A Shovels & Rope show is a sweaty, exuberant affair. The husband and wife duo of Cary Ann Hearst and Michael Trent hold nothing back as they somehow conjure up a swinging, raucous sound much larger than it would seem possible coming from just two people, drums and guitar.
Hearst and Trent, who are based in Charleston, S.C., will bring their cathartic energy to a show Saturday at The Center for Humanities and Arts at the University of Arkansas Pulaski Technical College in North Little Rock. Buffalo Nichols and Tre Burt will open.
It's been a pretty special year so far for Shovels & Rope. They released a new album "Manticore," and are celebrating the 10th anniversary of their 2012 punk-folk-Americana breakthrough "O' Be Joyful," with an expanded edition featuring new cover art and live recordings.
"We re-recorded each one of the tracks in a live, stripped-down way and that was fun," Trent said last week from Spokane, Wash. "That was fun because there is a handful of songs that we just never get around to playing from that record anymore."
"I'm trying to figure out a way to say this without sounding self-congratulatory, but they are good songs," Hearst adds. "They're good now, they were good then and they will be good in 25 years."
The record, with its sultry, raucous blend of rock 'n' roll, country, blues and folk became a gateway for many fans and was the moment when the band really made its mark, Hearst said.
"Our sound has changed a lot over the years as we have changed as people and our interests have varied, but that record was kind of like our flag on the moon, here we are, can you get behind this?"
Trent and Hearst started Shovels & Rope after working solo and got married almost 14 years ago. They have two children, ages 7 and 3, who tour with them. When the pandemic hit, the road wasn't an option for a while and the family of four was in a novel place — home.
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"We had the experience of what it's like for other people, being in one place for a long time," Hearst said. "Our family existed in a vacuum of tour life ever since we've had children. It was the longest the kids had been home in their lives, and we did need it."
"Manticore," the follow-up to 2019's "By Blood," was recorded during the time away from touring. It morphed over the extended break from an acoustic-leaning effort to something more fleshed out and personal.
Along with their own Shovels & Rope songs, Trent, 45, and Hearst, 43, have released three volumes of "Broken Jukebox," a series of cover albums where they reinterpret tracks by the likes of Lou Reed, Rodney Crowell, the Clash and others and collaborate with friends including the Secret Sisters, Sharon van Etten and Deer Tick.
"It's really fun and freeing," Trent said. "There's really no way they're supposed to go. I produce our records, and I'm always learning and it's good to get out of the box and experiment and work on that craft as we arrange and weird up some of these songs."
Saturday's concert is presented by the Oxford American, the Southern literary magazine that started in Oxford, Miss., and is now based at the University of Central Arkansas in Conway. Shovels & Rope were featured in a 2019 OA profile by Hearst's old high school pal David Ramsey and their song, "Mary Ann & One Eyed Dan" was featured on the magazine's South Carolina Music Sampler.
Hearst, who was born in Mississippi and lived there until she was 8, has long loved the OA, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year.
"It's one of those bastions of Southern literary culture," she said. "It's like our version of the New Yorker."
Oxford American Presents: Shovels & Rope
- Opening acts: Buffalo Nichols, Tre Burt
- The Center for Humanities and Arts, 3000 W. Scenic Drive, North Little Rock
- Admission: $20-$49
- Information: uaptc.universitytickets.com | (501) 812-2831