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Shovels & Rope: Acceptance, Growth, Family, and ‘Something Is Working Up Above My Head’
Published: October 1, 2024

Shovels & Rope’s latest album, Something Is Working Up Above My Head, released on September 6th, showcases the husband-and-wife duo of Cary Ann Hearst and Michael Trent at their most raw and authentic, embracing their two-piece arrangement more than ever before.

The duo are currently touring with the new album, and they will bring it home to Charleston this coming Thursday and Friday, October 3rd and 4th, for a two-night stand at the Music Farm. We caught up with Cary Ann and Michael to discuss the new album, growth, family, and recording at their home studio on Johns Island.

Get tickets to the Music Farm shows here, and read on to learn more about Shovels & Rope and their recent album, Something Is Working Up Above My Head.

“There’s Only Two of You?”

“We’ve had a joke on this tour that we’ve been a two-piece band out on the road together for 12 years or so,” Cary Ann says. “We’ve never had anybody else in the band. It only just occurred to me that maybe every night, somebody thinks that we fired somebody.”

“Maybe we marketed ourselves wrong,” Michael laughs. “But for some reason, it’s really hard to sink into the minds of the people that we are a duo and have always been a duo. We’ll show up at the club and they’ll be like, So, uhh just you guys tonight?“

Their previous records — such as 2019’s By Blood, and 2022’s Manticore — often featured a big, sweeping, cinematic sound, leading many to assume that Shovels & Rope had more than two members.

“This time around, we just decided to go in live and recreate it only in a way that we could pull it off, and sort of limit ourselves in that way and see what happens,” Michael explains. “And it turns out it can still sound pretty big.”

Michael explains how they were able to road-test half the material before recording, giving them a better grasp on the fully-developed songs. In a recent interview with Magnet Magazine, he refers to this as the “third life cycle” of a song, with the first life cycle being the song as it is initially written, and the second being the studio recording.

The Two-Piece Live Show: Squirming in Terror

Any band who plays live for long enough is bound to experience a technical failure or misstep during a show. When there are only two musicians on stage, the stakes are even higher. Will they power on, or will the performance crumble? Shovels & Rope have become quite familiar with these moments.

“Oh yeah, we know it,” Cary Ann laughs. “You have to at least be a professional and be generous with yourself and let it be part of show and recover from it.”

“It also gives you a chance to innovate,” Michael adds.

“The joke is watching us squirm in terror is part of the excitement,” Cary Ann laughs again.

These moments not only make Shovels & Rope better musicians but also create a shared experience with the crowd.

“We have to figure something out quickly,” Michael continues, “We’ve found ourselves in situations, not on this tour thankfully, but in the past where the electric guitar is not working, the acoustic guitar is not working, the stick has gone through the snare drum. We’ll end up sometimes with just our voices and a shaker or something and have to get through it that way, but we’ve got a good sense of humor.”

Cary Ann says that this all happened at XPN Fest in Philadelphia, where Shovels & Rope played in 2021, and they still talk about it on the radio every time they’re in town.

Acceptance and “Dass Hymn”

The acceptance that Shovels & Rope have about technical breakdowns on stage parallels the powerful note of spiritual acceptance that closes out the new album, “Dass Hymn”. Like their live show, the album is a high-energy journey, facing life’s challenges while celebrating it. That seems to be the essence of Shovels & Rope, and it is distilled beautifully for us in this closing track, which is inspired by the teachings of Ram Dass.

“Dass Hymn was the last song to come to the work pile,” Cary Ann recalls. “It was a sweet clearing of space after the journey.”

Their daughter and Michael’s mother also sing harmonies on the vocal chorus, adding a special family connection.

“For people who followed our recording career, Michael produces all the records,” Cary Ann explains. “There’s always some kind of personal Easter egg that’s a sonic artifact of our family, our grandparents, or our children. I think that was something super personal, but super cool about it.”

“It just felt like it’s like this big, huge, what are we here for? thought or idea,” Michael continues, “To sing that with our whole family — the elders and the youngsters — seemed like something that we’d like to put down and have around for a long time.”

Recording at Home on Johns Island, SC

Shovels & Rope have always recorded at home, but nowadays they have a family, so they keep strict office hours when they’re working on a record.

“When we became parents in 2015, we realized quite quickly — having a studio inside the house and a brand new baby — those two things couldn’t coexist inside the house,” Michael says. “You can’t put the baby down for a nap and go rip some drums.”

This led them to build a home studio in their backyard, separating rock & roll from daily parenting duties.

“There’s Always Money in the Banana Stand”

As for the studio’s name, Cary Ann and Michael mentioned a few names that the studio has been through, including The Whip, for their neighborhood, Studio Bee, because of a former carpenter bee infestation, and The Banana Stand, for Arrested Development.

“For Arrested Development, lovers of that show,” Michael explains. “There is a saying that there’s always money in the banana stand.“

“And we just put all of our money into the recording studio,” Cary Ann laughs. “So, there’s always money in the banana stand!”

Bringing It Home to Charleston: Two Nights at Music Farm

Shovels & Rope are very excited for their hometown shows — the only stop on tour with two shows, and also their first Charleston performances since High Water Festival in April. The band curated the festival from 2017 until cutting ties in 2024. For more on this, see Kalyn’s Post & Courier article.

“We have learned a lot, and worked really hard on this tour and it will be great to come home and get to have that work culminate in what we hope to be two kick-ass performances,” Cary Ann says. “Charleston is a very special place. We’ve never left. We’ve been there for a gazillion years. And it’s cool to get a moment to be downtown, because we do not really leave the island much when we’re not on the road. We’ll see a bunch of old friends and reconnect with people that we haven’t seen in a feast of Sundays.”

Charleston is ready to welcome Shovels & Rope back home, and the duo is primed to make these two nights an unforgettable celebration of music, family, and the city that shaped their sound.