In a new interview with Cody Alan for The Highway radio station on SiriusXM, Mumford & Sons’ frontman Marcus Mumford underlines how kind and generous Chris Stapleton was when he rang him up to ask him to feature on their new single, ‘Here’.

‘Here’ is one of the many stand-outs from the British folk trailblazers’ 2026 album, Prizefighter, with Stapleton's signature drawl complementing Marcus’ honeyed delivery.

Marcus begins by revealing that ‘Here’ was the first track the band finished for Prizefighter, “That was like the first song we wrote for this record. It started out, and there's a demo in my garage where we live in Los Angeles...We wrote the bridge, and right there and then I was like, ‘We've got to call Stapleton’. So I got his number”.

He goes on, “I called him up, and I fanboyed for a while. And we talked for about an hour about family and work, and he knew I was going to ask him...and I asked him, and he was like, ‘Yeah, I can do it next week’. He was so sweet. He was so generous”.

The ‘I Will Wait’ crooner jokingly expresses disappointment that the Kentucky native didn't “sing-answer”, with Marcus quipping, “I'd love if he did! Wouldn't that be amazing?”

He then touches on some words of praise that Old Crow Medicine Show's Ketch Secor - the songwriter behind an array of iconic tracks, including ‘Wagon Wheel’ - offered him ahead of a performance in Nashville, and how they really resonated with him.

Marcus shares, “You know, Ketch Secor from Old Crow Medicine Show said this thing to us outside the first time we played the Ryman. We were out back having a cigarette, and he said to me, ‘You all feel like kindred’. And that's always really stuck with me, from someone from a very different place to where I'm from”.

He then explains how he felt the same connection with Stapleton, “As soon as we started talking to Chris, it just felt like kindred, you know, and that's an amazing thing about music - it connects people that you wouldn't expect to be on paper connected with”.

Marcus is undoubtedly right, and few artists are epitomising this community-driven spirit that has always underpinned music as vocally and intentionally as Mumford & Sons.

Prizefighter, for instance, weaves a beautiful tapestry that includes threads from folk, rock, country, pop and beyond, with a guestlist that includes Stapleton, Gracie Abrams, Gigi Perez and Hozier. It continues the impetus behind the band's 2025 tour, where they teamed up with a host of country-leaning artists on the road, including Lainey Wilson, Old Crow Medicine Show, Darius Rucker and more.

It embodies this collaborative environment that Marcus is speaking about, where artists from starkly different backgrounds and sonic palettes can come together and create fantastic art. With the band getting airplay on Country Radio courtesy of songs like ‘Here’, we're excited to see them continuing their foray into country, and doubling down on their role as unifiers within the musical landscape.