The Civil Wars…one of my favorite bands, the creators behind the ethereal, heartbreaking Poison and Wine, one of the most tender, gorgeous love songs I’ve ever heard…and the group that made their title a sort of living reality, heading suddenly and with what appears to be some finality into an ending.

The push-and-pull, closeness yet distance required between two people who clearly had some level of personal chemistry and an oceanload of creative chemistry, who toured together, crafted and performed love songs together, yet were not together romantically (Williams’ husband is their manager) – finally destructed.

And while I do not believe that it was personal differences, but largely creative, that severed an intense connection, it is hard not to see an undercurrent of longing, however stifled, in some of their earlier work. Regardless, here’s a look back at earlier, better times, and oddly, these photos capture well the simultaneous closeness and distance between two people, a man and a woman, locked in a creative twosome.

Tagged: creative tension, creativity, folk, folk music, Joy Williams, music, Paul White, Poison and Wine, The Civil Wars, The Civil Wars photos