It's safe to say 2026 has been a fantastic year for folk and alt-folk releases. We've had Noah Kahan's soul-stirring and hauntingly vulnerable opus, The Great Divide, Mumford & Sons’ bright, vibrant and beautifully pared-down record, Prizefighter, and Gracie Abrams’ wonderfully eclectic new body of work, Daughter From Hell.

There are some more overt overlaps between these three projects, such as Abrams’ appearance on Mumford & Sons’ ‘Badlands’, and Marcus Mumford returning the favour by joining Abrams on her Daughter From Hell gem, ‘What If It's Right?’

Similarly, Kahan has cited Mumford & Sons as a pivotal influence on his sound, and their rich, personal and banjo-driven textures can be heard across The Great Divide. Kahan and Abrams, meanwhile, previously teamed up for ‘Everywhere, Everything’.

Additionally, it's of course worth flagging that Aaron Dessner, a true super-producer, is the obvious thread that is interwoven between The Great Divide, Prizefighter and Daughter From Hell, with Dessner serving as a producer on all three projects.

But there is a more fascinating - and generally overlooked - connective tissue between these three stellar albums: Justin Vernon, who many know as the alt-folk trailblazer, Bon Iver.

An artist that has undoubtedly impacted every artist in today's folk-leaning landscape and beyond, Bon Iver has served a crucial yet downplayed role in each of these projects.

On The Great Divide, for instance, you'll see Vernon credited as providing backing vocals and playing banjo on ’Downfall’, as well as offering up some electric guitar riffs on ‘A Few Of Your Own’ and instrumentation on ‘Lighthouse’, ‘Spoiled’ and ’Dan’.

In his Rolling Stone interview, Kahan explained how Vernon would email over his guitar parts, which only added to both the mystique and the legend around the famously elusive artist, “He's such a mythical figure in my head that it's cool to have him just float into my songs. It's like a mysterious wood person will lay down guitar and I won't see it, but it'll come through email and I'll be like, ‘Oh, my God, this is him’”.

On Prizefighter, Vernon is listed as a co-writer on the title-track and ‘Badlands’, with Mumford & Sons regularly - much like Kahan - citing his Bon Iver projects as formative for the band.

On Daughter From Hell, Vernon co-produced ‘Hit the Wall’, Abrams’ evocative and powerfully sparse opening track, as well as co-writing and providing backing vocals on both ‘Humming’ and ‘Broke My Heart’. Vernon also co-produced the latter.

Dessner is unquestionably the facilitator here, with Dessner and Vernon enjoying a longstanding creative partnership, founding their own band, Big Red Machine, as well as Eaux Claires Festival - which returned this year - and the PEOPLE collective.

But regardless of how Vernon ended up on these three projects, there is a sense of intentionality here, with The Great Divide, Prizefighter and Daughter From Hell all feeling like spokes of the same wheel. Abrams’ is arguably the most distinct, with The Great Divide and Prizefighter being rooted more traditionally in a ‘folk’ sound, while Daughter From Hell flits between new-wave folk and hazy alt-pop.

If you had to boil down the feeling that Vernon seemingly contributes across these three projects, it's an atmosphere of ethereality. Vernon's subtle, understated harmonies and airy vocalisations add that trademark Bon Iver otherworldly ambience.

It's a mood that you can hear across SABLE, fABLE, Bon Iver's most recent studio album, and one that Dessner has become tremendously proficient in bringing out of artists.

The result is three of the most visceral, raw and creatively satisfying projects of the year so far. While the future of Bon Iver remains a mystery - like most elements of Vernon's enigmatic persona - you can't help but feel the legacy of his early records like For Emma, Forever Ago and Bon Iver, Bon Iver are being kept alive through the likes of Kahan, Mumford & Sons and Abrams - as well as other modern folk titans.

We might well have heard our last Bon Iver album, but one thing's for sure - there are plenty more projects being produced that would not be what they are today if it wasn't for Vernon, either directly through his contributions, like these three albums, or through the ongoing influence of his uniquely inspiring and experimental discography.

For the full list of Justin Vernon's credits across The Great Divide, Prizefighter and Daughter From Hell, see below:

NOAH KAHAN - THE GREAT DIVIDE

Downfall - vocals, instrumentaion

Lighthouse - instrumentation

Spoiled - instrumentation

A Few Of Your Own - instrumentation

Dan - instrumentation

MUMFORD & SONS - PRIZEFIGHTER

Prizefighter - co-writing, vocals

Badlands - co-writing, vocals

GRACIE ABRAMS - DAUGHTER FROM HELL

Hit the Wall - co-production

Broke My Heart - co-writing, co-production, vocals

Humming - co-writing, vocals