Shovels & Rope Suffer Through a Hijacked Video Shoot in 'Mississippi Nothin”

Shovels & Rope sing about unfulfilled promise in their song “Mississippi Nothin’,” giving voice to a guy who has big dreams but no way to manifest them. The Americana duo further that theme in a new video for the song.

“I got an idea that’s gonna turn on the money hose,” goes a key lyric, which an actor playing the music video’s eager director takes to heart. He all but hijacks the shoot and foists his own vision — “I got ideas!” goes another centerpiece line — on Cary Ann Hearst and Michael Trent.

“The absurd meta-music video for ‘Mississippi Nuthin” had us doing a bit of introspection. As creative directors we often find ourselves working collaboratively with other highly creative people, and our concept for the ‘Mississippi Nuthin” video became a sort of self-referential critique of overzealous creativity run amok,” says Marke Johnson, the video’ actual director.

“The lyrics Mike and Cary Ann wrote are so evocative — it dives headfirst into uncomfortable ideas about identity, jealousy, ambition, and self-awareness in an almost embarrassingly vulnerable tone. We imagined a sort of deconstructed music-video-behind-the-music-video where a ridiculously eager director can’t help himself from slowly taking over every crew member’s job, ultimately escalating to an absurd crescendo as he completely takes over the band’s performance. But in the end, I think we realize he’s not a villain, just a guy who’s ‘got ideas no one knows.’”

The band plays Huntsville, Alabama, on February 20th, resuming a tour that leads up to their own High Water Festival in April in North Charleston, South Carolina. Expect songs off their latest album, 2019’s By Blood, including the urgent “Mississippi Nothin’” to be in the set.

“This song is about a frustrated guy who feels like he deserves more out of life than he’s been given,” the duo says in a statement. “He was a star in high school and now he’s a regular Joe in the workforce who’s convinced he’s better than his current situation and that he’s about to break out and hit it big with one of his genius ideas. In the end he destroys the video shoot, but has at long last finally expressed himself and revealed his greatness.”

Shovels & Rope 2020 Tour Dates

February 20 – Huntsville, AL @ Sidetracks Music Hall
February 21 – Jackson, MS @ Duling Hall
February 22 – Mobile, AL @ Soul Kitchen
March 6 – Savannah, GA @ Savannah Stopover Music Festival
April 2 – Charlotte, NC @ Neighborhood Theatre
April 3 – Carrboro, NC @ Cat’s Cradle
April 4 – Baltimore, MD @ Rams Head Live!
April 5 – Tarrytown, NY @ Tarrytown Music Hall
April 7 – Millvale, PA @ Mr. Small’s Theatre
April 8 – Cincinnati, OH @ Ludlow Garage
April 10 – Indianapolis, IN @ The Vogue
April 11 – Detroit, MI @ El Club
April 14 – Milwaukee, WI @ Turner Hall Ballroom
April 15 – St. Louis, MO @ Delmar Hall
April 18-19 – North Charleston, SC @ High Water Festival
April 25 – New Orleans, LA @ New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival
May 22-23 – Augusta, GA @ Papa Joe’s Banjo BBQ
July 18-19 – Whitefish, MT @ Under the Big Sky Festival
August 6-8 – Waynesville, OH @ Bellwether Festival
September 12-13 – Chattanooga, TN @ Moon River Music Festival