The sophomore solo effort from Barton Carroll, noted for his contributions to Crooked Fingers, Azure Ray and Micah P. Hinson, is a rare treatise that can handle the overwhelming subject matter of its title. Focusing on the understated, Carroll delivers a collection of folk/country that features his dry, affecting vocals and inventive fretwork. Inspired by such heady and depressive fare as Solzhenitsyns Gulag Archipelago, Carroll examines conflict through a variety of guises and personas. Covering the Appalachian ballad Look Up, Look Down That Lonesome Road as well as Dark End Of The Street, he traverses a wide emotional palette as he searches for hope among inherent despair. Perhaps a bit too literary for its own good, Love & War is nonetheless a dramatic statement of purpose, a thoughtful and inventive work that should appeal to those who often find themselves at the crossroads of the personal and the political.