Jump to content

The Shires (duo): Difference between revisions

Edit links
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Browse history interactively
← Previous editNext edit →
Content deleted Content added
VisualWikitext
Line 56: Line 56:


==Live Radio Appearances==
==Live Radio Appearances==
They made their national radio debut on May 1, 2014 with a recorded live session with [[Bob Harris (radio)|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.<ref name="Bob Harris Session" />
They made their national radio debut on May 1, 2014 with a recorded live session with [[Bob Harris (radio)|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.<ref name="Bob Harris Session"

On June 14th 2014 The Shires performed on Liverpool's Waterfront for Smooth Radio. The afternoon event attracted in excess of 30,000 visitors - one of the highlights being their cover of 'Young Hearts Run Free'.


==Quotes==
==Quotes==

Revision as of 11:39, 25 July 2014

The Shires
OriginHertfordshire, United Kingdom
Bedfordshire, United Kingdom
GenresCountry
Years active2013-present
LabelsDecca Records
Universal Music Group Nashville
MembersBen Earle
Crissie Rhodes The Shires discography at MusicBrainz
WebsiteOfficial Site

The Shires, who formed in 2013, are a UK country pop duo composed of singer-songwriters Ben Earle and Crissie Rhodes. They hail from Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire. Ben sings vocals and plays guitar and Bedford native Crissie Rhodes shares lead vocals. The duo fittingly took the band name in order to maintain an English identity and take a small part of England back to America. "Shire" is the original term for what is usually known now as a English county. After playing hardly half a dozen shows together The Shires caught the attention of Decca Records who signed them in the UK and they secured a contract with American based record label Universal Music Group Nashville thus becoming the first ever UK country act to be signed to a major Nashville label. [1][2][3]

Music career

Crissie Rhodes has performed at weddings, pubs and clubs performing songs by Dolly Parton amongst others. 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. He had a record deal but got dropped. 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.[3]

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.[1][2]

They were invited to the C2C: Country to Country 2014 Festival and performed at The Town Square Pop Stage on Sunday March 16, 2014 outside the London O2 Arena.[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 English country roots to their American counterparts.[5]

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.[2][6] On April 21, 2014 they travelled to Sweden and then headed to Nashville to begin preparations and record their debut album.

2014: Nashville Grey Skies

Their first single "Nashville Grey Skies" was released on April 4, 2014 and received its first airplay on the Bob Harris BBC Radio 2 Country show on April 3, 2014. It was added to the BBC Radio 2 "B" Playlist for the week commencing Saturday May 3, 2014 and climbed to the "A" playlist the following week. [7][8] [9]

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.[10] 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"

Discography

Singles

Year Single Album
2014 "Nashville Grey Skies" TBA

Live Radio Appearances

They made their national radio debut on May 1, 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.Cite error: The <ref> tag has too many names (see the help page).

  • "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 May 3, 2014 [11]
  • "Our boss here loves this, it's The Shires, Nashville Grey Skies on Radio 2" - Steve Wright BBC Radio 2 broadcast May 8, 2014 [12]
  • "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 May 10, 2014 [13]
  • "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 May 3, 2014 [14]

References

  1. ^ a b The Sunday Times: That British twang, Country is being reborn in Bedford, not Nashville Retrieved on 2014-05-12, published by Paul Sexton May 4, 2014
  2. ^ a b c Sounds Like Nashville Artist Profile Page Retrieved on 2014-05-12
  3. ^ a b Bob Harris BBC Radio 2 Live Session Retrieved on 2014-05-12
  4. ^ C2C: Country to Country 2014 Festival Profile Page Retrieved on 2014-05-12, published March 2014
  5. ^ Nashville UK presented by Paul Sexton; first broadcast: Thursday 20 March 2014 Retrieved on 2014-05-12
  6. ^ Play Productions Homepage Retrieved on 2014-05-12
  7. ^ BBC Radio 2 Playlist Retrieved on 2014-05-12, published May 9, 2014
  8. ^ The Shires Twitter Comment Retrieved on 2014-05-12, published 30 April 30, 2014
  9. ^ BBC Radio 2 Artist Profile Page Retrieved on 2014-05-12
  10. ^ Allmusic Artist Credits Retrieved on 2014-05-12
  11. ^ BBC Radio 2 playlist Retrieved 2014-05-12, published May 3, 2014
  12. ^ BBC Radio 2 playlist Retrieved 2014-05-12, published May 8, 2014
  13. ^ BBC Radio 2 playlist/ Retrieved 2014-05-12, published May 10, 2014
  14. ^ BBC Radio Playlist Retrieved 2014-05-12, published May 5, 2014

The Shires at AllMusic

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/enwiki/w/index.php?title=The_Shires_(duo)&oldid=618405023"