Between 2001 and 2005 Williams was nominated for 11 Dove Awards, and the three records she released on Reunion cumulatively sold more than 250,000 copies. In 2005 she left the label to expand her musical horizons. Williams traveled to Europe, worked briefly at Paste Magazine and then at a Nashville boutique. In 2006 she signed a publishing deal with Warner/Chappell music, and in 2008 she co-founded an artist development firm, Sensibility Music, as a vehicle for her career development. That same year Oscar Mayer selected her song "It Doesn't Get Better Than This" for a 2008 marketing campaign. Williams subsequently released three EPs through Sensibility Music. The songs "Charmed Life", "Speaking a Dead Language", and "Sunny Day", were featured on the TV showGrey's Anatomy.
In 2008, Williams attended a writing camp in Nashville, where she met John Paul White. They formed the folk rock duo The Civil Wars in 2009 and released their breakthrough album, Barton Hollow in 2011. The album was widely praised by critics and went on to sell more than 650,000 copies in the U.S. White and Williams won four Grammy Awards as The Civil Wars. The duo announced an indefinite hiatus in November 2012, prior to the release of their 2013 self-titled album. The duo was officially dissolved in August 2014 and in March 2015, Williams said her last conversation with White was after their Roundhouse show in London in November 2012.
Music and acting
Late in 2013, Williams collaborated with Chris Cornell on the song "Misery Chain" which they performed on Late Night with David Letterman. She also collaborated with Matt Berninger from The National on "Hush", the theme song for . Williams and Hayley Williams of the rock bandParamore collaborated on a new version of Paramore's "Hate to See Your Heart Break". Williams began working on a solo album, Venus, in 2014, ultimately releasing the record the following year. Williams made her acting debut in 2016 in an episode of Roadies and her recording of The Chainsmokers' "Don't Let Me Down" was used for a State Farm commercial in 2017. In 2018, while pregnant with her second child, Williams recorded fifteen songs in a five-day period; of those fifteen songs, twelve were included on her Kenneth Pattengale-produced album, Front Porch, released on May 3, 2019.
Personal life
On June 12, 2004, Williams married Nate Yetton. Williams and Yetton have a son, Miles Alexander, born June 30, 2012; and a daughter, Poppy Louise, born August 6, 2018. In an interview with Pop Matters, Williams spoke about how she and her husband had "decided to part ways" in early 2019.
