Album Club: 18.10.2011: The Civil Wars - Barton Hollow (2011)

[Tim]

The Civil Wars - Barton Hollow
Feb 1st 2011 - CD, Vinyl, Download
Playing time: 39:55

http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w63/greatgig/51rBGPLTlCL-1.jpg

Spotify - Barton Hollow ( http://open.spotify.com/album/7wmwaIt99NVwdOc7Z8jXYK )

The Civil Wars are a singer-songwriting duo who met by chance in Nashville and after some ad hoc sessions were both amazed at how they clicked musically. The fruits of this is their first recording 'Barton Hollow'. The album has received wide critical acclaim from not only the music industry, but more importantly other recording artists such as Taylor Swift, Sara Bareilles and Adele, who have done a pretty good job of getting them noticed by Tweeting and 'going viral' as the saying goes.

The simplicity of their work is captivating and sublimely beautiful, as their voices combine in that rare harmony often referred to as 'the third voice'. They perform on stage as a duo only, with nothing more than John Paul's acoustic guitar and their performance is spell binding. They were support for Adele on her recent U.S. tour and are also supporting her in the UK, but are now selling out as a headline act.

I adore this album and discovered them through Bob Harris who is also a huge fan and 'Barton Hollow' has been nominated for multiple awards in the U.S. It became the #1 download on iTunes the week it was released.

I have changed my album club choice three times now, but this is the album I'm playing most right now, so it feels right for the moment :)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Civil_Wars

www.amazon.co.uk ( http://www.amazon.co.uk/Barton-Hollow-Civil-Wars/dp/B004GY6DTS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1318961607&sr=8-1 )

Musicians

* Joy Williams (California)
* John Paul White (Alabama)

http://www.thecivilwars.com

If you like them and want to see them live, they have their own headline show next year at the O2 Shepherd's Bush Empire on March 12th.
There are some tickets left and their last London Show was a sell-out, so don't wait if you want to go.
http://www.o2shepherdsbushempire.co.uk/event/34341/the-civil-wars-tickets/Details

[Welder]

Wot no torrent download link ffs! :eek:



Ooops sry, I'll get my coat :doh: )

[Thing Fish]

,

[Thing Fish]

Sorry post in error.

[YNWaN]

A friend has just brought the record over - I must say it sounds lovely. I will be buying my own copy tomorrow.

[aquapiranha]

I don't need to go to Spotify for this one! I have had this for some time now and I have given it a resounding 5 stars as I think it is fabulous.

[WAD62]

Eeeuuughh...sickly, sugary, sweet, bland, not my cup of tea at all, sorry Tim, now if it had been the Low Anthem or suchlike... :)

1 Star

[John]

Another one a bit to nice for me
Good song writing some nice acoustic guitar and certainly see why most will love this
Sorry just does not engage me

[Welder]

I don’t mind this. It’s pleasant enough. They both sing well. It is as Will writes a bit twee and sickly but I’ve heard and probably got a lot worse.
It’s reasonably well recorded and I will probably play it again. It’s not an album that would drag me away from whatever task I happened to be engaged in to sit down and listen but I’ve got it playing now as I attempt to sort my amps out.
I might feel a bit more comfortable with the album if they made their minds up about which side of the Atlantic their country style originates from.
3 out of 5

[baron]

Heard them on Jools Holland last week, listened to the album on Spotify and ordered the record from Amazon the same day. I like them.

[sq225917]

I like it a lot, simple, a bit twee, a bit country at times but thoroughly well done and perfectly recorded & produced.

[Alex_UK]

Nice choice Tim, and good to see something new. I will give it a fresh spin in album club tradition and comment later, but I'm already a fan so it won't be bad from me!

[Bazil]

This is alright, not the sort of thing I would listen to but I enjoyed it considering it was a first listen. I'll play it again if Spotify lets me 4/5 :)

[YNWaN]

I'm not so keen on the more obviously country elements - I like the more 'left field' stuff though.

[The Grand Wazoo]

I saw them on th Jools Holland programme the other week & was interested enough to resolve to take a look at Spotify to see if the album was there. I never got round to doing that, so I was glad of an excuse to dial it up & give it a fair hearing today.

Only one play so far, but I quite liked it. I thought there was a bit of a Plant/Krauss thing going on with this one but I felt it was perhaps lacking a bit of an edge. I'd think that after a couple of further listens I may well like it enough to get a copy. I can't see it ever being worn out from over-playing though!

[Tim]

I saw them on th Jools Holland programme the other week & was interested enough to resolve to take a look at Spotify to see if the album was there. I never got round to doing that, so I was glad of an excuse to dial it up & give it a fair hearing today.

Only one play so far, but I quite liked it. I thought there was a bit of a Plant/Krauss thing going on with this one but I felt it was perhaps lacking a bit of an edge. I'd think that after a couple of further listens I may well like it enough to get a copy. I can't see it ever being worn out from over-playing though!
It is a real grower Chris, I thought it was OK when I first heard it, but have played it multiple times since then and really enjoy it now. Seeing them live however, really upped my opinion of them.

Glad folk are enjoying them and I wanted to bring something new and bang up to date to Album Club. I was going to choose Beth Hart & Joe Bonamassa, but that's doing very nicely on it's own ;)

[keiths]

I've had this one a while and enjoy it. Their voices work very well together, the arrangements are nice and simple and well played and the songs fairly strong.

Maybe a bit bland in places, but overall a good album.

I've voted "3", but it's better than that (that's the same score I gave Zero 7 last week, but I like this more - but not as much as "Liege and Lief" a few weeks back - which I gave a "4". So a "3" it has to be - but really it's a "3.5" ;) )

[Audioman]

Pleasant listen and nicely played and performed. For me it draggs a bit especialy the first few tracks. 2 or 3 more up tempo numbers thrown in would have improved it greatly. Potential not fully realised yet. They need a few stronger and more memorable songs. Since I reserve 4/5 for the top quality and classic records I can only give it 3, though in terms of musical talent this duo deserve better.

Can I add that it is not as americana / country as I expected. As pointed out before it is nearer UK folk such as Gregson/Collister who were a lot better IMHO. Ironic that Clive Gregson is now a Nashville based songwriter.

[Bazil]

This is alright, not the sort of thing I would listen to but I enjoyed it considering it was a first listen. I'll play it again if Spotify lets me 4/5 :)

I've now got this and play it regular, really like it. :cool:

[Tim]

I've now got this and play it regular, really like it. :cool:
Glad you like it, it grows on you more and more too :)


Can I add that it is not as americana / country as I expected.
I think Americana as a genre has changed/grown and can be tough to define - however it has just been officially defined at the Nashville Americana Festival as 'A genre of American music which has it roots in folk and country music' I think a lot of people just assume 'Americana' is country, but it's much more than that IMO. Lucinda Williams is a classic example of modern Americana and has pushed her musical boundaries way beyond just country.

I'm glad some people enjoyed this selection, to be honest I didn't expect it to do as well as it did. Joy and John Paul are already working on writing a follow up album and have started their own headline tour of the US, which is just about sold out. The success of this album has boosted their careers beyond their wildest dreams.

Thanks to all who gave it a go, as it was rather different to the previous selections. If I keep contributing to Album Club I will aim to always introduce new or relatively unknown artists.

[Alex_UK]

My favourite so far I think of the Album Club - a solid 4 from me. :)

[Tim]

I was very pleased to receive an email from The Civil Wars this week about their debut album, Barton Hollow.


We're so very excited that Barton Hollow is nominated for “Best Folk Album” and “Best Country Duo/Group Performance” at the 54th annual GRAMMY Awards!
Very well deserved IMO as this is one of my albums of the year :)

They have also announced some solo dates for 2012;

13 March - Birmingham, United Kingdom - HMV Institute
14 March - Dublin, Ireland - The Academy
16 March - Manchester, United Kingdom - Academy 2
17 March - Lancaster, United Kingdom - Library (SOLD OUT)
18 March - Leeds, United Kingdom - The Wardrobe
19 March - London, United Kingdom - Shepherd's Bush Empire
21 March - Brighton, United Kingdom - Komedia
22 March - Bristol, United Kingdom - 02 Academy

If you have not given this album a spin yet, I can recommend it ;)

[Audioman]

Amazon have Barton Hollow on vinyl for £15 so I have ordered it. I think this is the type of music better appreciated via analogue than spotify.

[Thing Fish]

Thought I had voted on this! It seems not. Rectified.

I liked it although not sure I'd buy it...:)

[MartinT]

How did I miss this? Gorgeous singing, lovely sound. 4 stars from me.