Folk as a genre is sometimes overlooked by younger music lovers, but in one week, the artists keeping it alive took over Atlanta.
Noah Kahan’s sold-out concert at Truist Park, along with Mumford and Sons’ concert at State Farm Arena, proves not just that the genre is alive, but that it has the power to span generations.
Noah Kahan truly took off in the middle of the pandemic through posting snippets of the now top ten hit “Stick Season” on TikTok. After releasing his debut album in 2019, Kahan started playing across the country that same year, including at Atlanta’s Variety Playhouse, and then rapidly grew into the sold-out world tour he is currently on. Listeners were drawn to the specific details the singer weaves into his songs, somehow turning a childhood in a small town in Vermont into a relatable experience for people in Georgia, Texas, California, and even Australia.
Brooke Smith, a Junior at Milton High School, fell in love with the music for this exact reason: “I couldn’t relate to everything in the song, but allusions to events like COVID and the disconnect it created resonated with me.”
On July 27th, the crowd was already buzzing by the time Kahan made his entrance. Fans had already been around The Battery for hours in the sticky summer heat, but the energy in the stadium never dipped during the night, even through slower songs like “Orbiter” and “Maine.” As the night darkened and cooled off, the concert’s lights never dulled due to the shine off the light-up wristbands on the arm of every fan. Through the use of two side stages and mics dispersed across the main stage, Noah Kahan provided a moment for every part of the audience. With a setlist spanning 26 songs and running two and a half hours, Noah Kahan proved once and for all that he has the power to control a stadium.
Mumford and Sons meanwhile debuted a decade earlier into a music scene that did not view folk as a chart-topping genre. The three-piece band formed in London in 2007 before releasing their debut album, “Sigh No More,” with the lead single “Little Lion Man” reaching number 45 on the Billboard charts and the album reaching number two in the United Kingdom.
A fan I met at the concert, Jennifer, first heard the band in college in Ohio when “Little Lion Man” came on the radio, finding the use of folk instrumentals like banjo and strings unique; she saw them in concert not long after and has remained a fan since then, seeing them again at the Atlanta concert.
“Babel” in 2012, which served as the follow-up to “Sigh No More,” cemented this new folk-rock genre, with the band taking home the Grammy Award for Album of the Year. This paved the way for other bands such as The Lumineers and Of Monsters and Men to shape the decade’s sound.
Mumford and Sons are making a comeback on their second album in a year, with that being the band’s only new music since a 2018 hiatus. But on August 4th, they proved the time away only made them stronger performers. With a stage taking the aesthetics of a boxing ring to match the “Prizefighter” tour they are on, the three-piece set the energy high early by letting the audience have a part in hits like “Little Lion Man” and “White Blank Page.” By the end of the night, lead singer Marcus Mumford had such control over the venue that, when he asked the arena to fall silent for a B-stage set featuring only the core members of the band, the crowd listened, offering a moment of serenity after a concert filled with flashing light patterns and pyrotechnics. With a concert just over two hours and spanning 30 songs from all parts of the band’s career, the night was a crown jewel in the band’s triumphant return.
Folk music’s success is its simplicity. The acoustic nature of the instrumentals allows more space for listeners to connect to the emotions behind the song. In a world where connection is increasingly technology-based, teens are looking for moments of authenticity. This is also why vinyl sales have grown for 18 consecutive years alongside other forms of physical media, and why folk resonates with today’s teenagers. 
Mumford and Sons has stuck with their millennial audience because of a phenomenon known as the “reminiscence bump.” This concept suggests people appreciate music from their adolescence more because so many defining memories form during that time. It is the soundtrack of the years when people start to discover who they are, and it becomes intertwined with that memory.
Noah Kahan differs from Mumford and Sons not just in the way he rose to fame, but in the inspiration he takes in his work, collaborating with artists like Post Malone and Gracie Abrams, and his tour setlist features a rotating “surprise song” that is common amongst pop acts like Taylor Swift, Sabrina Carpenter, and Conan Gray.
Mumford and Sons, meanwhile, had more rock influences with loud instrumental breaks, and their current tour setlist features more pyrotechnics than one would expect from a folk group.
Despite their different eras and influences, fans fell in love for similar reasons. They drew on strong instrumentals driven by Banjo, guitar, upright bass, and piano, along with deep lyrics that explore subjects like heartbreak and longing. Fans of one artist mentioned being fans of the other. Mumford and Sons fans were more likely to cite other artists more clearly in the folk genre,
But Mumford and Sons fans were more likely to cite other artists more clearly in the folk genre, while Noah Kahan fans mentioned artists like Zach Bryan. Bria Block, a Junior at Milton High School, found Noah Kahan through the song “Forever” on Instagram, falling for the message contained in the line “I’m broke/but I’m real rich in my head”. Meanwhile, Sarah and Rachel, fans I spoke to at the concert, found Mumford and Sons when “Little Lion Man” played on the radio in high school and were amazed at how the instruments fit together sonically.
Both artists got their big moment in Atlanta this year.
Noah Kahan treated Truist Park to fan-favorite “You’re Gonna Go Far” as the city’s surprise song, while fans sang out into the open night sky. Mumford and Sons had singer Marcus Mumford sprinting through the entire lower bowl of the arena during the song “Ditmas,” giving every section their own special moment. Each artist also gave their openers a chance to shine during the headlining set, with Gigi Perez performing “She Calls Me Back” with Noah Kahan and Atlanta-native band Medium Build performing “Here” with Mumford and Sons.
Even as concert audiences change, Atlanta has made it clear that folk music will always be loved.
