When arranging a classic like “Away In a Manger,” we start with the advantage that the tune is well loved and deeply connected to our earliest memories of Christmas. I like taking the approach of just enough surprise without overwhelming the simple beauty. I have learned through experience, that just because you can, does not mean you should. After all, its not about an intellectual harmonic exercise, it’s about the music.
“Away in a Manger” is usually the first carol children learn. That’s no surprise considering the last line in the lyric, “Bless all the dear children in thy tender care and take us to heaven to live with thee there.” The entire lyric is beautiful. I suggest you read it and give it thought as you play “Away In a Manger".
The carol was first published in the Lutheran's Sunday school collection, Little Children’s Book For Schools and Families in 1885. The collection was edited by James Murray and set to the melody of “St. Kilda,” credited to J.E. Clark. The melody we know today is credited to William Kirkpatrick in 1895. The one fact we can count on is that the last stanza, “Be near me, Lord Jesus” was written by Charles Gabriel and first published in Gabriel’s Vineyard Songs in 1892.
I have listed a few bullet points about the arrangement that you may be interested in taking a look at.
• The basic chords are I–IV–V ( D, G, and A) Compare this to the chord symbols in the arrangement.I remember many a Christmas Eve playing carols late at night. I have never felt more connected to the music. I wish all of you a Merry Christmas and a blessed new year.
• The F#7 in measure three really functions as a D augmented. Often you’ll hear a D pedal bass note with a string line moving from the A to A#.
• Measure six is a split-bar of ii–V (E minor – A). The ii chord can always be inserted in front of the V. Often the ii is played as minor.
• Inner line movement can be found in measures 9, 26, 27, 37, and 45. Notice how long the line is in measures 25 and 26. The line leads from the 9th to root, major 7th, flat 7th, 6th and ends on the flat 6th.
• I’ve always liked the sound of the flat 7th in the bass. You’ll see an example of this in measure twenty-three.
• The #IV diminished chord is a common passing chord to the V chord. Take a look at measure twenty-eight.
• The E minor 6th in measure 30 leads to a C# half diminished. They are really the same chord just voiced another way. All minor 6th chords can be thought of as half diminished.
• Notice the vi–ii–V–I progression beginning on beat three of measure 31. The vi chord is often played in front of the ii chord.
• The B chord on the third beat of measure 33 sets up the key change to E.
• In measure 35, we have the G#7 again but this time it has a flat 9 included. This adds a bit of tension that is naturally released when you play the next measure.
• Close voice leading is always desired. Notice the bass line from measure 38 through 41.
• Take a look at measure 42. A minor V chord is a common substitution for the I chord leading to IV. Most often you will see (V minor – flat 5 dominant – IV ) In this case the chords are B minor – B flat 7 (flat 5) - A.
• Measure 46 supplies a bit of harmonic surprise when A minor is played in place of A major.
• Notice the C diminished on beat three of measure 46. This is like playing a B7 with a flat 9th in the bass. The root note (B) is not in the chord, but could be. This chord choice sets up a nice bass line leading into measures 47 and 48.
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Michael Trent and Cary Ann Hearst have been making music as Shovels & Rope since 2008. The husband-and-wife duo from South Carolina specialize in rootsy, bluesy rock, Americana, and alt-country, but they don’t confine themselves to traditional two-piece arrangements. They switch off on vocal, guitar, percussion, and synth duty throughout their shows, orchestrating a full-band ruckus with all available limbs.
Their seventh full-length, Something Is Working Up Above My Head, released in September last year, and while touring in support of it, they stopped at Nashville’s Brooklyn Bowl in late February. PG’s John Bohlinger caught up with Trent before the gig to see what tools he and Hearst use to maintain their musical juggling act.
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Trent’s not a guitar snob: Generally speaking, he plays whatever he can get his hands on. While playing Eddie Vedder’s Ohana Fest, someone loaned him this Gretsch Black Falcon, and he fell in love with it. He likes its size compared to the broader White Falcon. It’s also the band’s only electric, so if it goes down, it’s back to acoustic. Hearst takes turns on it, too.
Trent loads the heaviest strings he can onto it, which is a set of .013s. It lives in standard tuning.
Ol' Faithful
As Trent explains, he and Hearst have done some DIY decorating on this beautiful Gibson J-45—it’s adorned with sweat droplets, stains, and fingernail dust. It runs direct to the venue’s front-of-house system with an LR Baggs pickup. This one is strung with Martin heavy or medium gauge strings; lighter ones are too prone to snapping under Trent’s heavy picking hand (which holds a Dunlop Max-Grip .88 mm pick). And it rolls around in an Enki tour case.
On Call
These second-stringers—a Loar archtop and an LR Baggs-equipped Recording King—are on hand in case of broken strings or other malfunctions.
Need for Tweed
Trent doesn’t trust amps with too many knobs, so this tweed Fender Blues Junior does the trick. It can get fairly loud, so there’s a Universal Audio OX Amp Top Box on hand to tame it for some stages.
Shovels & Rope's Pedalboard
Because Trent and Hearst trade off bass, guitar, keys, and percussion duties, all four of their limbs are active through the set. Whoever is on guitars works this board, with an MXR Blue Box, Electro-Harmonix Nano Big Muff, EarthQuaker Devices Hummingbird, and Boss OC-5, plus a pair of Walrus Canvas Tuners for the electric and acoustic. Utility boxes on the board include a Walrus Canvas Passive Re-Amp, Radial J48, Livewire ABY1, and a Mesa Stowaway input buffer.
A Roland PK-5 MIDI controller, operated by foot, sits on the lower edge of the board. It controls the board for “Thing 2,” one of two MicroKORG synths onstage.
Thing 1 and Thing 2
There’s no one backstage helping Hearst and Trent cook up all their racket; they handle every sound themselves, manually. During the first few sets of a tour, you’re liable to see some headaches, like forgetting to switch synth patches during a song, but eventually they hit a rhythm.
Affectionately given Seuss-ian nicknames, this pair of microKORGs handles bass notes through the set, among other things, via the foot-controlled PK5. “Thing 1” is set up at the drum station, and runs through a board with an EHX Nano Big Muff, EHX Bass9, EHX Nano Holy Grail, and a Radial Pro DI. A Walrus Aetos keeps them all powered up.
The board for “Thing 2,” beside the guitar amps, includes an EHX Mel9 and Bass9 powered by a Truetone 1 SPOT Pro, plus a Radial ProD2.
