Charleston’s explosive music scene just got a ton love and incredible, much-deserved exposure when Shovels & Rope debuted their new covers album Busted Jukebox Vol. 1 on NPR today.
Cary Ann Hearst has always been a fan of a good cover, singing everything from T-Rex to James Carr over the years — so Busted Jukebox was really bound to happen one day. And we’re glad it did. The 10-track album is chock full of some truly remarkable match-ups — like ShoRo and the Milk Carton Kids covering Guns n’ Roses’ “Patience” — but what really makes our hearts swell is the Kinks song, “Strangers.”
Hearst and Michael Trent teamed up with Charleston’s Inlaws — Joel T. Hamilton (Mechanical River) and Owen Beverly (INDIANOLA) — during their tour together last summer to record the track. Giving shoutouts also to Punks&Snakes’ Jack Burg and producer/musician Andy Dixon, the band said this on NPR about Inlaws and the Charleston music scene:
There is a sometimes-band out of Charleston, S.C., called Inlaws that is a collaboration between two very talented songwriters who each have their own projects. Owen Beverly (Indianola) and Joel Hamilton (Mechanical River) happen to get together every once in a while and make, in our humble opinion, some of the greatest music out there. These guys are two of our oldest hometown friends and a couple of the best songwriters we know. Our little scene in Charleston is very familial. We have genuine love for each other that goes way beyond music. We are all actual friends. We’ve worked together in all types of situations, from wedding gigs to bartending and catering shifts to s***** bars to sold-out theaters. This song [by The Kinks] has some achingly beautiful sentiments in it, and was one we specifically wanted to do with our hometown family. We tracked the music at home and recorded the vocals in a backstage green room in Iowa City while we were on tour together last spring. It’s another duo-duet where we mix and match who takes what verse and we all sing the tag, ‘We are not two, we are one.’ This one features Charleston drummer/songwriter Jack Burg (Punknsnakes) singing on the gang vocal and playing percussion. There is one more Inlaw whose voice is not featured on this take, but whose magic is definitely present on this record: ‘Cousin’ Andrew Dixon plays guitar with Inlaws and happens to be the guy who mixed this album. We like to keep it in the family.”
Check out the NPR article here for a very Shovels & Rope explanation of each track. Though it’s not audible, you can nevertheless just hear Hearst tell it all in her endearing, folksie accent.
The full track listing goes like this:
1. “Unknown Legend” (with Shakey Graves)
2. “Bullet Belt” (with Butch Walker)
3. “(What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love & Understanding” (with Lucius)
4. Patience (with The Milk Carton Kids)
5. Boys Can Never Tell (with J. Roddy Walston)
6. Nothing Takes The Place Of You (with JD McPherson)
7. Last (with Caroline Rose)
8. Strangers (with Inlaws)
9. Perfect Day (with Preservation Hall Jazz Band)
10. Leaving Louisiana In The Broad Daylight
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