Bonnaroo: Mumford & Sons

80,000 people rocked out this weekend at the 10th annual Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival. Bonnaroo lines up hundreds of performances (over 120 artists to be more specific) on a 700-acre farm in Manchester, Tennessee.

Over the past few years the festival has gotten more creative and includes nontraditional acts. Instead of just the typical bands you would expect at these kinds of festivals, Bonnaroo invites the unexpected. For example, headliners like Eminem and Lil Wayne tore up the stage this year, no surprises there.

Another act that stole the show was Mumford & Sons, which is an English folk rock band I want everyone to take a look at. What I like about Mumford & Sons is their unique sound. There is something about the band that makes you actually enjoy the banjo. I’ll be the first to admit I am late on the band wagon for Mumford & Sons, but with them I feel like it is better late than never. I’m sure some of you have been listening to them far longer than me.

Mumford & Sons has actually been around for a several years, and like anything else good things come to those who wait. The band has slowly but surely been making its way to the top and around the globe. Mumford & Sons is from the UK and infiltrated the good ole U. S. of A. throughout 2010. People try to classify the band in all sorts of genres like folk rock, indie folk, or bluegrass but the bottom line is that they are simply good. You might recognize the two most popular songs from Mumford & Sons, “Little Lion Man,” and “The Cave.”

Although I haven’t seen them perform live personally, this video really shows that this band is just as good live as in the studio. One of my favorite songs is “White Blank Page.”

Edited: June 14th, 2011

Scotty McCreery

I do like all things music, but I dropped out of watching American Idol after winning the title started meaning the artist sold less records than those who got kicked off the show, Chris Daughtry or Adam Lambert anyone?

We’ve seen all kinds of judges filter on and off the show but as American Idol proves, the show must indeed still go on. In fact, American Idol just wrapped up season ten; which brings us to the winner, Scotty McCreery.

If you aren’t part of the millions mass that tune in to Idol to watch the American dream, Scotty is something else. Of course you expect the winner to be good (although Taylor Hicks and Ruben Studdard fell off the map as soon as they stepped off stage) but Scotty is surprising.

What you see is not what you get with Scotty. Scotty is a typical seventeen year old boy with a guitar. However, when the boy begins to sing it is shocking. Instead of young vocals like Justin Bieber, Scotty McCreery sings as deep as the country singer Josh Turner. Scotty has a deep, syrup soul sound. I swear if you didn’t see Scotty on the screen you would have expected to see a grown middle-aged man.

After experiencing Scotty for the first time, I began to dig into some of his performances. The boy sang “Where Were You” by Alan Jackson almost as if it were his own song, and even got to perform with Tim McGraw singing “Live Like You Were Dying.”

McCreery is the second country singer to win Idol alongside Carrie Underwood. His first single is already infiltrating the radio, “I Love You This Big.” Scotty looks like a nice kid (and sings like a man)—I wish him luck.

Edited: June 1st, 2011