Shovels & Rope

About

Also known as: Shovels and Rope

Husband and wife duo Michael Trent and Cary Ann Hearst make music together as Shovels & Rope, blending Americana, country rock, folk and a touch of southern gothic out of Charleston, South Carolina. Their breakthrough came with the 2012 album O' Be Joyful, and the song "Birmingham" earned them two Americana Music Honors including song of the year and emerging artist of the year in 2013. The pair play just about everything between them, switching between guitar, drums, keyboards and more, and their live shows pull from both their solo back catalogues and their joint work. Their songs are often more historically minded than you might expect. "Thresher" revisits the 1963 sinking of a US Navy submarine, while "Missionary Ridge" digs into a Civil War battle. Beyond the albums, they run the High Water Festival in Charleston and have put out three volumes of their Busted Jukebox cover series, roping in collaborators from Brandi Carlile to Sharon Van Etten. Their seventh album Something Is Working Up Above My Head arrived in 2024 on Dualtone Records.