London, UK · folk rock · indie folk

Mumford & Sons

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Banjo-driven crescendos that defined a decade of festival folk, now delivered with the electric guitars left plugged in — the singalongs never optional.

Mumford & Sons formed in London in 2007, emerging from the same West London acoustic scene that produced Laura Marling and Noah and the Whale. Marcus Mumford, Ben Lovett and Ted Dwane, joined for the band's first decade by Winston Marshall, built their early sound on banjo, upright bass, keys and stacked four-part harmony, pairing quiet verses with loud, stomping payoffs. Lovett has said the name was meant to sound like an old, established family business.

Sigh No More, released in 2009, won the Brit Award for Best British Album in 2011 and picked up a Mercury Prize nomination. A televised performance with Bob Dylan and the Avett Brothers at that year's Grammy Awards helped push the band's profile in the United States.

Babel followed in 2012, debuting at number one in the US and becoming the fastest-selling rock album of that decade there. It won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year and the Brit Award for Best British Group, and led to a headline set at Glastonbury Festival in 2013.

Wilder Mind in 2015 swapped much of the acoustic instrumentation for electric guitars and drums. Delta followed in 2018, and the band has moved between the two approaches since, on Rushmere in 2025 and Prizefighter in 2026.

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folk rockindie folk