The roots-music duo Shovels & Rope will release a deluxe edition of their latest album By Blood in August, fleshed out with new acoustic recordings of five songs from the LP.
On Wednesday, the band consisting of Cary Ann Hearst and Michael Trent previewed the stripped-down recordings with the premiere of “Carry Me Home.” The album version is a sweeping, lush reading. Here, they let their voices and the lyrics themselves provide the emotional wallop.
“It’s more of a big, cinematic-sounding record,” Trent said of By Blood in 2019. “We weren’t afraid to add as much stuff as we wanted whenever to any song and then slowly scrape it away and see what worked and what didn’t work. If there ever were rules for us, there were zero rules on this record.”
Shovels & Rope are scheduled to bring the acoustic versions of the songs to fans live onstage this fall. But the pandemic prompted the duo to use their down-time and re-record five of By Blood‘s tracks for the deluxe release. Along with “Carry Me Home,” they reimagine “C’mon Utah,” “The Wire,” “I’m Comin’ Out,” and “Mississippi Nuthin’.” The band will post all five of the songs throughout the summer leading up to the deluxe edition’s release.
By Blood Deluxe Edition will be a digital-only release, arriving August 18th via Dualtone Records.
