The Shires ready to release their debut album

With their hearts in the Home Counties and their heads in Nashville, The Shires combine the best of both musical worlds on their eagerly anticipated debut album Brave.
By Luke Gardener
Published 4th Apr 2015, 13:00 BST
The ShiresThe Shires
The Shires

Combining the classic pop-rock drive of Fleetwood Mac with the uplifting singalong anthems of The Lumineers, British duo Crissie Rhodes and Ben Earle are tipped for great things in 2015 by industry insiders.

The Shires have also become the first UK signing to the revived Decca Nashville label, and they will be coming home on Sunday, April 12 when they appear at The Stables, Wavendon.

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They’ll also be performing at Bedford Corn Exchange on Monday, April 27.

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The Shires formed after Ben, from Hertfordshire, appealed on Facebook for a female country singer to work with him.

Crissie, from Shefford, a friend of a friend, replied, came round the very next day and they discovered an instant chemistry.

“We can build our own Nashville underneath these grey skies,” they sing on Nashville Grey Skies, the infectious radio hit that introduced them last summer and hoisted a flag for home-grown country music.

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Brave shows the evidence of Ben’s ten years paying his dues as a solo singer-songwriter and Crissie’s experience on the live circuit.

Both are inspired by the old-school workmanship of country music’s professional songwriters – people they would later work with on their first trip to Nashville last summer.

The contagious new single Friday Night is sure to become an end-of-the-week anthem for all those ‘9 to 5’ers, and is perhaps the natural sequel to Dolly Parton’s classic, uniting all office workers.

Ticket details at www.gigsandtours.com and www.bedfordcornexchange.co.uk

Visit www.theshiresmusic.com