Style: Super-smooth folk-pop; compare to the Swell Season, the Weepies, Buddy & Julie Miller
Top tracks: “Poison & Wine,” “20 Years”
John Paul White and Joy Williams of the Civil Wars use their golden voices and spot-on harmonies to craft singer-songwriter fare right out of a Grey’s Anatomy episode (literally). But just like that show, the songs tend toward the melodramatic, so much so that the pretty melodies can’t always redeem them. Produced by Charlie Peacock, Barton Hollow grapples with the gravity of sin on the title track, though when White sings about an unmarked hundred-grand and a full moon forcing his hand, it’s about as believable as a Grey’s Anatomy plot line.
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