Barton Hollow is the first full-length studio album from the Civil Wars. Produced by Charlie Peacock, it was released on February 1, 2011. It peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard Digital Albums chart, No. 10 on the Billboard 200, No. 1 on the Billboard Folk Albums chart, and No. 2 on the Billboard Rock Albums chart, selling 25,000 copies in its first week. As of August 2013, the album has sold 623,000 copies in the US.
Barton Hollow was preceded by the lead single and title track, which was performed live on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on January 14, 2011. A track on this album, "Poison and Wine" was previously released as a single from their EP Poison & Wine in 2009. On November 30, 2011, Barton Hollow was nominated for Grammys in the Best Folk Album and Best Country Duo/Group Performance categories, for the title song. The album ended up winning both awards. Numerous publications noted that the Civil Wars were snubbed a Best New Artist nomination by The Grammys. At the ceremony the Civil Wars performed a portion of "Barton Hollow". The vinyl LP version of the record was pressed at United Record Pressing in Nashville, TN.
These bluegrass throwback LPs always sound so beautiful, yet feel so lacking in anything interesting. It was a well-worn genre to begin with, and the Civil Wars really don’t bring anything new to the table on this one.
A nice little folksy country album. Had never heard of them but have by chance heard them before since they co-wrote a song with Taylor Swift which I had heard.
Beyond that, I don't think it is really all that special.
My personal rating: 3/5
My rating relative to the list: 3.5/5
Should this have been included on the original list? No.
Barton Hollow is a folk / singer songwriter album by The Civil Wars. I guess I must have missed this was a thing around 2011, I did not miss much though. Nothing new and predictable compositions and arrangements. The track "Barton Hollow" is nice and the rest is forgettable.
As one of the professional reviews on online media states: "Their natural vocal chemistry makes Barton Hollow a satisfying listen straight through. That said, the album is heavy on made-for-TV dramatic balladry, the sort of thing that features so well on Grey's Anatomy".
So not my cup of tea.
Listened to these guys a lot back in the day, think I discovered them through the Michael Jackson cover. Really beautiful album and enjoyed revisiting it this morning
It was the first time I really enjoyed an unequivocal country album. Point to the user's list since all the country mess in the original list never gave me the same good feeling.
This type of americana/indie doesn’t really do anything for me. Feels a little too polished or cosmopolitan, if I’m being honest. It’s not really a “must hear” to my ears, but it’s well performed and sung and I didn’t really have a visceral dislike for any of it, so I’ll give it a three. I think that’s only fair, right?
The Civil Wars were hugely popular k in the 2010s but their style was too mature for me during that time. Listening now they are a decent male female duo that compliment each other however they both kind of sing in the same tone that makes the album feel a bit flat sometimes. There’s emotion in the album and lyrically it’s not bad but overall it’s just leaves a bit to be desired. 5.9/10
Pleasant enough folksy chilled country-ish Americana, dulled only slightly by the unshakeable feeling that there are about 3,000 albums the same on the list already. The cover version at the end came out of the blue, but every other song sounds like everything else.
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