Ain't Going Back to Barton Hollow--A Post on the Civil Wars

 I have been waaaay out of the loop as of late because I haven’t been on the internet that much. I have been busy. Busy with what, I don’t know if I could say. Still. This post is long overdue and I intend to put an end to the blogging laziness!

 The Civil War’s new self-titled album, The Civil Wars, came out on Tuesday, August 6^th. I had originally thought it was going to be released on the 9^th, which was a Friday. On Thursday, I learned that it had already come out in stores. So, on Saturday, when we made our library trip, I purchased the album.

 Now, I didn’t know what to expect from this album. I had loved the last one to bits and I have probably listened to it over a hundred times all the way through. However, I knew this one would be different for some reason. I had heard something about the two (Joy and John Paul, I believe) having been broken up for a while. When I had heard this, I was crushed, because I seriously love their music and lyrics and especially their sound. There is really no one that sound like them—that I have heard. I mean, you get all the hippity hoppity pop stuff. And I will listen to that for a while when I am feeling down or I need to get through some all-nighter kind of thing. But you know how pop songs and pop stations are. The stations play the same four songs over and over until you are at the point where you can’t tell the difference between “Oh! It’s this song! I like this song!” and “Oh, I don’t like this song, they just play it too much and it’s branded into my brain.” And pop songs—don’t get me wrong, there are a few I enjoy—are all basically the same.

Long story short, I like folk music.

I like country music.

I like classical vocal type music.

It’s just how I am.

 Anyway, I was disappointed because I thought that there would be no more new music. But at the end of that article, I had read something about a second album. I flew to their site, and there it was on the homepage. There WAS going to be a second one. I was super excited! Sure, the wait, at the time, was a very long one, but it was worth it.

The album, and I have only listened to it all the way through twice, is amazing. They have a slight different technique this time around. Some of the songs have a little bit of a beat/pop thing to them. Like “Dust to Dust” for example. Some of their lyrics are somewhat sad, but those songs are just as amazing as all the others. They never cease to amaze me. My favorites at the moment are “Tell Mama,” “Devil’s Backbone,” (it’s got that sound that Barton Hollow and Tornado by Little Big Town have, which I think is awesome) and “Oh Henry.”

 My way of listening to albums is a strange one, but I find that it works. First, I will listen to the album all the way through. Then, I will listen to it again while I read all of the lyrics to every song. As the days go on, I will listen to the album over and over, refusing to listen to anything else but it until I know all the names of every song, all the words to every song, and then, the order they go in. I usually do this while I write or draw or something. Even if I am not paying attention to the music, and it’s on, it will somehow get into my head.

Sometimes I will silence people just to hear a song! For example, this afternoon, I heard a familiar song on the radio. It was “Friday Night.” Not to be confused with Katy Perri’s “Last Friday Night.” They are totally different songs, people! It’s a grand song and all, very fast paced and difficult to sing for some. The thing that bothered   me the most was, it was NOT Lady Antebellum singing it. And I was like, WHO IS THIS? THIS IS LADY A’S SONG! The song is on their “Own the Night” album.  I crash into the kitchen disgusted—granted, the guy who was doing it did it VERY well, BUT THAT IS NOT THE POINT—and stopped in the doorway to listen. After I demand what the heck it was, my mother says, “I know this isn’t Lady Antebellum.” My response being: “THEN WHO IS IT?”

I instantly get my brother to look it up on the computer, and it is actually a man—I believe he is a songwriter—called Eric Paslay. He co-writes songs for other country singers like Jake Owen and The Eli Young Band. He did that song as an album cut. And album cut, my friends, is a song that did not make it as a single. By my experience, they don’t play songs on the radio that aren’t singles. That’s my opinion anyway.

So, “Friday Night” was not one of Lady A’s singles. The singles on that album were, “Own the Night,” “Just a Kiss,” “Dancing Away with My Heart,” and “Wanted You More.” The music video for “Wanted You More” disappointed me. The beginning was really cool, with the animation and the colors, but it took an unforgiving turn. I mean (and please let me rant for a moment) there are lots of CLEAN music videos out there that are perfectly awesome. Lady A’s music videos really didn’t have a history of being like that, so I thought it would be okay. Anyway, I am not going to ruin this post with lines and lines of how I wish the video was cleaner. Can’t have everything, right?

 That’s about it.

I am working on a Merlin post, so that will be fun. The cast of that show are so cute!

~~Natsu~~