You may know The Lumineers from a foot-stomping chorus and wonder what else they do. The Denver band turned grief, a cello and shouted choruses into a defining sound of the folk boom.
This profile sits inside our guide to indie folk artists.
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| Founders | Wesley Schultz and Jeremiah Fraites |
| Current base | Denver, Colorado |
| Debut album release | April 2012 |
| Second album | Cleopatra, four years after the 2012 debut |
| Breakout song | “Ho Hey”, multi-platinum in the US |
These details come from uDiscover Music’s artist profile. Figures and chart details can change, so check the source before you rely on them.
Where The Lumineers came from
The band’s story starts in New Jersey, not Colorado. Childhood friends Wesley Schultz and Jeremiah Fraites were thrown together as musical teenagers after the death of Josh Fraites, Jeremiah’s brother.
Songwriting became a source of comfort. That matters for how you hear the music: the big, communal choruses sit on top of real loss, and the contrast is a large part of the appeal.
The pair travelled from Ramsey, New Jersey, into New York City for gigs. They played under ad hoc names including:
- Free Beer
- 6Cheek
- Wesley Jeremiah
None of those names stuck, but the habit of playing small rooms and winning over strangers did. It shaped a band built for live sing-alongs rather than studio polish.
Denver, a Craigslist ad and a cello
The band is now based in Denver, Colorado. There they found the extra voice that defined their early records: cellist and singer Neyla Pekarek, who answered a Craigslist ad.
The trio worked on increasingly strong songs and released a home-recorded EP. “Ho Hey” was one of their first efforts and, by that account, always proved to be a crowd-pleaser.
The cello is worth listening for. It gives otherwise simple acoustic songs a warm, low undertone that a second guitar could not, and it separates the band from a plain strummed-guitar act.
The debut and “Ho Hey”
The self-titled debut arrived in April 2012 through Dualtone Records and Dine Alone in North America, and through Decca in the UK and Germany. It contains “Ho Hey”, a party anthem that characterised the summer of 2012.
The song reached multi-platinum status in the US and every major European territory, according to uDiscover. It was also No.1 in the year-end charts on both the Billboard Adult Contemporary and Adult Top 40 charts, and at its peak it figured in over 20 national Top 20s.
Those numbers explain why the band became shorthand for a whole moment. A kick drum, a handclap and a chant that a crowd can learn on a first listen was a formula that travelled from folk clubs to radio.
What the stomp-and-clap sound is made of
The Lumineers did not invent communal folk-pop, but they made it easy to recognise. Their approach rests on a few ingredients you can hear in almost every early track:
- Shouted, shared choruses that invite a crowd to answer back.
- Percussion up front, with Fraites on drums driving songs that would otherwise be quiet.
- Cello and piano adding bittersweet colour.
- Plain, direct lyrics about love, loss and small-town life.
uDiscover describes the result as a blend of bittersweet Celtic licks and punchy, take-it-to-the-bridge choruses. “Stubborn Love” and “Submarines” are the examples it points to beyond “Ho Hey”.
If you came to folk through quieter singer-songwriters, this is the louder end of the spectrum. A contrast is the hushed, intimate fingerpicking of Nick Drake, whose influence runs through a very different branch of the genre.
Cleopatra and the follow-up question
A huge debut hit makes a second album hard. Cleopatra took off four years after the 2012 debut, and uDiscover says it picks up and runs with the big acoustic sound, with Pekarek’s cello and vocals once more a vital ingredient.
Early singles “Ophelia” and “Angela” showed the band maintaining a standard rather than reinventing itself.
uDiscover also notes that producer Simone Felice was a great choice for the second album. It is a reminder that the band’s sound grew through collaboration, not only through the founders. A producer’s ear can sharpen a chorus, trim an arrangement and keep a follow-up album from sounding like a copy of the first.
For a fair listen, try the debut and Cleopatra back to back. You will notice how little the formula changes and how much the songwriting carries the weight.
How to listen: a short guide
Stomp-and-clap folk rewards a particular kind of attention. Rather than hunting for dense lyrics or intricate guitar work, you listen for how a song builds and where the crowd is meant to join in.
Try this simple routine the first time through the debut album:
- Play “Ho Hey” once for the hook, noticing how little instrumentation it needs.
- Play “Stubborn Love” and “Submarines” next and track how each chorus lifts the song.
- Replay a track and follow only the cello or piano line, ignoring the vocal.
- Finish with a slower song and notice how the same band handles quiet.
This approach shows that the simplicity is deliberate. Each part leaves room for the others, which is exactly why the songs hold up when a whole room sings along.
It also helps to remember the origin story. A band that began as two friends writing through loss tends to favour songs about connection, and that explains why the choruses sound more like invitations than performances.
Critics sometimes treat the folk boom as a fashion, and the louder, clap-driven end of it draws the most scepticism. Yet the best of these songs endure because they are honest and easy to share, two qualities that never go out of style.
Where to start and who to hear next
Begin with the debut album, then move to Cleopatra. Pay attention to the cello lines and to how the choruses are built to be sung by many people at once.
When you want a more introspective counterpart, Phoebe Bridgers offers a quieter, more confessional take on modern indie folk. Comparing the two shows how wide the genre has become.
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Frequently asked questions
Where are The Lumineers from?
Show answer
The band’s origins lie in New Jersey, but it is now based in Denver, Colorado, according to uDiscover Music.
Who founded the band?
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Childhood friends Wesley Schultz and Jeremiah Fraites, who began working together after the death of Fraites’s brother Josh.
When did the debut album come out?
Show answer
The self-titled debut was released in April 2012 and contains “Ho Hey”.
How did the cellist join?
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Neyla Pekarek was connected with the band through a Craigslist ad, per uDiscover’s profile.
