Timothy Norris

Mumford & Sons
Hollywood Bowl
11/12/12

See also: Our slideshow of the concert

It's been four years since Mumford & Sons played their first show in Los Angeles, and in that time the London-based quartet's career has skyrocketed. Since then the folk rockers have released two chart topping albums, been nominated for a slew of Grammys, and upgraded from playing the Hotel Cafe to the Hollywood Bowl.

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Kathleen Nicholson

Beachwood Sparks

With folk music back in the mainstream consciousness via acts like Bon Iver and Fleet Foxes, the timing for Beachwood Sparks' reunion is right. "I think we were one of the bands that paved the way for that," founding member and bassist Brent Rademaker tells us. He's excited to talk about their new album The Tarnished Gold.

Formed in the mid-1990s, Beachwood Sparks gained speed alongside folk-influenced bands like Wilco and Neutral Milk Hotel. Other founding Beachwood Sparks members included guitarist Chris Gunst and drummer Jimi Hey, who met while working as DJs at KXLU and formed the group Strictly Ballroom with Jimmy Tamborello, who later produced Beachwood Sparks' Make The Cowboy Robots Cry EP and collaborated with Ben Gibbard on the acclaimed Postal Service album.

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Not long ago, Rob Getzschman decided to turn Cypress Hills' 1991 ode-to-police "Pigs" into a lullaby. Or, as he would say, "back into a lullaby." (You can hear the song below.)

Under the auspices of his folk project Mighty Good Road, Getzschman -- an L.A.-based musician, video editor and father of a two-year-old -- takes songs that are (or could be) protest themed and recasts them in an old-school folk context. For example, he's done Starship's deplorable "We Built This City" as a labor rights ballad -- think: "We (the people) built this city..." -- making it pretty decent in the process. We spoke with him about why "Pigs" makes such a good lullaby, and who the most gangsta folk musician is.

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