The Civil Wars at Newport Folk

July 30 & 31st - Artist Profile:

Middle Brother play the Harbor Stage
Sunday July 31st. Tickets are still available.



WHO THEY ARE / BACKGROUND - Indie Folk duo The Civil Wars have captivated audiences with there first studio album Barton Hallow earlier this year. Composed of Singer-Songwriters Joy Williams and John Paul White are from Nashville and they've taken a little bit of Tennessee with them everywhere they have traveled. They were the talk of the town in Sundance, soon after performing a new song they worked there in Boston *Cafe 939 live video link is below. Weeks later they were in Austin for smoldering, sold out shows in Austin. The harmonizing vocals and soothing acoustic guitar is booth joyful and mournful at the same time. Expect this to be one of the most sought-after and hard-to-see live sets of the entire festival. - JEREMIAH ROBINSON

[Editor's Note: Barton Hollow from the Civil Wars is already on RSL's Best of Album List for 2011. There is no losing when this music is on. Don't miss this. - RYAN]


The Civil Wars
Web / My / Fb / Tw
NPR / LA Times
Video: Live in Boston



Comments

Anonymous said…
Saw them at Newport Folkfest to a very packed house. We were very disappointed. There was a lot of buzz surrounding it, but it turned out to be a bunch of hype. The show all appeared very staged, from the lovingly calculated fixing of Johnny Depp’s, pardon John White’s crooked bow tie to the cute loving, longing glances. The studio album is OK, but it’s a Nashvegas marketing creation at best. Sentimental stage show at its worst. Joy’s air hand dancing was distracting anywhere but an old school Dead show. There were so many other acts at Newport deserving of this huge attention - Chris Thile, The Head and The Heart, Middle Brother, David Wax, M. Ward and The Decemberists who were awesome. I am not trying to be harsh but this act needs more (road) work before they get this kind of critical attention. If you want “folk” entertainment maybe this is the future, but I’ll prefer the real deal.
Ryan Spaulding said…
Totally respect your opinion of course. I think that's it's basically destined that people will disappoint you after they have been built up so much, so fast. I will tell you that after having seen them in Cafe 939 the first time (that's an amazing sounding all ages room in Boston's Back Bay) that this relatively new band kicked our collective asses! [LINK]

Everybody is entitled to an off show and they have toured a ton this year. This is admittedly the worst festival to do it in. The bar was set very high this year.

I guess we both agree that you probably would have been better off at the Middle Brother set my friend...

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