UK country music duo The Shires put out their fourth studio album ‘Good Years’ on Friday 13th March 2020. Made up of members Ben Earle and Crissie Rhodes, The Shires are the best-selling UK country act of all time.
The album was released via BBR Music Group (also known as BMG) who the pair recently signed with, and the duo discussed their new album on BBC Breakfast when it came out. Produced by Lindsay Rimes, ‘Good Years’ was co-written by the duo along with some amazing co-writers.
We’ll be live on BBC Breakfast this morning from 8:40 chatting about our new album which is out TODAY!!!! pic.twitter.com/JjKtn5X6Aq
— The Shires (@theshiresuk) March 13, 2020
Lead single ‘Lightning Strikes’ came out at the beginning of 2020 and is one of the most popular songs from the album, with 500,000 Spotify plays. Other singles indluded ‘About Last Night’ and ‘Independence Day’, which Earle spoke about in an interview with Billboard. ‘About Last Night’ is a power ballad that is reminiscent of Lady Antebellum’s sound, with Earle telling Billboard “we’ve always wanted to get a ‘Need You Now’.”
Finally our new album Good Years is out for you to hear! It’s been such a journey and we’re so happy to have you along on this ride with us! The start of the Good Years era Let us know your favourite on the record! Listen here: https://t.co/mFE2Z8lrfi pic.twitter.com/Tyz7qiNvyM — The Shires (@theshiresuk) March 13, 2020
The duo released acoustic videos of both ‘About Last Night’ and ‘Independence Day’, as well as ‘On The Day I Die’ on their YouTube channel. ‘Independence Day’ was also the only song for which they filmed a music video – a simple live recording of the song along with some home videos, which currently has 62,000 views.
A UK tour is planned for 2020, set to run from April to June. However, the coronavirus could be a disruption as the threat is ongoing. One of their shows has already been cancelled – The Shires were supposed to perform at C2C festival on Saturday 14th March, but the entire evening was cancelled by the organisers. As of yet, there has been no news on whether the tour will go ahead or not.
The Shires formed in 2013 and, before long, signed a record deal with Decca and released their debut album ‘Brave’ in 2015. The album made them the first ever UK country act to chart in the Top 10. This was followed by multiple sold out tours and three more albums, including ‘Accidentally On Purpose’ which charted Top 3 in the UK Albums Chart and number 1 in the Country Chart. Throughout their career, the band have collaborated with many artists, touring with other country acts such as Little Big Town, Carrie Underwood and Shania Twain.
