Line-up

Headliner
Shovels & Rope Last time in SF Bay Area: 10 months ago

Venue

Sweetwater Music Hall

19 Corte Madera Ave., 94941, Mill Valley, CA, US

www.sweetwatermusichall.com/

Capacity: 90

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Shovels & Rope biography

Shovels & Rope are an American folk duo from Charleston, South Carolina composed of husband and wife Michael Trent and Cary Ann Hearst.

Cary Ann Hearst was born in Mississippi and attended the College of Charleston in 1997. During school she began performing music as a solo artist in local bars and venues and realised her talents for folk music. After graduating she toured, recorded and performed with various groups including Caravan and Borrowed Angels. Hearst first saw Michael Trent performing with his band The Films in 2002 and they began touring with various artists including Jump and Little Children. To begin their careers they each recorded solo albums, Hearst released 'Dust & Bones' in 2006 and Trent released a self titled LP in 2007.

In 2008 Hearst and Trent decided to record as a duo and released the album 'Shovels & Rope' as a co-bill under their individual names but they didn't intend to work together permanently. Hearst and Trent married in March 2009 yet still continued to focus on their solo careers, releasing selected EPs and full lengths before committing to the duo in 2012. They released 'O' Be Joyful' under the name Shovels & Rope and it peaked at #123 on the Billboard 200. They performed the single 'Birmingham' on the Late Show with David Letterman in January 2013 and the Americana Music Honors & Awards awarded Shovels & Rope the accolades of emerging artist the year and song of the year for 'Birmingham'.

Following the new exposure and a heavy touring schedule where the couple play mixtures of original material and joint work, their 2014 album 'Swimmin' Time' went top twenty on the US Billboard charts.

Live reviews

The beginning of the set was pleasantly heavy on more of the bands better known songs. After opening up with "Keeper," the duo played a strand of tunes with no breaks, including two of the strongest tracks off the new record with "Bridge on Fire" and "The Devil is All Around."

The later of those tunes best shows off the incredible vocals of Hearst. While the pair mainly harmonize together on all songs, this is one where the female excels with propelling her voice past the appropriate background vocals of Trent. She really had the ability to captivate the room.

The second half of the show was much of the same, with the bands two most popular songs coming at the close of the set - debut self titled track "O' Be Joyful" and lead single "Birmingham." The crowd cheered on as the pair played a quick encore after departing the stage briefly.

Overall, it was a very strong show, especially for just two musicians being in the band. One recommendation I would make though is that the show was a bit long. I would estimate the group played close to, if not more than 20 songs, and I could tell towards the end that the crowd was getting a bit restless. So shorten the setlist a bit and keep the audience wanting more!

But good show for any folk / Americana fan.

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