In the promo video for Traveler, Jerry Douglas tells the story: “I was in London walking to the Royal Festival Hall over the Thames and talking to Marcus Mumford on the phone and he said what about “The Boxer”? I told him I love the Boxer! I met Mumford & Sons and we just glommed on to each other. They are like sons to me at this point, but we have a lot of fun. The respect goes both ways. They come over to our house and hang out with our kids.” The 13 time Grammy winner and dobro master’s latest album also features performances by Alison Krauss & Union Station, Paul Simon, Bela Fleck, Del McCoury, Dr. John, Eric Clapton, Keb’ Mo, Marc Cohn, Omar Hakim, Sam Bush, Viktor Krauss, and others.
“The Boxer” written by Paul Simon, was a 1968 hit single for Simon & Garfunkel and has seen many artists from Bob Dylan to The Samples cover it over the years. Jerry Douglas asks Paul Simon to join in with Mumford & Sons on the track in providing wonderful melodies and vocals, which Mumford & Sons just released as a bonus track to their new album Babel. Jerry also joined Mumford & Sons during their three-concert run at The Ryman in Nashville earlier this year, where they performed this song live. Listen to the studio track streaming, then watch a video of the March 8th performance, below.
Mumford & Sons – The Boxer (Simon & Garfunkel cover)
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Mumford & Sons featuring Jerry Douglas – The Boxer (Simon & Garfunkel cover)
Get more info on Jerry Douglas on his website and Mumford & Sons on theirs.
1. A pedantic/semantic note: Technically, since the studio version was released first on Traveler before it was a bonus track for M&S, I’d argue that proper attribution requires both names, a la “Mumford & Sons and Jerry Douglas: The Boxer”.
2. See also the same song being performed by Mumford & Sons, Jerry Douglas, and EMMYLOU HARRIS as a final encore for their recent shared CMT Crossroads sessions (which is, unfortunately, not available in song-by-song format): http://www.cmt.com/videos/cmt-crossroads-mumford-sons-and-emmylou-harris/1694331/full-episode.jhtml