The Civil Wars

The Civil Wars were a folk duo made up of Joy Williams and John Paul White. They started working together around 2009, and their first album, 'Barton Hollow,' came out in 2011. That record had a spare, acoustic sound built around their two voices, which fit together in a way that felt both close and uneasy.

A song from that album, 'Poison & Wine,' became one of their best-known tracks. Its lyrics about a complicated relationship seemed to hint at the tension that would later define the duo. Around the same time, they collaborated with Taylor Swift on 'Safe & Sound' for a film soundtrack, which brought their music to a much wider audience.

They released a self-titled second album in 2013, but the partnership was already strained. The band went on hiatus the following year and officially ended a few years later. Their catalog is relatively small, just those two studio albums and some stray tracks, but songs like 'Dust To Dust' and '20 Years' have held up for listeners who connected with their particular blend of folk intimacy and emotional friction.