American Songwriter has a nice discussion of this song here. It tells the mostly true story of the formation of the band:
After blood, sweat, and years of working on our individual projects, it was on a three-hour drive from Nashville to Birmingham that we finally decided to officially marry our s...
Delta Mama and a Nickajack Man
Raised their Cumberland daughter in a Tennessee band
Played Springwater at Station Inn
Couldn't play fast, couldn't fit in
Caught a '66 Dodge in Caroline
Got her education on her mama's dime
She was singing in a bar called Comatose
Halfway rusted on the salty coast
Rock of Ages, cleave for me
Let me hide myself in Thee
Buried in the sand
Five hundred miles from Birmingham
Rockamount Cowboy in a rock and roll band
Plugged his amplifier in all across the land
Athens, Georgia on a Friday night
Saw that little girl, she could sing alright
Spent five years going from town to town
Waiting on that little girl to come around
Caught in the arms of New York City
To lose that gal seemed a terrible pity
Rock of Ages, cleave for me
Let my heart forget a beat
Why do you demand
Calling me from Birmingham
Pulled her covered wagon off the BQE
Said "This'll be the last you'll ever see of me."
Well the cowboy laughed said "I know it's not true
Cause there's nothing I could do to get loose from you."
Made a little money playing in the bars
With two beat up drums and two old guitars
From the Crescent City to the Great Salt Lake
It ain't what you got, it's what you make
When the road got rough and the wheels all broke
Couldn't take more then we could tow
Making something out of nothing with a scratcher and our hope
With two old guitars like a shovel and a rope
Rock of Ages, cleave for me
Let me hide myself in Thee
Now I understand
On better terms since Birmingham
Shovels & Rope released Birmingham on Tue Jul 31 2012.
In 2018, NPR ranked this as the #101 greatest song by a female or nonbinary artist in the 21st century, saying:
Cary Ann Hearst has a voice that can bring a room to a screeching halt. Whether that room is home to a rabble-rousing honky-tonk or a DIY punk show, Hearst — along with husband and musica...