Shovels & Rope are Michael Trent and Cary Ann Hearst from South Carolina, they’ve been performing as a duo since 2010 working and touring hard. There’s a rawness to their music which has that blistered reality that will stay with you after you’ve heard them perform. They perform with intimacy but there’s some firewater in those lungs as well, somewhere between the dustbowl and the delta with a whole mix of genres from Americana to roots and blues.
We weren’t surprised to hear that Jack White had picked up on them and had them along as support on a recent tour, they’re not a million miles apart musically with some early Jack and Meg sound in there as well. We’ll be adding their new album O Be Joyful to the Folk Radio UK playlist but in the meantime check them out below: