Marcus Mumford has revealed that he cold-called Chris Stapleton to ask him to feature on ‘Here’, with the Mumford & Sons front-man admitting he was “gushing” over Stapleton.

‘Here’ kicks of Mumford & Sons’ latest studio album, Prizefighter, with Stapleton's rich, charismatic drawl beautifully complementing Marcus’ lead vocals in the first verse.

During a conversation with the TODAY Show, following their performance as part of the Citi Concert Series, Marcus shared how the ‘Here’ collaboration with Stapleton came about.

Marcus begins by reflecting on how the vast majority of collaborators on Prizefighter were born out of existing friendships, “He was the only cold call on this record. Everyone else, we already had relationships with. Even like Justin Vernon, who was involved with the record, Rob Moose, who did some strings, and Gracie Abrams - people like that, we already had friendships with. You know, we make music in a community, but that community often grows with each record”.

He amusingly goes on, “And with Chris, I got his number, and I called him, and I just...I was a bit gross for the first few minutes of the call, because I was just sort of gushing about how much I love him. And I think he's a generational voice, and I just am...I'm obsessed with him. And it was always my dream with the song ‘Here’, which is the first song on the record, to have him sing the second verse”.

Thankfully, it all worked out, with Marcus adding, “And graciously, he did it”. We imagine that, rather than finding Marcus’ compliments ‘gross’ or insincere, Stapleton responded to how much of a genuine fan the ‘Little Lion Man’ crooner was of his.

Marcus outlines that they also had time to chat about their respective personal lives, “We talked about family and work for a while first, and then I got into...I warmed him up and then got him into the request...He's got lots of children, so you know, we found a window - and he plays a lot of shows. But it was kind of him to come on-board”.

Mumford & Sons’ decision to recruit Stapleton for ‘Here’ epitomises the folk troubadours’ longstanding love affair with country music, with the band linking up with artists like Darius Rucker, Old Crow Medicine Show, Lainey Wilson and more on their 2025 tour.

More recently, Mumford & Sons - consisting of Marcus, Ben Lovett and Ted Dwane - brought out Shania Twain for the histrionic encore of their 2026 BST Hyde Park show.

Similarly, the Mumford trio recently shared a new version of ‘Here’ with another country and Americana favourite, Sierra Ferrell, with Ferrell joining them on-tour throughout 2026.

We're hoping this isn't the last time they venture into the country space. Given the way they speak about the importance of ‘community’ when crafting a new album, perhaps they can be the act to help continue to bridge the gap between country and folk.

Both genres have shared roots and overlapping textures, but many mainstream country and folk fans respectively baulk at the idea of them being overly similar. As ‘Here’ and so many other Mumford & Sons classics highlight, country and folk can make for a fantastic combination. If Noah Kahan was the artist that first opened the floodgates between these two genres in the contemporary landscape, maybe Mumford & Sons can be the ones to widen and consolidate it.