Grace & Tony "November"

As we get to the end of the year, I start looking at songs that we haven't ever added, but seem to hang around my iTunes playlist for one reason or another.

On closer inspection, many of them turn out to be likeable tunes. 

But after further consideration, still don't quite fit the station.  Or they can be memorable songs unto themselves, but in the larger picture, we're not convinced that this is a band we could potentially follow for songs and albums to come.

So I'm on the fence on this track.

Whether or not we add it, you might find it fills a spot in your playlist, when you realize that Tony is the brother of John Paul White of The Civil Wars.  And Grace and Tony are married.  So for all of you who were disappointed that John Paul and Joy of The Civil Wars were not a couple, and that the band itself divorced, here's close relative, figuratively and literally, whose story has a more pleasing ending.


Hear the song on Youtube.

The Civil Wars "Poison & Wine"

This song has been kicking around for a good year, but it landed in my Inbox last week, and it's certainly one of the most interesting and arresting tracks in my Shuffle.

Joy Williams had some success as a Christian music act, but in recent years was working in a more behind-the-scenes fashion as a songwriter, furnishing tracks for pop "talents" like Brian Littrell, Mandisa and David Archuleta. John Paul White, another Nashville songwriter doing the same thing, was introduced to Williams as a potential songwriting partner, and the chemistry (of the artistic, not romantic kind, despite what the video suggest) proved so potent, that they formed their own band, keeping the songs for themselves.

This track made an appearance on Grey's Anatomy over a year ago, but the first album by their group The Civil Wars doesn't come out until early 2011.

It's great to see the talent behind the "talent" be the ones to make a splash.