Moroni's Review of The Civil Wars' "The Civil Wars"

The Civil Wars

Before I review this album, I have to say that - as a genre - I generally dislike country music.  There are certain artists that I do really like, and, once every few blue moons, I will put it on the country station for a few days until it starts grating on my nerves.  So when I say "country", I should clarify that I am talking about what country music has become today - glitzy, formulaic, and carefully marketed.  What I mean is that the music industry gets songwriters to pump out songs with cookie cutters.  All you get is the cookies, and then someone puts a different color frosting and sprinkles on it to make it distinct.  In other words, you can easily convert a song to a R&B song for Mariah Carey, or a power rock jam for Nickelback.  Add a few twangy steel guitars, and suddenly it's a hit for Carey Underwood.  No, I don't like that kind of generic quality added to music, and I never have.

But the old-time country...  That is a different story.  That is the kind of music that dad listened to, and it's the kind of music I grew up listening to.  Conway Twitty.  Merle Haggard.  Waylon Jennings.  Willie Nelson.  And if I listen to modern country, it has that "old" quality about it.  My collection includes Alan Jackson, Collin Raye, Garth Brooks, George Strait, and maybe some Martina McBride.  That's about it.  I really don't like about three quarters of the stuff I hear on the radio.

When the bluegrass new wave started over ten years ago, I ate that up.  That was about as "old-time" as you could get - Alison Krauss and Nickel Creek.

The first time I heard The Civil Wars, I included them in this exploration of certain artists in Nashville into our reliquary of musical past - a mash-up of Appalachian bluegrass, Delta blues, old school country, and folk music.  This is all-out Americana.  I hope when people think of "American music" that they think of something like The Civil Wars.  This is stuff that our roots are made of.

I have followed this band from the beginning when I first saw their video on VH1 one early morning from a hotel room as I got dressed.  Then later, I heard that some creative disputes had popped up, and the band had divorced, so to speak.  Suddenly, they are back and have an eponymous, sophomore effort out.  (Man, I can't believe I got to use those words in the same sentence!)

This album speaks to my heart.  It is minimalist, often with not much more than Joy Williams's sweet voice and a banjo or acoustic guitar.  The record kicks off with the regretful "The One Got Away", accented with a mandolin and steel guitar.  John Paul White takes over on the next piece, "I Had Me a Girl", a sultry blues piece with a slippery electric guitar.  Some songs sound like they really hail back the times of the Civil War, like "Devil's Backbone".  There are bluegrass ditties like "From This Valley".  My favorite songs are the soft songs that are almost whispers - "Tell Mama", "Disarm", and "D'Arline".  In "Sacred Heart", Williams sings in French, reminding us that our nation has never been an English-only culture.  My absolute favorite song is "Eavesdrop" - sheer sweetness.

The Civil Wars are a celebration of our rich culture.  They are what country music is really about - no twang, but real southern comfort.  Give this album a listen.