Vinyl Thursday

I, like most people over the past couple of years, recently picked up a record player and began to build my own vinyl collection. I came into my record player last Christmas as a gift from my fiancé (now wife). It was a great gift because it was a total surprise and, from the moment I plugged it in, I fell in love with listening to records. We placed it in our spare room and for the first few months of 2011 I would find any reason I could to hang out in that room solely to listen. Like any Christmas gift, the excitement eventually wore off and the days between when the needle was dropped became longer and longer.

Last night, as I passed by the record player and its raised lid, I noticed a thin layer of dust had begun to develop. I then began to worry that I had become one of those people who claimed to be “really into music”, who said things at parties like, “Oh I love listening to vinyl - I have a huge collection.," when in reality, I had only bought a hand full of records over the past year, and in the past six months the amount of attention they get has become less and less. So, after having this realization I decide to start a weekly post called “Vinyl Thursday”, where I will review a new record every week until I run out of the ones I own and then I will start buying more.

Week 1, The Civil Wars Barton Hollow. I will be the first to admit, the first time I heard the Civil Wars I drank the Kool-Aid. I was sold on these guys from day 1. “Barton Hollow” the first single was comprised of heavy bass drum, soulful harmonies, and some really catchy lyrics. It’s the kind of single that can take you from nobody, to a 2011 CMA duo of the year nominee in about eight months.

The single is what led me to purchase the vinyl, but I was blown away with how great this album was from start to finish. Not just the tracks that also had commercial success like “Poison and Wine”, but tracks like “20 Years”, “I’ve Got This Friend”, and “Birds of a Feather” all make you want to open a beer, sit outside on a cool summer night and just get lost in music. To me that is the great thing about this album, how one song seamlessly moves into the next. Do not buy this album with the expectations of the single “Barton Hollow” to be present through the entire album. It is not there. To be honest “Barton Hollow” kind of disrupts the flow and I myself have even skipped over it a time or two.

Overall the duo of Joy Williams and John Paul White provide soothing harmonies and bring a singer/songwriter feel back to “mainstream” county that I feel have been missing for a long time. Time will only tell if their next release will continue stay more on the Folk/Alt Country side of things, or if their sound begins to change as their success grows.

Key Tracks- Poison and Wine, 20 Years,

Overall - ♫♫♫ out of ♫♫♫♫♫