Modern country music is easily one of the most overrated, misunderstood, and obnoxious bunch of people, bands, and fans ever to surface in music. This may come as a surprise, but I got a news flash for all you un-ironic flannel wearing bro dudes and jean shorts and knotted tank top girls.
Your perception of country ain’t country.
Country music was never about poster boy that play into their shocking large fan bases’ bigoted, redneck, nationalistic pride. Sure, the accent or twang is there, but the over all message and attitude country music used to have has been skewed maliciously.
Johnny Cash and Waylon Jennings didn’t have any strange tractor fetishes and never wore their drug and alcohol intake like a crown. Dolly Parton is a woman of class. Gretchen Wilson thinks being a drunken mess is desirable. Country is geographic, passionate, soulful music that had a knack of describing love perfectly and often had a pure rebellious edge.
I don't know who or what this is, I can only promise that I look that cute when I insult country music.
Yeah, modern country music might be rebellious and geographic, but that passion and soul is completely gone and the people they describe in those love songs sound repulsive. Not to mention, I love it when they openly promote the idea of supporting troops means keeping them at war.
Woah! That got out of hand quickly. Where was I? Oh yeah! Real country!
Shovels and Rope. Now here’s some country music. Husband and wife duo Carry Ann Hearst and Michael Trent over the past four years have worked tirelessly to get where they are today and that distance is measured in both miles and words.
The two beautifully and flawlessly harmonize with each other in a way that is unprecedented amongst even the likes of the greatest songwriting duos like Lennon and McCarthy and Simon and Garfunkel. Maybe it’s because they are married and I can only hope that their chemistry in their voices reflect their actual marriage because they are one of the coolest couples I’ve ever seen within or outside of music.
It’s the simplicity in the music that I find charming with this Charlestown, South Carolina duo. In “Boxcar” even though it’s only the two of them with nothing but a guitar, a harmonica, and a small drum kit, the song combined with their voices makes this common country tune turn into something almost symphonic.
Their first album, a self titled release came out in 2008 and from that spawned some live videos that were posted on youtube of them playing songs from the album live in settings such as a run down shed (the same one in the “Boxcar” video), a field like in “Gasoline“, and what appears to be the back of van while they perform Michael Trent’s solo song “When I….”
As sort of implied, while promoting the first record the two also recorder solo albums of their own which include Trent’s “The Winner” and Hearst’s “Lions and Limbs.” Their dedication to their music is inspiring and where they get the money to keep doing this stuff is beyond me.
Their latest release “O’ Be Joyful” came out this past summer and not much is different, but in this case there is no reason to fix something that isn’t broken. The album still holds that simplistic charm while having that surprisingly large presence in the music.
Not every country band can do what these guys do. Most country stars require beer, pyrotechnics, fancy light shows, and attractive half naked women to be entertaining. These guys need nothing but a guitar and a couple of good rhymes to get my soul singing. That is what matters; the music, not the sideshow from the music.
So please, enjoy the Bonnie and Clyde of southern rock and country. I give you Shovels and Rope (@shovelsandrope). Courtesy of the Vatican Gift Shop.