Review: Shovels & Rope at Commonwealth

Have you ever done that weird thing where you wondered what a band might have sounded like if certain core members in it had never met? Sort of a Sliding Doors type scenario? Sure, it’s an unusual thought to land on a few songs into a Shovels & Rope concert, as I did last night Thursday night (Dec. 12, 2024) at The Commonwealth Room. And there’s even a chance the band would have ceased to exist entirely should one or the other have chosen to go right instead of left.

Granted, that’s a lot of conjecture, maybes and what-ifs. But when you hear how easily the voices of husband and wife duo Shovels & Rope (Michael Trent and Cary Ann Hearst) sound together as each buoys the other up, it sounds like they’ve always belonged together, wrapped around one another, two halves of a whole.

It hasn’t been so long since they visited us, but they hauled their duets and joy back here Thursday. And while comparisons are mostly lazy shortcuts, they build on that loose Jack and Meg White Stripes geetar-and-drums sound by giving it more muscle, melody and even better storytelling—smashing the blueprint and improving the model. And here’s a way to keep your audience wide-eyed: play musical chairs throughout, taking turns drumming and guitaring and pianoing, doing each impossibly well, even further proof of their effortless talent.

Photography by Natalie Simpson

We were treated to highs and lows throughout the night. When the band sang of our fair state early on (“C’mon, Utah!”), it was the good vibe we all yearned for, and they prefaced the tune by saying it never sounded better anywhere else. There was a sad turn, too, when Trent shared that it was the anniversary of his father’s passing, and he gave us an emotional tribute of a number in his memory.
The one-song encore helped put a final bookend on the night, and they brought out opener Al Oleander to put her best Roy Orbison foot forward with her take on “Blue Bayou.” It was maybe the first time in the evening that Shovels & Rope seemed to take a breather, opting to support instead of clambering toward the spotlight. Classy touch, that one. Besides, they’d more than earned the chance to take a rest.