Great music comes out of great discontent.  Infighting between bands members is never good for the longevity of a band…but some of the best albums are made during these times of turmoil:  Fleetwood Mac Rumors, Van Halen 1984, and Pink Floyd The Wall.  Band members have that Internal rivalry to be the best among each other and push themselves to produce the best music they’ve ever down.  The Civil Wars now face a similar situation.  Since recording their sophomore album in September of 2012, the two members of the band Joy Williams and John Paul White (whose name is technically also Jack White) have not spoken with each other at all.  And the future of the band…more albums, touring, is in complete jeopardy.  The new album drips with darkness and a whirlwind of personal calamity.  It a murky wagon ride through a Tim Burton-esque portrait of a gothic prairie from 1813.  They’ve purged their inner struggles and thrown them down like a white glove as if to say, “this is all I’ve got.”  They’ve saved the anger and the punches they had for each other and delivered that animosity as a musical one-two smack down.  How the album will fare in the future will weigh as heavily on the music as the timing…but hating each other has them off to the right start.

Here are The 11 Best Songs By The Civil Wars:

1. My Father’s Father (Barton Hollow)
2. I’ve Got A Friend (Barton Hollow)
3. Tip of My Tongue (Poison & Wine EP)
4. Poison & Wine (Barton Hollow)
5. Finding North (A Place At the Table)
6. Barton Hollow (Barton Hollow)
7. Pressing Flowers (Poison & Wine EP)
8. Dance Me to The End of Love  (Barton Hollow Bonus Track)
9. Long Time Gone (A Place At the Table)
10. Tracks in the Snow (Tracks In The Snow)
11. Falling (Barton Hollow)