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Shovels & Rope Celebrates A New Album, New Baby, A New Book And A Festival

Shovels & Rope's latest album is called By Blood and it resonates out into all of their work. Of course, the duo of Michael Trent and Cary Ann Hearst are partners, musically and in life. They recently celebrated the birth of their second child, which means the family now is four strong on the road. They've got a whole heck of a lot of extended family in Charleston, S.C., as evident from the High Water Festival, a celebration of music, food and libations they've curated since 2017 (and had some incredible guests, like Jason Isbell, Leon Bridges, Brandi Carlile, The Lumineersand more.) Later this year, they'll add their first children's book to their credit, introducing a whole new group of young ones to their remarkable storytelling prowess. Oh, and they're a joy to speak with.

Trent and Hearst talk about all of those things and we'll hip you to the best possible meal you could eat if you visited them. Not to mention fantastic live performances, including the first track from the pair's excellent album, I'm Coming Out, which starts off this session. Hear it all in the player.

Copyright 2019 XPN

Since 2017, John Myers has been the producer of NPR's World Cafe, which is produced by WXPN at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. Previously he spent about eight years working on the other side of Philly at WHYY as a producer on the staff of Fresh Air with Terry Gross. John was also a member of the team of public radio veterans recruited to develop original programming for Audible and has worked extensively as a freelance producer. His portfolio includes work for the Eastern State Penitentiary Historic Site, The Association for Public Art and the radio documentary, Going Black: The Legacy of Philly Soul Radio. He's taught radio production to preschoolers and college students and, in the late 90's, spent a couple of years traveling around the country as a roadie for the rock band Huffamoose.