Shovels & Rope - "Birmingham"

They've got a sound that immediately makes you start tapping your toes. You want to smile and rock and drink a cold beer. Their music is the heart at the Americana forefront that is at once edgy and nostalgic.

Shovels & Rope are an American folk duo from Charleston, South Carolina composed of husband and wife Michael Trent and Cary Ann Hearst. Combining threads from their individual solo careers, Shovels & Rope blends traditional folk, rock and roll and country rock.  

In 2008 Hearst and Trent recorded and released the album Shovels & Rope as a co-bill under their individual names, not intended to ever create a permanent act. Hearst and Trent married in March 2009 and continued to perform and record their music for their individual solo careers. Hearst released the EP Are You Ready to Die in 2010 and the LP Lions and Lambs in 2011. 

At the end of 2010 filming began on a documentary titled The Ballad of Shovels and Rope about their life as a band. Originally slated for only 3 months of filming, it didn't end until September 2013. After filming finished a Kickstarter campaign was launched to help get the film finished and released.

In 2012, the pair committed to their joint venture and released an album together under the Shovels & Rope moniker entitled O' Be Joyful, which reached #123 on the Billboard 200.

So today, with memories being made like prophecies, I choose Shovels & Rope's  "Birmingham" as my sunshine and Junebugs, lighting and silver linings, acceptance and hope, song for a, why not today, lemongrass and sugarwater, the breaks that bind, Monday.