Our Storytime section brought us many amazing stories about Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic fans in 2014. They’ll make you laugh. They’ll make you cry. They’ll make you love.
Here are 10 of our favorites from 2014:
Storytime from Cluny, Burgundy
When two friends from France wanted to honor the music of Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, they turned to their community of Cluny, Burgundy for help. Zoe Petty and Stéphanie Morin — after learning of Janglin Souls’ ESMZ Cover Song video contest in 2013 — reached out to The Champêtres Grouve Band, a group of friends and musicians from Cluny. They submitted their version of Home, shot in various parts of the community.
Read full story (Jan. 27, 2014)
Storytime: Raphaël and Mister Glinglin
Sabrina Maufret, of Nantes, France, shares this story of her son, Raphaël, who was born on May 4, 2013, while listening to “a song that will follow him all his life: Janglin — one of my favorites,” says Sabrina. Sabrina then decided to name Little Raph’s favorite toy after ESMZ and one of her favorite songs. She named the cuddly toy Jan Glin, alias Mister Glinglin. Today, Raph and Mister Glinglin are inseparable and have become “best friends forever,” according to mom.
Read full story (Aug. 17, 2014)
ESMZ fan J.R. Gibbs loses battle with cancer
On July 27, 2014, J.R. Gibbs, a retired Air Force combat veteran and avid Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros fan, passed away after battling cancer. He was 61 years old. Gibbs, of Bentonville, Arkansas, learned he had cancer shortly after attending Edward Sharpe’s Big Top festival October 2013 in Los Angeles. On June 4, despite having radiation treatment that morning, Gibbs drove with his daughter and son-in-law to Columbia, Mo., to see ESMZ in concert at the 9th Street Summerfest. Gibbs said that his doctors advised him not to attend, but he was determined to see them anyway — even if he had to “wear a mask, gloves and gown so not to get sick.” Gibbs arrived at the show during Crash’s opening set, just minutes before ESMZ took the stage, and watched the entire concert from the VIP area.
Read full story (July 27, 2014)
Janglin Souls’ Q&A with Gibbs (March 17, 2014)
Storytime: Eli Shane
When Alex Ebert invited 11-year-old Eli Shane to the stage during the Gathering of the Vibes Festival on Aug. 2 in Bridgeport, Conn., the young New Yorker wearing braces, thick glasses and a T-shirt that read: “Positive Vibes Only,” did not disappoint. Eli stole the show as he dove into the verse: “To my child of wonder rambling…” during ESMZ’s All Wash Out. “I always wanted to perform in front of a crowd that big, and the fact that they made my dream come true and were so generous and caring, it gave me a whole different view of them,” Eli says.
Read full story (Aug. 5, 2014)
Storytime: James Marcus Haney
Graduate college or hop on a train tour with your favorite bands — come on, which would you choose? In his new documentary that aired on MTV this summer, James Marcus Haney shares his story about skipping out on his final exams during his final semester at the University of Southern California, and instead hopping on a train with Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, Mumford & Sons and Old Crow Medicine Show. “I couldn’t believe it,” Haney say. “This is like every fan’s dream come true. I was on board with some of my favorite bands. No longer an outside looking in … I was one of them. I was part of the family.” In his documentary, titled “No Cameras Allowed,” Haney tells the story of sneaking into some of the biggest music festivals in the country, including Coachella (2010 and 2011), Bonnaroo, Ultra and Austin City Limits.
Read full story (Aug. 26, 2014)
Storytime: Shelley Buck
In 2013, Shelley Buck was first introduced to Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, as her 22-year-old son Ryder was in the hospital, undergoing chemotherapy for Stage 4 testicular cancer. They listened to ESMZ songs together for hours, and watched any ESMZ video they could find online. “They lifted him out of dark and scary places,” Shelley Buck says. “They inspired him musically and spiritually.” During Home on the second night of ESMZ’s Big Top in October 2013, Ryder, a singer/songwriter/guitarist himself, thanked the band for “saving” his life. A little more than a week later, on Oct. 27, 2013, Ryder Buck was struck by a vehicle while on a California freeway and died. He was 23 years old.
Read our Q&A with Shelley Buck (Jan. 22, 2014)
Ryder Buck: ‘Live and love. We’re only here once’
Janglin Souls was fortunate enough to meet Ryder Buck during that second night of Big Top, after Ryder was invited backstage to meet the band. He treasured every second he spent with band members, and personally thanked each one of them for helping saving and his life and helping him beat cancer. He ended up jamming with some of the Magnetic Zeros and later told his buddies, “I can now die happy.” During Ryder’s memorial service in November 2013, members of Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros showed up to pay respects to a young man they had just one week before.
Read full story (Jan. 22, 2014)
Storytime: Hayden Kaye
Robert Hayden Tieman and Miranda Kaye Hamilton met three years ago while cast as love interests in Oscar Wilde’s play, An Ideal Husband, in a black box theater at Northern Kentucky University. They eventually began dating and later formed an alternative, folk-rock duet called Hayden Kaye (taken from their middle names). They consider Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros one of their biggest musical inspirations. On Aug. 31, Hayden Kay released their second album Step Forth, an album about “self-development, hope and taking chances.”
Read full story (Sept. 8, 2014)
Storytime: Arctic Sarah
For 33-year old Sarah Moumblow, one of the biggest drawbacks to living in the Arctic Circle is not the subzero temperatures in the winter months, the incredibly slow postal system or the complete darkness in the winter. For Arctic Sarah, the hardest part was not getting to see her favorite band (ESMZ of course) perform 
live. She could only dream. That all changed this summer when Arctic Sarah saw her first ESMZ show on May 28, 2014 at Toronto’s Molson Canadian Amphitheatre. Check out her amazing journey and what happened after the concert.
Read full story (Oct. 14, 2014)
Storytime: Michelle and David, A Love Story
How can we leave off the love story of David and Michelle, who were married on April 27, 2014. After watching a few minutes of the “Big Easy Express” documentary in 2013, they became hooked on Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros. In the Summer of 2013, they started this fan club – Janglin Souls. David and Michelle were most certainly thinking of ESMZ during their wedding ceremony in Sarasota, Fla., when they walked out as husband and wife for the first time to Om Nashi Me and took their first dance to Alexander Ebert’s A Million Years.
Read full story (April 27, 2014)