Mumford and Sons Play Surprise Show for Senior Citizens

With their fondness for traditional instruments like mandolins, banjos and accordions, Mumford and Sons have made a habit of using their music to deliberately hearken back to times gone by -- which made the band a natural (albeit still somewhat surprising) choice to provide entertainment for what the U.K.'s Sun tabloid is referring to as "an old folks' tea party."

Unlike some of the more outlandish statements published by the Sun, this one's right on the money. The band showed up last weekend for a meeting of the Friday Friends lunch club in West Yorkshire, dining with "around 40" senior citizens and treating their mealtime companions to performances of 'Sisters' and 'Amazing Grace' before "sweeping the hall and sorting out the washing up before they left."

A most unusual afternoon, to be sure -- and one that sounds like it was a lot of fun for the Friday Friends. As one of the organizers told the Sun, "They were lovely, genuine boys. No airs and graces, none of this big star attitude ... It’s a good job we took some pictures or I doubt many people would believe us."

It makes for a feel-good story and a funny headline, but it wasn't quite as random as it might seem. As the Sun points out, Marcus Mumford's brother James works for an organization that provides grants for community projects, and his encouragement was enough to prompt the band to reach out and set up the event. And they were glad they did it, too: As Mumford later told the paper, "It was wonderful to meet some of Huddersfield’s old people, and they gave us a really warm welcome to the town."