Shovels & Rope
Cary Ann Hearst and Michael Trent, the multi-instrumentalist husband and wife otherwise known as Shovels & Rope, are perhaps guilty of overusing one of the most compelling pop chord progressions in popular music (IV-V-I-IV) to write one great tune after another. On “St. Anne’s Parade” they wait until the chorus to call on it (and they mix it up slightly with a minor instead of returning to the root) — but somehow the texture of this one is more plaintive, more raw, more weary than most of their other tunes. This is just plain good songwriting, reserved, insistent, asking listeners to draw close.