Jazz Fest Weekly Artist Spotlight: Mumford & Sons

Mumford & Sons

A British Americana band?!

No, Mumford & Sons did not hatch from the Earth in 2010 and immediately begin commanding global attention. In fact, Mumford’s overwhelmingly popular debut LP Sigh No More was actually released in 2009 and the band formed in 2007 (This was overlooked by a good number of music publications who included the album on their Best of 2010 lists). Minor discrepancies aside, Mumford & Sons experienced an impressive meteoric rise in popularity last year seldom seen these days outside of the hip-hop and pop milieus. However, unlike many heatseeking bands achieving international popularity seemingly overnight, Mumford’s sole album is more than flavor-of-the-month sugar and shows signs that these guys will be around for more than one period/unit of blogosphere excitement (an unquantifiable measure of time scientists are still working to pinpoint). With the support of Island Records and a solid Markus Dravs (Arcade Fire, Coldplay, Bjork) produced record under the belt, the pieces to the puzzle of long-term success are moving into place.

Mumford’s style meshes bluegrass, pastoral and reverent folk, country rock and anthemic, march-into-battle vocals (especially on songs like “Dustbowl Dance”) in an easy-to-swallow, organic fashion. Should make for an excellent day-time set on the first Friday of the festival. Also, yesterday the band announced exciting news on their web site that they will be performing alongside fellow 2011 Jazz Fest artist The Avett Brothers and the one-and-only Bob Dylan at Sunday night’s Grammy Awards, the song choice is under lock and key until the show but I am beyond intrigued by this news, exciting stuff.

Mumford & Sons will be performing on Friday, April 29th at Jazz Fest, the set time and stage are to be announced. To check out the rest of the 2011 Jazz Fest lineup, go here.

The Cave (Acoustic — Bookstore Sessions)

Dustbowl Dance (Live at Glastonbury 2010)

February 11, 2011 | by Wesley Hodges | Festivals, Jazz Fest

About the author

Wesley grew up in coastal Georgia and is a former resident of The Music City and The Big Easy where he helped get LMB NOLA off-the-ground after launching in January 2011. Over the past few years, he has also contributed steadily to JamBase and Relix Magazine. Recently, Hodges moved on to L.A. where Abita Beer is hard to find, costs about $6 if located and impromptu parading in the streets will most likely get you arrested on the spot.