Country music’s been thrown so wide open
The Shires, Ben Earle and Crissie Rhodes, reflect on their journey from X Factor also-rans to one of UK country music’s biggest acts.
EARLY in their friendship, Ben Earle and Crissie Rhodes sat on a train coming back from London and made a list of things they wanted to achieve together.
One was to get their music to BBC broadcaster and country music tastemaker Bob Harris. Another was to get 500 Facebook followers.
A decade later, The Shires have achieved both targets and more – scoring four top 10 albums at home and becoming the first English country act to be signed to a major Nashville label.
Their new album, 10 Year Plan, is a nod to this journey.
“The title of the album is ironic in a sense,” says Ben from his home studio. “It’s looking back at every point along the journey – all the milestones.
“A lot of it was quite fateful, like the fact Crissie and I met on Facebook. All these things seemed to happen by themselves. It’s been an amazing thing.”
“It’s a reflection of the years that we have been together,” adds Crissie.
“When we started out, we were young and sang about naive love, whereas these songs are a bit more mature.”
Ten years ago things were different. Crissie and Ben, who hail from the neighbouring counties of Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire, had seen their respective careers stall. Both had tried their luck on The X Factor but left empty handed.
Their eventual meeting was pure chance. Ben posted on Facebook, “There must be a country singer somewhere” and a friend tagged Crissie. The next day she was sitting in his living room.
Cut to 2020 and The Shires were preparing to perform at C2C, Europe’s biggest country music festival which would have made them the first UK act to perform on the arena mainstage.
But it was cancelled by the onset of the pandemic and soon they were back home and locked down.
Music became an escape for Ben. During the day, he looked after his two young children while his wife, a teacher, worked.
In the evenings he would slink off to his home studio to write songs.
“I fell in love with music again,” he reflects. “It wasn’t a job. It was a real escape for me. It really was like another world from all the uncertainty of the pandemic.”
The result was 10 Year Plan, a reflection on their time together and how, alongside acts such as twin sister duo Ward Thomas and The Staves, The Shires helped start a UK country music movement.
“When we started out there wasn’t so much of a scene,” recalls Crissie. “There were country and western fans who loved the old school and line dancing and that kind of thing.
“But it wasn’t there for everybody to enjoy, and people thought you had to be a set way to enjoy the genre. That has been completely thrown out of the window now and everybody from all walks of life is enjoying this genre, just for the love of it.
“There are so many more fans coming through, so many more artists that are writing and recording music here in the UK that’s country.”
A decade down the line, The Shires are still regularly asked: ‘What is country music when it is divorced from America?’
“For us, it’s always been about being true to ourselves,” offers Crissie. “It’s about being honest in the songs and talking about what we know, as opposed to singing about American things – we can appreciate those songs but don’t necessarily relate to them.
“Country music has been thrown so wide open now. There are so many influences and artists like Taylor Swift that are crossing over into pop – it’s broadening the genre for more people to be able to hear it and to access it.”
Still, country music faces obstacles in the UK before it can become mainstream.
“Our biggest struggle mainly is – it’s easier now than when we started nearly 10 years ago – convincing people to give us a shot and just listen to it,” admits Ben.
“People would always say country and western, they would say Dolly (Parton).”
He notes how they have never been recognised by the Brit Awards despite their commercial success.
“We’re not cool enough for the Mercury Prize and not commercial enough for the Brits so we are in this void,” he reflects. “We tell people that we sold out the Royal Albert Hall and they say, ‘What, you? Who are you?”’
After a decade together, commercial success and awards from the likes of the American Country Music Association, surely they don’t still worry about it all disappearing overnight?
“It never gets any easier,” says Ben. “I remember saying to my manager on the first record, ‘Chris Martin, he doesn’t worry about this kind of stuff, does he?’ And he says ‘No, your battles just change’.”
Still, The Shires have their eye on the prize. They want to sell British country music back to the Americans.
“Nashville and country is a lot more welcoming now,” says Ben.
“It’s always been very welcoming and very kind. But in terms of really breaking through, because of the streaming platforms, country does feel a lot more international now. And that is genuinely exciting.
“We would love to be the first UK act to really get onto country radio and onto those big playlists.”
After a pause, he adds: “But it’s going to happen. I bet money that in the next five years it is 100% going to happen for someone.”
■ 10 Year Plan by The Shires is out now