The Civil Wars

The Civil Wars
Information
Origin	Nashville, Tennessee, United States
Labels	Sensibility/Columbia
Past members
Joy Williams John Paul White

The Civil Wars were a critically acclaimed American musical duo composed of Joy Williams and John Paul White. Formed in 2008, The Civil Wars won four Grammy Awards prior to their 2014 breakup.

Relationship with Adele

In 2011, The Civil Wars served as the opening act for Adele during the North American leg of her Adele Live tour, which promoted her second studio album, 21. 

On the last night that The Civil Wars toured with Adele, she came out during their performance of Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean” and gave them flowers. She added, as she began to choke up, “I just wanted to say I’ve never had so much fun on tour as I have with you two, and you really brought me back to life.”​​​​ 

Adele had previously dedicated a blog post on her website to the duo, in which she gushed about how much she loved their music, stating:

“

I have the complete honour of having a band called The Civil Wars on the tour at the moment. They are by far the BEST live band I have EVER seen. They are magical and stunning, they make my heart hurt but make it a bit stronger at the same time, too! Perfect timing! Please check them out, their record is beautiful. And if you’re coming to any of the shows on this trip, make sure you get there early to see them. I’ve never been so blown away. I could go on gushing forever... ‘Poison and Wine’ is my favourite, so I’ve attached the video for you!

”

The Civil Wars also later discussed what it was like touring with Adele:

“

John Paul White: This is a perfect situation for us because, number one, we’ve worked with Adele before, and she’s a sweetheart, and we’re all semi-family now. But number two, you know she’s gonna have packed houses at all these places, lots of cities that we’ve never even been to. And on top of that, it’s the types of crowds that are gonna be attentive. They’re gonna pay attention and at least give us a shot. It won’t be a typical pop/Top 40 crowd that are just there to see the headliner. I think it will be a really good, knowledgeable audience, and it’s up to us whether we can make fans out of them. When we went out on tour with her last time, we were just acquaintances. We didn’t really know each other that well. By the end of the tour, we were super-fast friends, but it wasn’t ever where we had that sort of situation. We’re traveling separately, and there’s not a lot of time to collaborate other than just hanging out, having drinks ... and more drinks and more drinks. But this time around, we’ll be together for a month and sharing some transportation, so who knows? Anytime that you're in those sorts of situations, it’s always a whole lot better served if you don’t push it, and if it happens, it happens. Joy Williams: We would not be bummed if she came and hung out in Nashville. She's amazing and she has incredible instincts. And I know Adele has been following us since the very beginning. So if she wants to make a rootsy album, I’m standing on tiptoes, and John Paul and I both are cheering her on in whatever she wants to do next.

”

At the 54th Annual Grammy Awards, the duo was interviewed on the red carpet and stated that artists like Adele and Taylor Swift had helped their music become exposed to many different audiences.

Joy Williams of the band also shares a tattoo with Adele; they both have three horizontal dots tattooed on their wrist.

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