Shovels & Rope
American music group
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.
The band's seventh album Something Is Working Up Above My Head was released September 6, 2024 on Dualtone Records.
History
Beginnings
Cary Ann Hearst was born in Mississippi in 1979 and raised in Nashville from 1987 until she attended the College of Charleston in 1997. During school she began performing music as a solo artist in local bars and venues. After graduating she toured, recorded and performed with various groups including Caravan and Borrowed Angels. Michael Trent was born in Houston, grew up in Denver, and eventually relocated to Charleston. Hearst saw Trent performing with his band The Films in 2002 and they began touring with various artists including Jump, Little Children. Hearst released her first solo album Dust and Bones in 2006 and Trent released his self-titled solo album, also his first, in 2007.
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.
The public source identifies “Shovels & Rope” as american music group. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Shovels, Rope and American.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Shovels & Rope”, the useful work is to connect “american music group” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 5, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7502880. VIAF identifies the subject as 268786772. The Library of Congress control number is no2012127171. 3 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2024, 1979, 1987 and 1997.
The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Shovels & Rope”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Shovels & Rope primary sources, Shovels & Rope archive and Shovels research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Shovels & Rope”?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Shovels & Rope” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.