Mumford & Sons’ affinity for country music has been especially evident over the past couple of years, with the folk trailblazers teaming up with a dizzying range of country artists that includes Shania Twain, Darius Rucker, Stella Lefty, Chris Stapleton and more.

During a new interview with Cody Alan for SiriusXM, the Mumford & Sons trio - consisting of Marcus Mumford, Ted Dwane and Ben Lovett - reflect on their close friendship with and admiration for one of country music's most revered names, Lainey Wilson.

Wilson joined the ‘I Will Wait’ hitmakers in New Orleans last August, as part of Mumford & Sons’ Railroad Revival Tour, during which they acted as the ‘house band’ for an array of artists.

Dwane begins by reflecting on how the band relished the opportunity to learn Wilson's songs, “We did a ‘Train Tour’ about this time last year, and we kind of wanted to be the house band for an artist in each location, and the first show - which was obviously by nature, being the first show, the most disorganised and chaotic show of the whole chaotic run - she very kindly agreed to be the sort of artist who we'd back up”.

He goes on, “We had a few hours basically to learn her songs. She showed up - so chill, so confident. We worked it up and we went out the following evening and played her songs”.

Dwane stresses how this gave him and the other band-members a much higher appreciation of Wilson's fantastic storytelling and songwriting ability, “They have got so deeply under our skin, it's unbelievable. Like all of them, ‘4X4XU’ is one of my favourite ever songs all of a sudden, and just like, yeah, she was just a dream. And I think it's only when you learn someone's music and it is under your skin, that you really appreciate the craft of it, and actually how incredible that writing is”.

He concludes, “Not only is she obviously an incredible vocalist and an awesome human being, but just musically, there's so much depth and creativity in what she's creating”.

Lovett echoes Dwane's sentiments, recalling watching one of Wilson's shows in New York and feeling awestruck by the positivity emanating throughout the room, “A little while before that she was in New York...she played at Radio City, and it was the first time getting to see her live, I guess that was probably two years ago now. I was just looking around at all of the joy on the faces of the people in that audience”.

He adds, “She was just bringing families together...It was quite a unique experience, and I was kind of obsessed with just the idea of what she's doing artistically in the world”.

Lovett describes the bond between Wilson and the band as one akin to family, “She has this confidence that what she does is true to her, and it is credible in its authenticity. So it's been wonderful getting to know her and she feels like a sister to us now”.

Marcus Mumford then reveals that Wilson even went as far as to generously leave behind the three band-mates presents at a venue she knew Mumford & Sons would be performing at shortly after, “She left us gifts at the venue in Florida as we passed through...She's just the sweetest, man, she popped up with us here when we played Bridgestone. She's become a real ally and a friend, we love her”.

It's undoubtedly true that any artist that has had the good fortune of meeting Wilson only has lovely things to say, with the Louisiana native famously one of the kind-hearted and down-to-earth artists in the industry. With Mumford & Sons continuing their foray into the country world with their stellar Chris Stapleton duet, ‘Here’, we're hoping there's a Mumford x Wilson collaboration on the horizon...