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Apr 22, 2016 Mumford & Sons By Christopher Roberts

Mumford & Sons have announced a new collaborative EP recorded with The Very Best, Baaba Maal, and Beatenberg. Entitled Johannesburg, it’s due out June 17. Johannesburg was recorded in the South African city of its title over two all-day and all-night sessions. Mumford & Sons and The Very Best’s Johan Hugo produced the EP, which was recorded in Studio 2 and the Auditorium of the South African Broadcasting Corporation. The EP’s first single, “There Will Be Time,” can be heard below via Zane Lowe and Beats 1, who premiered it.

Earlier in the year Mumford & Sons toured South Africa. Says the band’s Ted Dwane of the experience: “Since day one, we have been proactive in touring places that most bands don’t often have the opportunity. It keeps us from monotony. I think the road could easily feel like groundhog-day but whether it’s the Scottish Highlands, India, or a tour on barge boats, our travels still feel fresh and exciting. Going to South Africa felt to us to be an adventure into a continent that none of us knew well. The appetite for live music is huge and the youth culture is exploding with energy and rejuvenation.”

Winston Marshall of Mumford & Sons commented on the collaborative nature of the EP in a press release: “We first met The Very Best in 2010 on the Laneway tour of Australia. We weren’t just mind-blown by their music but by their ability to get absolutely smashed beyond belief, every night, and yet still make the plane to the next show every morning. It is a great pleasure (and eye-opener into human endurance) to be out with them again and it was an equally great pleasure to work with Johan Hugo from the band…. Through Johan, a few years after Laneway, we met the legend that is Baaba Maal, which has been one of the highlights of our career. I had the good fortune of taking Baaba up on an invitation to his home town of Podor in Senegal for the Blues de Fleuve festival in 2013, and I also got to hear and play with Baaba and his musicians (with Johan at the helm) as they made Baaba’s very beautiful ‘The Traveller’ album which has recently been released.”

Mumford & Sons U.S. Tour Dates:

4/19/16 - Omaha, NE - Centurylink Center
4/21/16 - St Paul, MN - Xcel Energy Center**
4/22/16 - Madison, WI - Coliseum at Alliant Energy Center**
4/24/16 - Indianapolis, IN - Bankers Life Fieldhouse **
6/11/16 - Quebec City, Canada - Baie De Beauport
6/12/16 - Ottawa, Canada - Canadian Tire Centre
6/13/16 - Toronto, Canada - Molson Canadian Amphitheatre**
6/15/16 - Saratoga Springs, NY - Saratoga Performing Arts Center**
6/16/16 - Queens, NY - Forest Hills Stadium **
6/17/16 - Queens, NY - Forest Hills Stadium **
6/19/16 - Dover, DE - Firefly Music Festival

**SOLD OUT