Marcus Mumford wrote Mumford and Sons tune Alley Cat in a prison.
The 39-year-old singer-songwriter was inspired to do volunteering work in jail amid the coronavirus pandemic, and working with inmates helped him to pen a new song on the band’s Prizefighter album.
He told The Big Issue magazine: “Alley Cat, I wrote in a prison actually. I go into prison and do poetry workshops and that came out of one of those sessions with the lads.
“Which I felt slightly conflicted about to start with”.
Marcus was motivated to volunteer in jail partly due to his “love of local communities”.
He added: “I like being present in the place where you live.
“If all of us were defined by the worst thing we ever did, we’d all be f***ed.”
The star – who married Hollywood actress Carey Mulligan in 2012 – also thinks people should have more “grace” for each other in life.
He added: “I believe in grace, I believe in mercy, I believe in responsibility, choices, consequences, of course. I’m not a libertarian of that kind.
“But at the same time I just don’t think we have enough grace for each other.”
Last year, Marcus told how the band – also made up of Ted Dwane and Ben Lovett – haven’t been asked back to play at Glastonbury since they headlined the Pyramid Stage in 2013, after he tried to steal a sofa from his dressing room.
Speaking on the Table Manners podcast, he said: “I got kicked out of our dressing room. I wasn’t allowed back in because I tried to steal furniture.
“I wanted a memento, so I tried to load the sofa into the back of my van.”
Quizzed on whether they had played at the Somerset-based site since, Marcus replied: “No.”
Despite that, the lack of invite hasn’t changed Marcus’ opinion about the music extravaganza.
He said: “It’s just the best festival on Earth.
“Every other festival tries to be Glastonbury. It’s the OG.”
Marcus previously told how he was thrown out of the festival after trying to take the sofa.
Speaking in 2016, he told Radio X: “We came off stage and I tried to nick a sofa from the dressing room – and got chucked out.
“They didn’t let me back in.
“They’d just had enough of us by the end. And they said, ‘Get out and don’t come back.’ “
