Joy Williams Of the Civil Wars Releases Song, Readies May Concert
The Press Release goes:
“Joy Williams will perform a special show at the Gramercy Theatre on Thursday, May 14 (8:30pm set time).
The show will feature material from her highly anticipated new solo album, VENUS, which will be released later this summer on Columbia Records.
Best known as half of the four-time Grammy Award-winning duo The Civil Wars, Joy’s most recent record, 2013’s self-titled The Civil Wars, debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 Chart.”
All of which is true , and all of which makes this a more exciting the most Press release! Not that you’d know that from my trash talk over the years: even after being wowed by Joy and her other half of the Civil Wars John Paul White, on the Taylor Swift goes Americana “Safe And Sound”, I still didn’t think maybe I was missing something by not really giving their two albums, Barton Hollow (2011) and later, The Civil Wars (2013), the time they needed. The truth is The Civil Wars gave Americana a good name, the arrangements were tight and wondrous things. Listening to “20 Years”, “Poison Wine”, really the first album, actually both albums, these guys were major and how I missed them I just don’t know. By the time I caught up, with the covers EP, they had already gone on indefinite hiatus.
Fool me once…
“Woman (Oh Mama)”, Joy’s first song off her summer release is a soaring to heights proto-feminist melodic dirge with an African background of chants like Ladysmith Black Mambazo. It is a strange amalgam of sound; not just unlike early Civil Wars, unlike the latterday Civil Wars who were throwing up Portishead (not to mention Michael Jackson) cover versions.
Completely thrilling stuff and anticipation for the album round our way is sky high -this is Joy’s first solo album in five years, and in those five years, she has become a major Grammy Award winning star. Speaking of sky high, so is anticipation for the Gramercy Theatre gig on May 14th. Talk about be there or don’t come whining to me. A must see.
