Joy Williams’ collection The Pelican Child was the first book I read this year. I picked up a copy back in December and surprised myself by reading most of it over a few days. It’s a much heavier collection than the wry vignettes of 2013’s Ninety-Nine Stories of God or its sequel, Concerning the Future of Souls (2024). The stories here alight on mortality, human ecological cultural aesthetic,…

The Civil Wars - Barton Hollow

There aren’t a lot of bands with as interesting a history as the folk / alt-country duo The Civil Wars. Made up of John-Paul White and Joy Williams, they formed a creative partnership in the late 00s, because they were randomly paired in a songwriters’ retreat for a band that would eventually have been Gloriana, and they’re realized that they had creative chemistry, so they formed the duo. I remember their second and final album, 2013’s self-titled. I was getting more into indie and folk music, and I got that album, but I never got their 2011 debut, Barton Hollow. I find the lore of this band to be very interesting, because they broke up in 2014 due to creative and personal differences, as well as people starting a myth that they were cheating on their spouses and secretly dating each other.

From all the research I did, because I remember hearing about that back in the day, it turns out it was not true. They just had such good chemistry on stage that people immediately thought that, especially due to how parasocial people can get (even more so now). They went their separate ways and never looked back, but the two albums we got are pretty damn good. I’ve never heard their debut, as I said, and I happened to find it at Half Price Books last week, so I decided to check it out. I’ve been listening to it quite a bit, and honestly, it’s great. It’s not perfect, but at the same time, there are way more things to enjoy on it than not to. Even then, what I don’t really like about it just comes down to a couple of very minute things that don’t totally matter, but there are a lot of things to love here.

I guess the first thing to talk about is the chemistry between White and Williams; their voices mesh so well, and they sound really haunting together. With that said, however, this album is not very catchy or full of energy. It sounds like Christian music sometimes, but the lyrics are anything but Christian or religious. It very much has a Southern Gothic atmosphere that I really like, but the hooks are almost nonexistent. There are a few songs with hooks, such as the wonderful title track, but the album has a lowkey and subtle sound that never really beyond a 4 on the loudness scale. The album never really raises its voice, per se, so it stays very quiet.

Friend, your heart has been far away from mine / There's no one to blame but that wicked stalwart time / As the year marches steady to its end / Oh, my heart is longing to be close to yours again

And I'll be home in December / Maybe we can remember us

Our memories together are like worlds inside my head / Places that I go to remember who I am / Worlds untouched by my worries in the dark / Worlds where time can never pull us apart

But I'll be home in December / Maybe we can remember us

December Song || Joy Williams, Birdtalker