December 17 street date. Since 2010, Shovels & Rope has been traveling the highways and back roads of North America, logging hundreds of shows and performing for crowds large and small. On stage, Hearst and Trent trade vocals and switch instruments in an instinctive, organic manner that's simultaneously loose and tight, driving their compositions home with a resonant mix of pensive introspection and celebratory passion. In 2011 alone, they were invited to tour with a wide array of acts including Justin Townes Earle, Jason Isbell, the Felice Brothers, Hayes Carll and Butch Walker, and have accumulated a fiercely loyal fan base along the way, building an audience the old-fashioned way.
August 25 street date. The ring-of-fire chemistry captured on Shovels & Rope’s 2012 debut album, O’ Be Joyful, turned into a river of accolades for husband-and-wife duo Cary Ann Hearst and Michael Trent, including the No. 3 spot on American Songwriter’s Top 50 Albums of 2012 list - and No. 1 on the Top 50 Songs list for the single 'Birmingham'. And now they’re ready to paddle that river again with the August 26 release of Swimmin’ Time on Dualtone Music. The couple’s energetic mix of country, blues, rock, folk and punk also earned them the Emerging Artist of the Year title at the Americana Music Association’s 2013 Americana Honors & Awards, and 'Birmingham' won Song of the Year honors." - Lynne Margolis
August 25 street date. The ring-of-fire chemistry captured on Shovels & Rope’s 2012 debut album, O’ Be Joyful, turned into a river of accolades for husband-and-wife duo Cary Ann Hearst and Michael Trent, including the No. 3 spot on American Songwriter’s Top 50 Albums of 2012 list - and No. 1 on the Top 50 Songs list for the single 'Birmingham'. And now they’re ready to paddle that river again with the August 26 release of Swimmin’ Time on Dualtone Music. The couple’s energetic mix of country, blues, rock, folk and punk also earned them the Emerging Artist of the Year title at the Americana Music Association’s 2013 Americana Honors & Awards, and 'Birmingham' won Song of the Year honors." - Lynne Margolis
August 10 street date. Cary Ann Hearst and Michael Trent (known jointly as the Americana/folk duo Shovels & Rope) started their career performing independently as solo artists, each releasing records under their own names in the mid-to-late aughts and early 2010’s. In 2008 they released the album titled Shovels & Rope as a collaboration and the two artists decided to tour together. Performing live, they’d play together on songs from Hearst’s Lions and Lambs (2011), Trent’s The Winner (2010), and their collaborative album, creating the first live glimpses of the band that would eventually become Shovels & Rope. Dualtone is excited to offer these early individual solo albums along side early collaborations in the form of Predecessors, a three LP package featuring Hearst’s Lions and Lambs, Trent’s The Winner, and a third LP with never-before-released material from Shovels & Rope’s archives.
April 12 street date. Shovels & Rope is one of the hardest-working bands out there today. Throughout their career, Cary Ann Hearst and Michael Trent have constantly been touring, and all the while they’ve made music wherever they can, and recently they’ve taken on two giant new challenges; raising a (growing) family, and helming a successful music festival, Charleston’s High Water Festival. Their new album By Blood is a gritty, powerful look into their lives and the world around them, with tender songs commenting on their relationship, and human stories weaving throughout. (NEARLY 100 MILLION ARTIST STREAMS ON SPOTIFY & APPLE MUSIC. OVER 200,000 ALBUMS SOLD to date) Expect coverage from Rolling Stone, Billboard, American Songwriter, NPR Music, Paste, Garden and Gun, CMT, and many more, as well as national late night TV looks.
April 12 street date. Shovels & Rope is one of the hardest-working bands out there today. Throughout their career, Cary Ann Hearst and Michael Trent have constantly been touring, and all the while they’ve made music wherever they can, and recently they’ve taken on two giant new challenges; raising a (growing) family, and helming a successful music festival, Charleston’s High Water Festival. Their new album By Blood is a gritty, powerful look into their lives and the world around them, with tender songs commenting on their relationship, and human stories weaving throughout. (NEARLY 100 MILLION ARTIST STREAMS ON SPOTIFY & APPLE MUSIC. OVER 200,000 ALBUMS SOLD to date) Expect coverage from Rolling Stone, Billboard, American Songwriter, NPR Music, Paste, Garden and Gun, CMT, and many more, as well as national late night TV looks.
April 30 street date. Shovels & Rope continue their Busted Jukebox series where they join forces with their musical friends to cover classic songs in their own unique ways with "Busted Jukebox Volume 3". Volume 3 sees the duo covering a series of kid-friendly songs, such as "Tomorrow" from 'Annie' featuring The War and Treaty, "You Are My Sunshine" featuring The Felice Brothers, and "What A Wonderful World" featuring John Paul White, along with some other classics like R.E.M.'s "Everybody Hurts" alongside T. Hardy Morris, and The Beach Boys' "In My Room" featuring Sharon Van Etten.
April 30 street date. Shovels & Rope continue their Busted Jukebox series where they join forces with their musical friends to cover classic songs in their own unique ways with "Busted Jukebox Volume 3". Volume 3 sees the duo covering a series of kid-friendly songs, such as "Tomorrow" from 'Annie' featuring The War and Treaty, "You Are My Sunshine" featuring The Felice Brothers, and "What A Wonderful World" featuring John Paul White, along with some other classics like R.E.M.'s "Everybody Hurts" alongside T. Hardy Morris, and The Beach Boys' "In My Room" featuring Sharon Van Etten.
February 18 street date. Originally planned as a stripped-down acoustic-leaning release, the tracks on Shovels & Rope's new album "Manticore" were written prior to the pandemic, but recorded during it, when Michael Trent and Cary Ann Hearst suddenly had much more time at their disposal. The duo reimagined the original arrangements, resulting in 10 new songs that range in sound from heartbreaking, stark piano to rollicking hard-rock and danceable guitar and drum numbers. "Manticore" reveals the band's most personal stories about love, family, marriage, self-realization, and more to date, and it carves out its own distinct place in the Shovels & Rope canon.
February 18 street date. Originally planned as a stripped-down acoustic-leaning release, the tracks on Shovels & Rope's new album "Manticore" were written prior to the pandemic, but recorded during it, when Michael Trent and Cary Ann Hearst suddenly had much more time at their disposal. The duo reimagined the original arrangements, resulting in 10 new songs that range in sound from heartbreaking, stark piano to rollicking hard-rock and danceable guitar and drum numbers. "Manticore" reveals the band's most personal stories about love, family, marriage, self-realization, and more to date, and it carves out its own distinct place in the Shovels & Rope canon.