Marcus Mumford was inspired by the advice Neil Young had given him a decade earlier.
The Mumford & Sons frontman is set to release his debut solo album ‘(Self-titled)’ on Friday (16.09.22) and helped the veteran songwriter change his outlook on a career in music.
He told NME: “Neil Young sat me down about 10 years ago and told me about the importance of recorded music, and how I should pay more attention to the way I record because I’ve always [like]’Ah, it’s just an advertisement for a live show.’
“He was like, ‘No man, these things last.’ I felt like on this record, I heard her [advice],
“I paid more attention to the way it sounded than anything I’ve ever done before.”
Meanwhile, the 35-year-old musician also recalled attending a jam session at Joni Mitchell’s home.
He said: “I played ‘My Funny Valentine’ for him, and Chaka Khan was there and at the end, I ***** do a song.
“Chaka leaned over to Joni whispering on a stage and she left [shouting]He really f***** that up! Do you want me to do this?!’, which was hilarious.”
He described the whole experience as “magical”, and admitted that Joni had some “sweet” words of encouragement for her as a performer.
He said: “It was just magical. Joni actually told me, ‘You have a good instinct, you should just play’, when I was worried about a song.
“I was like, ‘Okay, that’s a tattoo I’ve got to get! I have good instincts,'” says Joni Mitchell. It was just so cute.”
Marcus previously revealed that his first solo record is about “freedom” and “healing”.
He explained: “Actually it’s a record about freedom and it’s a record about healing. I think, certainly in my story, the first few messy things to do to get to that place of freedom and healing. It’s important to cope.”
