The Civil Wars: Barton Hollow

Release Date: 02/01/11
Genre(s): Country, Bluegrass, Indie

To start my return to music reviews, I figured I'd start out with a not-so-indie group out of Nashville. Actually, if you trace the roots of The Civil Wars, you'll find out that Joy Williams came through Contemporary Christian Music as a teenager in California, and then left it all behind for Nashville. The result was a small label, a grass roots duo, and a BIG sound. Barton Hollow sounds just like the music you'd hear at your local crawfish boil or small town festival deep in the south. For some of you, that sounds like home; for others, it sounds like another world. The tracks that make up this album really dig down deep into the emotions of the men and women in the South, with such depth that it reaches out and grabs the rest of America. The song that has been haunting me for months is "I've Got This Friend." Not only do the lyrics beautifully tell the story of two friends, and that wonderful moment when they realize the one they're looking for has been right there all along, but the melody itself is hauntingly beautiful.

Then there's the title track, "Barton Hollow." I heard that for one minute during the Grammys. The next day I went and downloaded the album. The harmonies, the melody, the voices, the twang - I was blown away. And, from what record sales tell me, so was everyone else.

If you don't have this album, get it. If you HATE country music, and don't have this album - get it anyway. This is country music for people who hate country music but LOVE good music. Some albums simply transcend genres, and Barton Hallow is one of them.