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Know Your Folks: A Mumford & Sons and Avett Brothers Quiz!

Marcus Mumford, Seth Avett

Mumford & Sons and the Avett Brothers have a lot in common. Both are earnest folk-rock bands with names that sounds like they belong to a company that sells artisanal pickles. Both have released new albums in September. Both write earnest, if extremely indistinct, lyrics. So the question is: How well do you know your Mumford & Sons from your Avett Brothers? Take this quiz and find out!

(Answers at bottom of the page.)

1. Which of these two family-named bands features no blood relatives among its members?

2. Which band played with Bob Dylan at the 2011 Grammy Awards?

3. Which band features a cellist?

4. How many bandmembers in each band regularly sport facial scruff?

5. There are some very similar lyrical sentiments scattered throughout Mumfords’ Babel and the Avett’s The Carpenter. We’ve picked some topics that both bands address. See if you can guess which folkies are responsible for which lyric:

Topic: The Road
A. “So crawl on my belly till the sun goes does down / I’ll never wear your broken crown / I took the road and I fucked it all away / Now in this twilight how dare you speak of grace.”

B. “There’s no fortune at the end of a road / That has no end / There’s no returning to the spoils / Once you’ve spoiled the thought of them.”

Topic: Crying
C. “Every night after and every day since / I found myself crying when the memory hits / Sometimes it knocks me down / Sometimes I can just put it away.”

D. “And I won’t hear your cry when I’m gone / I won’t know if I’m doing you wrong / I never know if I’m doing you wrong.”

Topic: Kisses
E. “Whispers in the dark / Steal a kiss and you’ll break your heart / Pick up your clothes and curl your toes / Learn your lesson, lead me home.”

F. “I can still hear the song / The melody behind the kiss you gave me / You were wrong, I was right, so I walked away.”

Topic: Cold
G. “Out goes the warm, and in comes the cold / It’s the most predictable story told / In with the young, out with the old.”

H. “And I will remember the words that you said / You brought me out from the cold / Now how I long how I long to grow old.”

6. Which band’s frontman is married to actress Carey Mulligan?

7. Which band’s new album features a tribute to a Hollywood star?

8. Which of these two old timey-loving bands undertook the “Railroad Revival Tour” in 2011?

9. Which band regularly features banjo?

Answers on the next page (no cheating!)