Beulah

Beneath the themes of heartache, resentment and redemption is an elegant idea: Beulah. It's a biblical word, denoting in Isaiah a place of peace and isolation from strife. The biblical sense lives in roots, blues and gospel music like Mississippi John Hurt's laconically blissful "Beulah Land." William Blake used the word as a term for the poetic universal unconscious. That's the sense White favors, but he has his own transcendent reason for claiming Beulah: It's a family nickname. For White, this is a return to self. If The Civil Wars invited listeners to confuse their characters with the singers, he is now making clear where his songs come from. It's bracing to hear the return of a voice many have missed in a form few have heard. - Benjamin Naddaff-Haffrey (NPR)