Shovels & Rope

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.

Born Sean Scolnick in the city he would later take his stage name from, Langhorne Slim is the latest in a long line of artists that has fallen out of vogue in recent years. He is the kind of artist completely shaped by his time spent on the road. One can hear his music and feel that he would be riding the rails with Woody Guthrie if he came to prominence at the same time as the folk legend. He would be permanently stuffed in the back of a splitter van with Black Flag if he came to prominence in the 80’s. There might not be many like him around now but he’s definitely keeping that spirit alive, and we should be very grateful for that.

Slim moved to Brooklyn, New York when he was 18 years of age. However, as was his nature, he began moving around almost immediately, releasing an acclaimed album of demos and cutting his teeth live as the opening act for the Trachtenberg Family Slideshow Players. By 2004 he’d been signed to Narnack Records and recorded his first majorly released E.P “Electric Love Letter”. A full length album came next year in the form of “When The Sun Goes Down”, and by that point he’d progressed to touring with a full band and opening for the likes of Lucero and Murder By Death. 2006 saw his biggest move to date when he signed with the major label imprint V2 for one album and one E.P.

Ever since then, Slim has proved himself to be one of the most acclaimed artists of the unbelievably fertile American folk scene. No lesser name than Rolling Stone magazine proclaimed his 2012 effort “The Way We Move” as “damn near perfect” and he’s appeared on the Late Show with David Letterman and Late Night with Conan O’Brien. More and more people are falling to Slim’s old school story-telling charms thanks to opening slots with The Avett Brothers, The Violent Femmes and The Lumineers. So, in the age of the sanitized, family-friendly singer songwriter, we need Langhorne Slim to be a name more than ever. By the looks of it, that’s exactly what he’ll be. Highly recommended.