The Civil Wars' Barton Hollow album cover

The Civil Wars won two Grammy Awards February 12. Barton Hollow, the debut full-length album by the East Nashville, TN-based singer-songwriter duo of Joy Williams and John Paul White was named Folk Album of the Year, while its title track was recognized as the Best Country Duo/Group Performance.

Released last February, Barton Hollow was the #1 album for many weeks in 2011 on the Roots Music Report folk radio chart and also reached #12 on the Billboard 200 chart; its title track reached #1 on the iTunes singer-songwriter chart. The Civil Wars received the Vanguard Award at the 49th Annual ASCAP Country Music Awards last November and also were nominated for Americana Music Awards in the Duo/Group of the Year and Emerging Artist of the Year categories, as well as for a Country Music Association Award for Vocal Duo of the Year.

Williams, who hails from Alabama, and White, a native Californian, initially met during a singer-songwriter session in Nashville in 2008. Their 2011 full-length debut album was preceded by a live performance album and a four-song EP. The Civil Wars have appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and The Late Show with David Letterman and were the opening act for multiple Grammy Award winner Adele (Record of the Year, Album of the Year, Best Pop Vocal Album) during the singer’s North American tour and part of her UK tour.

The 54th Annual Grammy Awards were presented in Los Angeles, California, and most of the winners were announced during ceremonies prior to the live televised broadcast. Among the winners in other categories that might be of particular interest to AcousticMusicScene.com readers were:

Americana Album of the Year:
Ramble At The Ryman
Levon Helm
(Vanguard/Dirt Farmer Music)

Bluegrass Album of the Year:
Paper Airplane
Alison Kraus & Union Station
(Rounder)

* Paper Airplane also was named Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical

Regional Roots Music Album of the Year:
Rebirth of New Orleans
Rebirth Brass Band
(Basin Street Records)

In addition, Hear Me Howling!: Blues, Ballads & Beyond As Recorded by the San Francisco Bay by Chris Strachowitz in the 1960s was recognized for Best Album Notes.. Adam Machado wrote the notes for the Arhoolie Records release that features performances by various artists.

In a move that prompted much discussion in the folk, roots and singer-songwriter communities, The Recording Academy restructured the Grammy categories across all genres and fields — reducing the total number of categories that were recognized this year from 109 to 78. Citing a shortage in the number of entries and challenges in distinguishing between Contemporary Folk and Americana and Contemporary and Traditional Blues, the academy consolidated the traditional and contemporary blues categories and the traditional and contemporary folk categories into one per genre. In addition, the Hawaiian, Native American and Cajun/Zydeco categories were combined in a new Regional Roots Music category that also incorporates Polka music (which has a regional home in the Great Lakes area).

A complete list of Grammy Award winners may be found at www.grammy.com.