Mumford & Sons

Music group

Ted Dwane

• Born: ca. 1985

Ben Lovett

• Born: September 30, 1986
• Place of Birth: London, England

Marcus Mumford

• Born: January 31, 1987
• Place of Birth: Anaheim, California

• Ben Lovett
• Vocalist, keyboardist, accordionist, and drummer

• Marcus Mumford
• Vocalist, guitarist, and drummer

• Ted Dwane
• Bassist, guitarist, and drummer

Contribution: Mumford & Sons is an English folk-rock band whose widespread popularity has helped rejuvenate the folk and bluegrass musical styles.

Background

Mumford & Sons was formed in 2007 in West London. Its members, each of whom play a variety of instruments, were interested in traditional folk music. Named after the lead singer, Marcus Mumford, the band’s name is meant to evoke an old family business. Several other bands of a similar style were active in West London at this time, giving rise to the idea of a “folk scene.” Although some band members have disputed this idea, Marcus Mumford did get his start drumming for West London folk singer Laura Marling, and the band later toured Australia with her.

The band spent 2007 writing songs and performing in small and mid-size venues around London. In 2008 Mumford & Sons completed an extensive UK tour, culminating in a well-received appearance at the Glastonbury Festival. On their tour of Australia with Marling, the band perfected its energetic, interactive stage performance. The first widely distributed recording project for Mumford & Sons was an extended play (EP) called Love Your Ground, released in November 2008.

Career

Following the release of their EP in 2008, Mumford & Sons performed extensively across the United Kingdom. During 2009 they toured again with Marling and collaborated together on an EP. They also concentrated on writing songs for their first album, Sigh No More, and were signed to record labels across the world before the album was released in October 2009, under the direction of producer Markus Dravs. The only song to appear on both the Love Your Ground EP and Sigh No More is the single “Little Lion Man,” which was already getting significant airplay before the release of the album. In July 2009 BBC Radio 1 had named the song the Hottest Record in the World.

Sigh No More was a hit in the United Kingdom and across the world. When it was finally released in the United States through Glassnote Records in February 2010, it went on to peak at number two in the Billboard 200 chart in early 2011 and sell over 2.5 million copies in the United States alone by 2012.

In November 2010 the band won an Australian Radio Industry Association (ARIA) Award for most popular international artist, and in December the band was nominated for Grammy Awards for best new artist and best rock song for “Little Lion Man.” Though they did not win either award, their live performance at the Grammy Awards is credited with exposing them to a still larger audience, and their popularity soared. Sigh No More went on to go double platinum in the United States and quadruple platinum in the United Kingdom.

Mumford & Sons began working on material for a follow-up album while touring in early 2011. They continued to tour extensively, headlining large festivals and continuing to impress audiences with their energetic performances. In April 2011 the band joined several other bands on the Railroad Revival Tour, which saw the groups traveling in vintage railroad cars and playing six unique outdoor venues. Big Easy Express, a film made of this journey, debuted at the South by Southwest Festival in 2012, winning the Headliner Audience Award at the festival's Film Conference.

Mumford & Sons’ second album, Babel, in September 2012 debuted at number one on both the US Billboard chart and the UK Albums chart and sold over a half million copies in the United States in its first week. By mid-December it had gone platinum as well. The band embarked on a world tour in 2013 in support of their album, but in June the band returned to the United Kingdom when bassist Ted Dwane required brain surgery. Dwane recovered quickly, and Mumford & Sons was able to return to perform in the Glastonbury Festival at the end of that month. They ultimately toured for Sigh No More and Babel over six years.

In the years that immediately followed, Mumford & Sons continued recording, but their popularity dipped. Their electronic music–tinged LP Wilder Mind (2015) debuted atop the Billboard 200 and their gold-certified single "Believe" reached thirty-one on the Billboard Hot 100. However, the album, which departs sonically from its predecessors, met with mixed reviews. Their next EP, Johannesburg, only broke the top ten on the Billboard 200 in 2016.

Mumford & Sons' 2018 album Delta marked something of a comeback for the alternative-rock group, ultimately peaking at number one on Billboard 200. The band went on to embark on a sixty-concert world tour from 2018 into 2019. That year, the group released a handful of live recordings for the EP Sigh No More Sessions to commemorate the tenth anniversary of their early hit album.

Mumford & Sons also faced its share of criticism for reasons not directly related to their musical output. Early on, some critics deemed the British rockers' old-fashioned attire and choice of instruments inauthentic. In 2018 the band faced criticism when several of bandmates were photographed with Jordan Peterson, a conservative psychologist. A few years later, in March 2021, Winston Marshall, the group's founding banjoist, publicly endorsed a book by Andy Ngo criticizing Antifa, which was swiftly met with a social media firestorm. Although he apologized and took a hiatus, Marshall ultimately quit that June in order to stem the backlash against the band and to freely express his opinions about all forms of political extremism.

Impact

Mumford & Sons is widely credited for making folk rock and traditional music popular with mainstream audiences. Their live performances highlight traditional instruments, and they have woven literary and religious references into their music. They have won many prestigious music awards, including an ARIA Award for most popular international artist and Billboard Music Awards for top rock album, top alternative artist, and top alternative album. In 2011 Sigh No More won the title of British Album of the Year at the BRIT Awards. The following year Babel was named the Album of the Year at the Grammys. They went on to receive the 2019 John Steinbeck Award.

Mumford released a solo album, Self-Titled, in the fall of 2022. It featured the singles "Cannibal", "Grace", and "Better Off High". In May 2024, they released a new single entitled "Good People", a collaboration with Pharrell Williams and part of a new studio album they had in the works.

Personal Life

Marcus Mumford met his future spouse, English actor Carey Mulligan, at a Christian youth camp. The pen pals eventually reconnected and married in 2012, and the couple have two children. His grandmother's death and the Grenfell Tower collapse both touched him deeply. They not only inspired some of the music on Delta, but also led Mumford to establish the Grenfell Foundation to aid survivors and the families of those who perished.

Ben Lovett married fashion designer Jemima Janney in 2015, but by late 2018 the couple had divorced. Winston Marshall married Dianna Agron in 2016, and the two separated in 2019. Those romantic relationships also contributed the bandmates' later musical output.

Bibliography

Hine, Samuel. "The Story Behind Pharrell’s Surprise New Louis Vuitton Collaboration With Mumford & Sons." GQ, 16 Jan. 2024, www.gq.com/story/pharrells-louis-vuitton-collaboration-mumford-and-sons. Accessed 16 Sept. 2024.

Kreps, Daniel. “Winston Marshall Steps Away from Mumford & Sons after Andy Ngo Praise.” Rolling Stone, 10 Mar. 2021, www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/mumford-sons-winston-marshall-andy-ngo-1139278/. Accessed 16 Sept. 20214 ‌

Lamont, Tom. “How Mumford & Sons Became the Biggest Band in the World.” The Guardian, 15 Nov. 2012, www.theguardian.com/music/2012/nov/15/mumford-sons-biggest-band-world. Accessed 16 Aug. 2024.

Laudato, Anthony, producer. “Mumford & Sons: With the Recent Release of ‘Delta,’ Their Third Straight #1 Album, the British Group That Broke through with a Banjo-Driven Folk/Rock Sound Are Indisputably among the Biggest Bands of the Past Decade.” Sunday Morning, CBS News, 19 Jan. 2020, www.cbsnews.com/news/mumford-and-sons-delta/. Accessed 16 Sept. 2024. ‌

Maerz, Melissa. “Best Folk Import: Mumford & Sons.” Rolling Stone, 1 Apr. 2010, www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/best-folk-import-mumford-sons-78164. Accessed 16 Sept. 2024.

“Mumford & Sons’ ‘Babel’: The Billboard Cover Story.” Billboard, 13 Oct. 2012, www.billboard.com/articles/news/44026/mumford-sons-babel-the-billboard-cover-story. Accessed 16 Sept. 2024.

Odell, Michael. “Mumford & Sons: We’re an American-ish Band.” SPIN, 17 May 2011, www.spin.com/2011/05/mumford-sons-were-american-ish-band/. Accessed 16 Sept. 2024.

Parales, Jon. “For a Big Band, the Road Is Like Home.” The New York Times, 23 Sept. 2012, New York ed., p. AR21.

Phares, Heather. “Mumford & Sons Artist Biography.” AllMusic, 2024, www.allmusic.com/artist/mumford-sons-mn0001072350/biography. Accessed 16 Sept. 2024