The Shires (duo)

The Shires are a British country duo composed of singer-songwriters Ben Earle and Crissie Rhodes. Earle sings vocals, plays piano and guitar, and Rhodes shares lead vocals. The duo formed in 2013 and released their debut album Brave in 2015, becoming the first UK country act to chart in the Top 10 of the UK Albums Chart.^[1] The group's second album, My Universe, became the fastest-selling UK country album in history when it was released in October 2016.^[2]

They hail from the neighbouring counties of Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire in England. "Shire" is the original term for what is usually known as a county in the United Kingdom. The duo fittingly took the band name in order to maintain a British identity and take a small part of Britain to the United States. After playing hardly half a dozen shows together, The Shires caught the attention of Decca Records, who signed them in the United Kingdom, and they secured a contract with American record label Universal Music Group Nashville, thus becoming the first ever English country act to be signed to a major Nashville label.^[3][4][5] They were also the first ever UK country act to have a top ten album.

Career

2012–13: Early beginnings

Crissie Rhodes has performed at weddings, pubs and clubs performing songs by Dolly Parton amongst others. After joining X Factor and tipped as a winner but failed to qualify out of the early rounds. Her country music influences include Alison Krauss, Martina McBride and Faith Hill. Ben Earle was previously a solo artist and had supported KT Tunstall on tour. Also a failed X Factor contestant and as a struggling songwriter, who had been writing for 10 years, he had tried to get cuts for other artists. He discovered country music in 2012 via Lady Antebellum the American Grammy Award winning group. He cites the Kacey Musgraves album Same Trailer Different Park as a major career inspiration.^[5] Earle and Rhodes met after Ben, with an aim to become part of a duo, posted a "There must be a country singer somewhere" message on the social media website Facebook, seeking a partner, to which Rhodes responded.^[3][4] As part of BBC Radio 2's coverage of the festival The Shires were included as a segment in a documentary titled "Nashville UK" which assessed country music’s standing in the U.K and as one of its promising artists their determination to export their British country roots to their American counterparts.^[6] The Shires have composed songs with hit Nashville songwriter Steve Mcewan (Keith Urban, Tim McGraw, Carrie Underwood) and Play Productions an accomplished Swedish writing and production company, who comprise Tim Larsson, Johan Fransson and Tobias Lundgren, who have worked with Rascal Flatts and Celine Dion.^[4][7]

2014–15: Brave

They were invited to the C2C: Country to Country 2014 Festival and performed at The Town Square Pop Stage on 16 March 2014 outside the London O2 Arena.^[8] Their first single "Nashville Grey Skies" was released on 4 April 2014 and received its first airplay on the Bob Harris BBC Radio 2 Country show on 3 April 2014. It was added to the BBC Radio 2 "B" Playlist for the week commencing 3 May 2014 and climbed to the "A" playlist the following week.^[9][10][11] The song was written by Ben before visiting Music City which is a song about hope with a pipe dream of building, and the UK having, a country music capital of its very own.^[12] It takes the musicality influences from America whilst maintaining a Britishness with the song writing. It contains facetious lines such as "Well they say it's way too cold for cut-off jeans and they won't be drinking moonshine and G & T's" and "We can build our own Nashville under these grey skies".

On 21 April 2014 they travelled to Sweden and then headed to Nashville to begin preparations and record their debut album. The duo toured the UK with Ward Thomas^[13] and Little Big Town,^[14] prior to their own headlining tour in 2015.^[15] In March 2015 the duo returned to play C2C and also released their debut studio album Brave on the 2 March 2015.^[16] The album peaked at number 10 on the UK Albums Chart, making The Shires the first UK country act to have an album in the top 10. In March 2016, as the most successful country music act the UK has ever had, they were invited to C2C as "ambassadors", introducing the acts on the pop-up stages throughout the weekend in London, playing their own sets and appearing in the arena to introduce acts performing on the Yamaha Music Stage. The Shires opened for The Corrs on their comeback tour in 2016 including shows at Birmingham's Genting Arena, Cardiff's Motorpoint Arena, Liverpool's Echo Arena, The O2 Arena London, Manchester Arena, Glasgow's SSE Hydro, Dublin's 3Arena and the SSE Arena Belfast between 19 and 29 January.^[17]

2016–present: My Universe

In July 2016, The Shires announced their second studio album My Universe would be released on the 30 September 2016.^[18] They released "Beats to Your Rhythm" on 29 July as the first single from the album. The second single from the album was My Universe and was released on 16 September 2016. Online music news site, Get To The Front, reviewed the album and stated that "musically, lyrically and vocally there is little else you could ask for in a country album." ^[19] My Universe debuted at number 3 on the UK Albums Chart and became the fastest selling UK country album of all time.

In October 2016, The Shires secured a recording contract with American label Big Machine Label Group and its imprint Dot Records. The Shires said in a statement: "We are absolutely thrilled to sign with Dot Records in the USA. The UK is our home and we are proud of our success so far, thanks to Decca Records, but it’s always been a massive goal for us to build our presence and make a name for ourselves in the USA."^[20]

Discography

Studio albums

Extended plays

Singles

Awards and nominations

Live radio appearances

They made their national radio debut on 1 May 2014 with a recorded live session with Bob Harris OBE on BBC Radio 2. They performed 2 songs "Brave" and "Only Midnight". They told Bob about their history, their experiences of Nashville and why country superstar Brad Paisley has offered to play on their album.^[25]

• "Now we heard Bob Harris not so long ago, one of his favourite new outfits is this one, me too, they're The Shires...like them a lot" - Richard Allison BBC Radio 2 broadcast 3 May 2014^[26]
• "Our boss here loves this, it's The Shires, Nashville Grey Skies on Radio 2" - Steve Wright BBC Radio 2 broadcast 8 May 2014^[27]
• "This is awesome, this is The Shires..they sound fantastic, the new song is called Nashville Grey Skies, love it" - Richard Allinson BBC Radio 2 broadcast 10 May 2014^[28]
• "They're great, the talent and quality of the record is fabulous, contemporary music at its best, very polished" - Marie Crichton BBC Radio Shropshire broadcast 3 May 2014^[29]
• "Brave is one of the most enjoyable albums of the year, and so unique in the UK charts today" - Matthew Wiggins On Air with Chris and Matt Looprevilradio broadcast 10 November 2014^[30]

References

External links

• Official Website

The Shires at AllMusic