With a voice like hers, alumna Cary Ann Hearst ’01 is going places. Cary Ann Heast, College of Charleston

When HBO’s True Blood aired her song, “Hell’s Bells,” she took off.

The national exposure led to an interview on NPR’s Weekend Edition; a boost in sales of her solo release, Lions and Lambs; and some extra momentum for Shovels & Rope, the musical duo she shares with her husband, Michael Trent. That was in 2010.

Since then, Shovels & Rope has been touring the country and last year was named Artist of the Year at the Americana Music Honors and Awards in Nashville, where its song, “Birmingham,” won Song of the Year.

RELATED: Read more about Cary Ann Heast‘s big break in College of Charleston Magazine.

This year, the band appeared in Rolling Stone Magazine, on Austin City Limits and on Conan, as also performed at the 30th anniversary celebration of the Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art and headlined this year’s Spoleto Festival USA finale at Middleton Place.

Hearst and Trent were also the subjects of the feature-length documentary film, The Ballad of Shovels & Rope, which follows their “tours and detours” as they recorded and released their critically acclaimed first album, O’ Be Joyful.

This fall, the pair has released a new album, Swimmin’ Time, and they are currently on a nationwide tour.

Now that Hearst is out there on the road, there is just no holding her back.

RELATED: Watch Cary Ann Hearst of Shovels & Rope perform at a concert celebrating the College’s Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art.