The Harrow & the Harvest

It was Welch's first album in eight years, the longest gap between her records. She said the sad truth was that they never liked anything enough to put it out, and that their songcraft had slipped, which is where the title comes from. The Way It Will Be had been in her sets for years before it appeared. She called the result their most intertwined, jointly composed album, the product of an endless back and forth between the two of them.

It was recorded at Woodland Sound Studios in February 2011, mostly in first and second takes, with Rawlings composing some of the music spontaneously in the studio. Welch said they learned to accept mistakes and rough edges. John Dyer Baizley made the artwork. Thom Jurek of AllMusic praised its intimacy and lack of studio artifice. It reached 20 in the US and 25 in the UK, scored 85 on Metacritic, and was nominated for the Grammy for Best Folk Album. Uncut placed it second among the albums of 2011.