It's still yet to be explained to me how Mumford & Sons are "true to American roots music." The influences seem to be U2 (Irish), Dave Matthews (arguably South African), Coldplay (British), & Vineyard praise & worship (Australian/British).
It's pop songs, the influences are international. You just don't hear these epic crescendo arrangements (which is pretty much the only thing Mumford & Sons can do) in American roots music. I guess the 5-string banjo is an American innovation, but is that really enough to qualify?
I mean, at the end of the day, the Grammy awards are a democratic process, & the results are more an indictment of the voting pool than they say anything about the acts themselves, & I'm not trying to suggest that there's anything empirical about the nomination one way or the other, but I still feel like this should come across like Jethro Tull beating Metallica for best metal record to any real Americana fan.
I'm not trying to say what Americana is or should be, necessarily, only what it isn't.
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