re: mumford/etc.: i never thought i would think folk music is exceptionally good.
I've never listened, but I'm pretty sure you still don't.
Keith has got it right. I was just saying this to someone else - I never listened to these guys because from all the descriptions they sounded like a bunch of Brits imitating a bluegrass band, but it turns out, they are totally not. They are a rock band that knows how to play acoustic instruments and sings a lot of harmony.
As someone who has a lot of experience in folk music - I mean actual traditional music, not stuff written by live people - it always feels to me like people go all "folk! folk!" about music that really only adopts a little tiny bit of folk elements. Apparently it only takes a tiny bit of banjo on a couple of songs to make a group seem very American-traditional-folky to the average listener. When in actuality, many people who love this group would scream and poke their own eardrums out if trapped at a bluegrass concert (myself included).
I'm not saying this to insult those people. I'm just saying, their descriptions of music make no sense to me, so they tend to steer me in the wrong direction, which in this case was away from this group, when it turns out I am really enjoying some of their music quite a lot.