The Civil Wars: Newport Folk Festival 2011

Joy Williams and John Paul White were strangers when they were paired up at a Nashville songwriting session in 2008, but you'd never know that now: Though not romantically involved, they perform their sweet, harmony-rich folk-pop songs with loving chemistry, often staring sweetly into each other's eyes. After attracting huge buzz at this year's SXSW music festival, the pair has gone on to be a large-scale cult item, thanks in part to the warmly winning songs on this year's Barton Hollow. The Civil Wars draw heavily from that album, and a few choice covers, when the band performs live at the 2011 Newport Folk Festival in Newport, R.I.