Jonny Corndawg

SHOVELS & ROPE
Necessity is the mother of invention. Less is more. Make it work with
what you've got. 2 Guitars, a junkyard drum kit harvested from an
actual garbage heap and adorned with tambourines, flowers and
kitchen rags. A handful of harmonicas, voices, and above all..
songs. Shovels & Rope prefer to keep it simple. They have cleverly
managed to take 3 separate recording projects and combine them
into 1 cohesive, folk rock, sloppy tonk, harmonized, loose but tight,
streamlined audience killing machine.
Michael Trent (Texas/Colorado) has just released his second solo
album entitled "The Winner", and Cary Ann Hearst
(Mississippi/Tennessee) is about to release her second record "Lions
& Lambs". Together hey have one duo release entitled "Shovels &
Rope" which came out in 2008 and are currently working on the
follow up "Shovels & Rope V.2" in their house, van, and backyard. At
the shows, expect to hear a little something from any or all of these
releases while the duo switch instruments and share lead vocal
duties. Also prepare to rethink your definition of a live rock band.

The New York Times recently proclaimed that Houston, Texas native Robert Ellis sounds "equally inspired by Jackson Browne and George Jones." Not a bad reference point for an artist only twenty-two years old. Ellis cut his teeth performing the songs of similar luminaries around town, most notably at the neighborhood beacon, Fitzgerald's. His "Whiskey Wednesdays" at that club are regularly packed with punkish newcomers and graying locals sharing a mutual interest in artists ranging from Ray Price to Buck Owens to the Rolling Stones. Ellis has songwriting ability equal to his encyclopedic knowledge of these greats and it shines on his upcoming New West Records debut, Photographs, due this July. The young songwriter's second release is an impressive and diverse concept album split between five breathtaking folk songs and five soon-to-be country standards. Listening to Photographs, one finds it difficult to pigeonhole Robert Ellis. It's even harder to remember that he's barely just begun.