Shovels & Rope give Chicago a twofer, with the first of a two-night engagement at Garcia’s in the West Loop area of the city.
If you’re going to spend two nights performing in Chicago, you might as well make it at one of the newest music venues in the city. The Jerry Garcia-inspired venue only opened earlier this year, and to say we are impressed with it is an understatement. We first experienced it for one of Grace Potter’s shows. It had only been open a month, and they were already working like a very well-oiled machine. We are happy to say that it is still running like that now. And if you happen to stop by the box office, we guarantee you will get to interact with the friendliest and most helpful box office member of staff there is!
It’s impressive enough to pack a venue with fans excited to see their favorite artists perform live. But to do it multiple nights in a row in the same city and the same venue is no mean feat. South Carolina duo Shovels & Rope managed to do just that. Add to that, it being the weekend before Thanksgiving, when many people are heading out of town to be with family for the holidays, and you know these guys have some major pull. Although they mentioned they’d had a long drive with their kids to make it to the Windy City, the smiles on their faces showed they were just as happy and excited to be there as the audience was to experience it.
Michael Trent and Cary Ann Hearst, known collectively as Shovels & Rope, are a married folk duo whose writing and performances have clearly been forged out of their connection to one another. The result is some deeply personal songs inspired by family life, mixed with songs which reference historical events, and some of the tightest harmonies you will come across, all blended with a southern folk rock flair.
As they walked out onto the stage, Cary Ann stepped up to the microphone and said, “I believe it’s the weekend,” and then, as it was “An Evening with Shovels & Rope,” she explained that this would be an evening of folksy storytelling interspersed with music. The duo often perform utilizing different instruments, but for tonight’s show, it was relatively stripped down. There was no drum kit, just a synth, an electric and an acoustic guitar, which they shared between themselves. However, when you have two vocalists as talented as Michael and Cary Ann singing such well-crafted songs, this setup really allowed those vocals to shine.
One of the highlights of the set was “O’ Be Joyful,” which is a song that truly shows off everything that is fantastic about Cary Ann’s voice, from the Mississippi lilt to the effortless, rich tone, which seems to break up just right. Others included “By Blood,”which Michael explained was a deeply personal song he had written when he was wrestling with the complexities of becoming a new father. Also, as usual, it was a pleasure to hear their phenomenal cover of Neil Young’s “Unknown Legend.” The set as a whole spanned songs from across the duo’s career, and by the time the lights came up, nobody in Garcia’s could have possibly felt short-changed.
Be sure to check out their website for upcoming tour dates, as they already have plenty scheduled for 2026.
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