‘It’s incredible to see how much UK country music has grown over the years’
The Shires reflect on their journey from X Factor 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 Earle from his home studio. “It’s looking back at every point along the journey — all the milestones we have had.
“On paper, it looks like an incredible 10-year plan. But actually, it’s amazing to look back and think how it all happened.
“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 Rhodes, joining the call after a work-out.
“When we first started out, we were young and we sang about naive love, whereas these songs are a little bit more mature. We have been in love for a little bit longer and you can definitely sense that from the songs on the album.”
Ten years ago things were different. Rhodes and Earle, 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 the competition empty handed.
Their eventual meeting was pure chance. Earle posted on Facebook, “There must be a country singer somewhere” and a friend tagged Rhodes. The next day she was sat in his living room.
Cut to 2020 and The Shires were preparing to perform at C2C, Europe’s biggest country music festival, after being drafted in to replace Old Dominion — making them the first UK act to perform on the arena mainstage.
But it was not to be, and the onset of the pandemic prompted organisers to shut down. Soon they were back home and locked down.
Music became an escape for Earle. During the day, he looked after his two young children while his wife, a teacher, worked.
Then during the evenings he would slink off to his home studio (from where he Zooms in today) to write songs.
“I fell in love with music again,” he reflects. “It wasn’t a job. Normally it’s like, ‘We need a song that does this’ or ‘We are going to Nashville to write’ or ‘We are doing this TV thing’ but I was just in here writing.
“It was a real escape for me. It really was like another world from all the uncertainty of the pandemic. It was like, ‘I know songs — I know how they work’.
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 first started out there wasn’t so much of a scene,” recalls Rhodes. “There were country and western fans who loved the old school and the line dancing and that kind of thing.
“But it wasn’t there for the masses, 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.
“It’s definitely changed and to see so many online platforms, radio stations — there’s so many more fans coming through, so many more artists that are writing and recording music here in the UK that’s country.
“It’s been incredible to see how much the genre has grown over the years.”
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 Rhodes.
“It’s about being honest in the songs and talking about what we know, as opposed to singing about American things that we don’t necessarily relate to. We can appreciate those songs but we don’t necessarily relate to them.
“Country music has been thrown so wide open now. There’s so many different 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 first started nearly 10 years ago — convincing people to give us a shot and just listen to it,” admits Earle.
“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 we’re 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’re like, ‘What, you? Who are you?’”
One track on the album, Plot Twist, offers an insight into this underdog mentality.
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,” deadpans Earle. “I remember saying to my manager on the first record like, ‘Chris Martin, he doesn’t worry about this kind of stuff, does he?’ And he’s like, ‘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 Earle.
“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 per cent going to happen for someone.”