Monday, September 20, 2010

House Band: Mumford & Sons

Once upon a time, the mullet was king, every boy desired a muscle car, and rock 'n' roll meant well, but it couldn't help telling young boys lies***. During this fabled age these lies were delivered via cassette tapes. Today in my digital haze I have trouble remembering this period of my life, but I do remember Def Leppard's album Pyromania booming from my cheap Sparkomatic speakers. I recall playing that tape so much that it began to warp and the music eventually warbled like an eunuch instead of booming with a testosterone.

Today I have a sensible haircut, I drive a minivan, and I don't believe those rock 'n' roll lies. I still love music though, and if I find an album I enjoy, I play the hell out of it. This summer I knew my listening habits were entering obsessive territory with the band Mumford & Sons when I heard my daughter groan and ask, "Could we please listen to something else?"


At that moment I played my daughter some Johnny Cash, and I decided that Mumford & Sons would be my next house band.

After some research, I found that this English band was a perfect fit for The Greasy Skillet. One member occasionally blogs about food. Another posts photographs from the road on a blog. And another member hosts a book club on his blog. In future posts, I hope to share my love of Mumford and Sons with you and few recipes inspired by their music. For now, enjoy the band's acoustic performance in a book shop:



cheers,
muddy

***"Rock 'n' roll means well, but it can't help telling young boys lies" is a great line from the song "Marry Me" by the Drive-By Truckers.


5 comments:

Jenni said...

Danny and the girls said the same thing about The Avett Brothers. ("Please, anything else! Just for a bit?") I really like Mumford & Sons' sound! I'll have to check out more of their songs (and "Marry Me") later when I have time.

I did listen to that Eminem song you picked, and actually kind of liked it, although I usually don't care for him for all the reasons you listed. I also like the song "Airplanes" (Part II?) featuring Eminem. Both songs seem to have a more positive message than others I've heard from him.

Jenni said...

BTW, it was Hysteria for me:o) I had that cassette for years and would have worn it out if Caleb hadn't stolen it and done the job for me.

High Plains Drifters said...

Do you ever use Pandora? It's hit or miss ... for instance, make a playlist using the new Robert Plant / Buddy Miller / Patty Griffin album, and you'll get some real crap. But the Mumford and Sons channel rocks. Introduced me to a ton of other neat bands.

Neat? Did I just say "neat"?

JoAnna said...

Hooray! I was hoping it would be Mumford & Sons! Love, love, love them!

High Plains Drifters said...

By the way, can't tell right yet whether Hope fancies any particular kind of music over any other.

but it always struck me as funny that Zebb loved Ryan Adams. Loved him. I'd have the music on in the background and wouldn't be aware that anything in particular was playing, and then I'd notice him rocking back and forth, and I'd stick my head around the corner so I could tell what was playing, and it was Ryan Adams, every time. I could turn the volume down to 1, and he'd catch the hook of "Cherry Lane" every time. Every freaking time.

All I can tell about Hope so far is that she will usually fall asleep to the Cinema Paridiso soundtrack.