The last time I saw Shovels and Rope was back in August amidst a modest yet lively crowd at Johnny D’s. The top of Cary Ann Hearst’s curly head and Michael Trent’s trucker hat barely popped up above the standing audience from their position on the tiny stage. This time, sale Shovels and Rope left everyone who had tickets to the sold out show at The Sinclair gazing up as the two put on another powerful performance, store their third in Boston in the past year. The band’s sound has always been huge enough to fill such a packed venue, and now their headlining name finally is, too.
Despite this upgrade in stage platforms, Trent and Hearst kept their same, familial set-up, the majority of the vast stage providing just an airy, dark backdrop to the two positioned at the front. Alternating turns on the guitar and drum, one standing as the other takes a seat, is Shovels and Rope’s standard form; from there they often add a harmonica and, of course, always their harmonies. An energetic intimacy charges between Hearst and Trent, as they exchange playful, knowing looks and frequently abandon the second mic in favor of a shared experience, their lips nearly touching as they sing harder together. They started off quick, sparing no time for small chat spare a gracious thanks to opener Andrew Combs, and launched into their second album’s namesake “O’ Be Joyful,” followed by “Kemba’s Got the Cabbage Moth Blues,” lest anyone in the crowd was unfamiliar with their signature honky-tonk-rock and Southern twang. As Hearst’s voice reached climactic wails in time with Trent’s expert hand on the drum, no one cared to stand still. Rather than crafting their songs around the steady-stomp structure like that of many folk-rock contemporaries, Shovels and Rope lets that impulse build itself out of the genuinity of their style, and the result is an uproarious get-down during intense, build-up tracks like “Hail Hail” and “Tickin’ Bomb,” and a breathy reveler’s sway during slow numbers like “Carnival” and “Build Around Your Heart A Wall.”
The set’s energy culminated at an all-time high during “Birmingham,” the closest song they have to a number one single. But rather than taking on the mandatory, save-it-for-the-encore stigma that most band’s big hits eventually hold, “Birmingham” is both Hearst’s and Trent’s autobiographical love story and signifying theme song, and they proudly blasted it out midway through the show to an immensely positive crowd reception. In fact, Shovels and Rope tends to handle their encores in an unusual fashion; they took the obligatory five-minute break, leaving us in anticipatory darkness, before returning from the shadowy wings (they always do!) for two more songs. They gained back their energy at a steady pace, heading off with slow warbling “Lay Low” before signing off with “Who’s Gonna Raise These Babies,” a raunchy, heartbreak’s romp originally by Cary Ann Hearst featuring Michael Trent from her 2011 solo album Lions and Lambs. Such a departure emphasizes Shovels and Rope’s polite decline from catering to the streamlined masses, instead serving up a show that honors their dedicated fans and never fails to include and excite new listeners.
It’s hard to deny that this South Carolina husband-and-wife duo is on the rise, but it’s impossible to suggest that any of the sweet sparkle in Hearst’s eye and Trent’s humble, reserved charm will be lost along the way. In any case, Shovels and Rope is one to watch out for.
Photo Credit: Matthew Shelter