listening to rubbish: shovels and rope

When I read that a new (to me) band called Shovels and Rope had racked up four Americana Award nominations alongside Richard Thompson, Emmylou Harris, Rodney Crowell, Buddy Miller, Jim Lauderdale, et al., I thought: oh great, another critically acclaimed, snoozy band like The Civil Wars (evidence of said snooziness here). I also recalled an irritating Entertainment Weekly article about the alleged “revival” of “folk rock music” courtesy of the similarly somnabulent Mumford and Sons, among other bands that only someone with a very limited knowledge of folk music and history and things that are good would consider “folk” and/or “rock.” You can read it here if you want to be annoyed for the rest of the day (Sample quote: “[I]t reflects the larger migration toward pared-down lifestyles that started around the 2008 recession and now extends to everything from homemade fashion to artisanal food.”)

Anyway, curiosity eventually got the best of me, and I am delighted to report that for once, people who nominate things for awards got it right! Cary Ann Hearst and Michael Trent are a husband-and-wife duo who have recorded separately but also perform together as Shovels and Rope, and their sound has been described as “barn rock” and “folky cow-punk.” I don’t know what that means, but it sounds good, right? If you aren’t sold by the 1:14 mark of the first video posted below… well, you and I have very different taste, because that’s about the time I started thinking, “Why doesn’t everyone know about this band? If only I had an infrequently-updated blog where I could post a few of their videos to spread the word!”

Hail Hail