The Civil Wars

A songwriting workshop

Joy Williams and John Paul White were paired at random in 2008 at a Nashville songwriting workshop of about 25 writers assembling songs for the band Gloriana. Williams, a former contemporary Christian artist with Dove Award nominations, was signed as a songwriter to Warner/Chappell, and White, from Alabama and raised on Southern rock and Johnny Cash, was writing for EMI; both had tried to cancel the co-write, and White said we immediately clicked musically. They wrote "Falling" in their first session. The name comes from a quote attributed to Ian Maclaren, be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a great battle, and has no historical meaning.

Their first show as The Civil Wars was on April 7, 2009 at the French Quarter Cafe in Nashville, and Charlie Peacock, Williams's former producer, began working with them the next day. Live at Eddie's Attic, recorded on April 8, 2009, was released on June 30, 2009 as a free download, with more than 700,000 downloads by 2014. In November 2009 "Poison & Wine" was used in full on Grey's Anatomy; they learned four days before it aired, uploaded a newly recorded version to iTunes and made a video in an afternoon. They recorded Barton Hollow in 2010 at Peacock's Art House in Nashville, released February 1, 2011.

In 2011 they toured with Adele and released the Tracks in the Snow EP and "Safe & Sound" with Taylor Swift and T Bone Burnett for The Hunger Games. At the 2012 Grammys they won Best Folk Album and Best Country Duo/Group Performance for "Barton Hollow"; "Safe & Sound" won Best Song Written for Visual Media in 2013 and "From This Valley" Best Country Duo/Group Performance in February 2014. After a London Roundhouse show on November 6, 2012 they cancelled the remaining dates. The Civil Wars (August 6, 2013), produced by Peacock with Rick Rubin on "I Had Me a Girl", debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 and was Gold. Between the Bars (late 2013) collected covers including Portishead's "Sour Times" and Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean". On August 5, 2014 they announced they had regretfully decided to permanently part ways, with a free download of "You Are My Sunshine"; Williams said she was saddened and disappointed by the ending of this duo. Both took part individually in the 2023 Taylor's Version of "Safe & Sound", and a greatest hits, The One That Got Away, followed in June 2025.