It's a bit of a mystery how The Civil Wars ended up on my Ipod because I have absolutely no recollection of downloading their album nor does my boyfriend. Nonetheless, it was a happy accident and here I am, listening to their album, Barton Hollow, from start to finish for the billionth time.
Barton Hollow, is a folk album by the dashing duo John Paul White and Joy Williams who met by chance and created a following for themselves by recording a live album at Eddie's Attic and by making it available for download from their MySpace account for free. It was a brilliant PR move and goes to show how much they care about their music reaching an audience versus a blockbuster paycheck.
I've always enjoyed folk music, especially the amazing tunes of Ani DiFranco, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Townes Van Zandt and Simon & Garfunkel, but if you mention those artists to a 20-something year old today, they would have had no idea how rad folk music was if it wasn't for The Civil Wars.
"The Violet Hour" is absolutely haunting and makes for the perfect soundtrack of an eerie day, its melodies trailing behind you as you walk from place to place. "The Girl with the Red Balloon" is a tragic love story that makes you want to get swept up by the four winds to find the girl's lost love with strums of the guitar so perfectly placed the movie reel plays in your head as you listen to the story unfold.
Their highest acclaimed song from the album is "Poison & Wine" which tells about the good & the ugly in relationships, but honestly I'm still thinking about how can't no preacher man save my soul from the title track, "Barton Hollow". It's a brilliant album with few instruments, beautiful harmonies, and haunting lyrics. Buy it. Listen to it. Love it. Seriously.
{photo via The Civil Wars}
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