PREVIEW:

The Shires, The Anvil, Basingstoke

THE BIGGEST selling UK country act of all time, trailblazing duo The Shires, will be hitting the road this summer with their highly anticipated new album, Accidentally on Purpose.

Five years since they were discovered playing a gig in a Bedfordshire pub, Ben Earle and Crissie Rhodes are now raising the bar with their third album.

Perhaps the best illustration of why The Shires have become huge players in music, and not just country, is how some of the world’s top writers want to work with them , and they don’t come much bigger than Ed Sheeran. The global superstar provided his song ‘Stay The Night’ after seeking out Ben and Crissie at his Nashville concert last October, where he also got to see the latter’s drinking ability first hand.

Ben said: “Crissie and I went along to an after-party Ed was hosting after his concert at the Bridgestone Arena but she wasn’t feeling great.

“He told us he was familiar with our music and we were like ‘whoa, that’s incredible’.

"A few hours later I was about to leave and I saw Ed and his mates playing a drinking game with a girl who was downing beer out of a keg while doing a handstand, everyone was cheering , it was pretty mental. Then I did a double take and it was Crissie!

“Afterwards we said it would be great if we could work together in the future and a few days later he sent us his track Stay The Night.”

Crissie added: “So basically my drinking ability got us an Ed Sheeran song!”

The albums title track is a song Crissie wrote about a holiday romance after a relationship which broke down over the past year. She said: “In the writing sessions I can’t exactly hide anything."

"We wrote Accidentally on Purpose on our last day in Nashville when I was deliberating whether to stay in town longer to spend time with a guy I’d met.

“Ben and I used all my thoughts in that situation and put them into the song , so you can see how Ben ends up knowing everything about my love life.”

The Shires are currently playing a 23-date UK tour, coming to The Anvil in Basingstoke on Sunday, June 10. For more information or for tickets visit, anvilarts.org.uk or call the Box Office on, 01256 844244.