Photo by Leslie Ryan McKellar
Cary Ann Hearst and Michael Trent had the misfortune of starting their band, Shovels & Rope, in the wake of the mad rush of we-don’t-need-no-stinking-bass duos that ushered in the 2000s. Silly comparisons to the White Stripes followed, when Hearst and Trent clearly had their own lyrical and frayed take on blues and country, soaked in a Southern sense of sweetness and scrappiness. And goddamn they can write. Last year’s full-length Little Seeds traces the arc of a hawk flying over Woodstock as the Band and Dylan work their alchemy in the basement and probes the painful depths of the racist mass shooting at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina. Shovels & Rope always rock and always roll, but the band won’t let you forget the stories behind its sound.
Speaking of Stories: Opener John Moreland is one of the most gifted storytellers on the country-folk scene. Don’t miss him.
Watch the video for "I Know" below:
Shovels & Rope
8 p.m. Tuesday, February 28. Delmar Hall, 6133 Delmar Boulevard. All ages. $22-$25. 314-726-6161.
