Throughout our lives, there will always be celebrities, musicians, artists, and even friends and family that will inspire you and make you feel a sense of worth. Sometimes those people will help you discover a part of yourself; maybe a part you never knew was there. Not all artists will change the way you look or the way your personality entails you to be, but sometimes you will just suddenly understand things more clearly or feel that you need to be doing something different with your life. It brings change and hopefully, it brings optimism.
When it comes to music, I feel it and see it as a therapy. I become consumed by the words and the music and it just puts me into such a different state of mind, I become happy and usually just want to dance. When I find an artist that I love, I never let go of them because they will always continue to give me that special feeling when I listen.
About five or six years ago when I was a part of a church group, I was introduced to the band Mumford and Sons. I heard one of their songs and I was immediately hooked. I asked who they were and I began listening to them nonstop; just as I do now. When I started really listening to them their music really inspired me and I loved the way every instrument sounded. Some of my favorite songs by them are "There Will Be Time" featuring Baaba Maal who is a Senegalese singer, putting his own mix into the song; making it such an incredible and moving song. Another song which I find really personal and moving is, "The Cave". Each song the band creates allows the listener to tap into their own personal stories and connect with a song in a different way than another person might.
Backstage At The Lexington with friendsPhoto By Marcus Haney
Mumford and Sons is a British Folk Rock/Alternative Rock band that formed in 2007. Their members are Marcus Mumford, Winston Marshall, Ben Lovett, Ted Dwane, Aaron Dessner, and Nick Etwell. They have been touring all over the world for a couple years now and have come out with multiple, popular, award-winning albums. A few popular songs that most people know are "I Will Wait" from the album Babel and "The Cave" from the album Sigh No More. Most instruments in their songs are acoustic guitars, banjos, and a piano with some electric bass guitars that is more involved in one of their older albums.
Inspired by Old Crow and William Shakespeare, the songs of Mumford and Sons connect to old American folk music and literary books about complicated love, trails and tribulations, and the mystery of adventure. Finding yourself and finding who you were meant to love is a theme that I often notice within their songs and when I listen to them, I begin to understand the emotions that fall behind each line. Each inspiration they use becomes embedded into our history and the music as a culture becomes so much more powerful. I could go back to these plays written by Shakespeare and begin to read the lines and create a similar story in my head. Around the time of the release of these songs, I was listening to them constantly and my boyfriend at the time was a huge fan of them too. It made the feelings in the song that much more relatable and real. These songs also gave me better insight into how I felt I was acting within the relationship and how I felt I was being treated.
That Boat ThingMarcus Haney
After all these years of wishing to go see Mumford and Sons, today became the day. I signed up ahead of time to get the pre-sale code so at exactly 10 AM I was able to buy my tickets! I got right on the website, put my code in and tried to buy really close seats, but each time I bought them, someone else would steal them! Towards the middle of this ordeal of trying to find different seats over and over again, it was making me really sad. Eventually, I found some seats that are a little far from the stage, but I am now just grateful for the opportunity to be able to go.
Mumford and Sons' music and their personalities put into their performance make it seem like such an upbeat, happy and all around amazing show. What's amazing is their new album Delta comes out very soon (November 16th), so I am very excited to see them perform NEW SONGS!
Mumford & Sons - Guiding Light (Lyric Video)
To be surrounded by people who are just as consumed by the music as you make a show all the more worthwhile. If you ever have an opportunity to go somewhere you have always wanted to go, do something you have always wanted to do, or see a performance that you have been waiting to see, please PLEASE go for it.
Follow your heart.
Follow your dreams.
And one day, things will fall into place.
