My Universe - The Shires
For our LCM #TrackOfTheDay we feature the very catchy latest single and album title track 'My Universe' from Ben and Crissie of The Shires. They are releasing their second album 'My Universe' on the 30th September and we have it on good authority, that is it very good indeed. The single is released in support of the #ItCanWait campaign which tries to stop the very dangerous practice of people using their hand held mobile phones while driving.
UK Country Duo The Shires, formed in Mid-2013 after meeting on facebook. Formed by Ben Earle who had previously been signed to Island Records as a solo art, and Crissie Rhodes a country lover who until 2013 had spent her career singing in clubs and pubs throughout the UK.
When they came together the magic started! Union started working with them a couple of months after they formed, already with an impressive backlog of Earl penned songs. Signed to Decca in the UK Feb 2014, Universal have re-launched their Decca Nashville label and The Shires are the first act of this new era for the label. Their debut single ‘Nashville Grey Skies’ released May 2014 was immediately A listed by Radio 2. This was followed by 2 sold out tours in 2014. They recorded their debut album in Nashville in May 2014.
The album ‘Brave’ was released in the UK in March 2015, they made UK chart history, by becoming the first ever UK country act to chart Top 10. 2015 saw a fourth sold out tour of the UK headlining The Shepherds Bush Empire. Check out the bands website for tour dates and heavy festival touring activity of the Summer of 2016.
They made history becoming the first ever UK act to play the legendary Grand Ole Orpy in Nashville.
Their debut album ‘Brave’ went Gold in the UK in December 2015, making them one of only 4 UK debut acts to break gold that year. Radio 2 the UK’s most listened to Radio station have A listed 5 singles for the album. TV performances have included; BBC Breakfast News, Graham Norton (that put the album back in the UK, Australian and New Zealand itunes charts), BBC Awards.
They toured in January 2016 with Irish band The Corrs and are heading off to Germany and Europe for their own shows.