, restoring the folk instrumentation of Sigh No More while continuing to develop expansive, radio-friendly adult-alternative anthems. Two years afterward they issued the Delta Tour EP, a five-track collection of live performances drawn from the preceding three years of shows and highlighted by a fervent cover of Nine Inch Nails’ “Hurt.” Longtime banjoist and guitarist Winston Marshall exited amid controversy in 2021 and began hosting an interview podcast for The Spectator. Following a brief pause, the remaining members regrouped as a trio and released the 2024 single “Good People” in collaboration with Pharrell Williams.