At September's Americana Music Awards, The Boot caught up with the Lumineers on the red carpet to discuss their latest album, Cleopatra, writing on the road and more.

In April, the Lumineers released Cleopatra, the followup to their self-titled debut album. The disc debuted at No. 1 on the all-genre Billboard 200 but was, according to the band, a challenge.

“The second album is arguably the hardest album to write,” the Lumineers tell The Boot. “At first it was just a huge challenge to write it."

Since the release of Cleopatra, the Lumineers have toured in both the United States and abroad -- they recently announced a new string of dates for 2017 -- and admit that they've been a little surprised at the reception the album has received.

“This tour has been incredible,” they share. “People seem to know the new material like they know the old material.”

While out on the road, however, writing for a third album hasn’t been easy. According to the Lumineers, their writing process tends to be pretty spontaneous: “It can begin anywhere ... We use a lot of iPhone voice memos emailed to each other -- that low, kind of crappy quality," they say. "There’s something magical about it; you know the idea is good because it’s so raw, there’s nothing to hide.”

When the band first started writing together, they didn’t really consider themselves part of the Americana genre -- but that all changed when the Lumineers were nominated in 2012 for Best New Artist and Best Americana Album at the Grammy Awards.

Bonnie Raitt came up to us on the red carpet and said, 'Hey guys, sorry I just won, but your album is great,'" the band remembers. “Part of [the Americana genre] is the anti-perfect -- the wearing your heart on your sleeve in a way that’s real. You can’t really mass produce or plan ... That’s the whole mantra: embracing those flaws. It makes it feel real and human.”

The Lumineers will tour in Europe through late November, then hit the road again in January back in the U.S. Tour dates are available on the band's official website.

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