The Shires Shine at C2C
UK’s most successful Country act
- 2 GOLD ALBUMS IN 12 MONTHS –
Hit second album ‘My Universe’ certified Gold alongside debut ‘Brave’
“The duets between The Shires’ Ben Earle and Crissie Rhodes were an upbeat treat, particularly on party tune Friday Night"
Evening Standard on C2C 2017
“Two genius singer-songwriters” - Metro
“A fantastic second album” - Sunday Express
“Their place
in the vanguard of homegrown country is assured” - Daily Mail
UK Country superstar duo, The Shires, announced they have become the first ever UK
Country artist to win a CMA award **. Winning the prestigious CMA Jeff Walker Global Artist Award, which
recognizes outstanding achievements by a Country Music artist originally signed
outside of the United States. The Shires were very happy to receive a surprise
presentation of the award during the CMA Songwriters series show featuring
artists including Maren Morris and Drake White.
** Note ** Olivia Newton John was British born, born in Cambridgeshire, UK on
Sept 26, 1948 who at aged 6 then emigrated to Melbourne, Australia with her
family. She was voted Best British
Female Vocalist two years in a row by the magazine Record Mirror. Newton-John's
country success sparked a debate among purists, who took issue with a foreigner
singing country-flavoured pop music being equated with native Nashville
artists. Olivia was also named the
Country Music Association Female Vocalist of the Year in 1974, defeating
more established Nashville-based nominees Loretta Lynn, Dolly Parton and Tanya
Tucker, as well as Canadian artist Anne Murray.
BLOG Post: The Shires hit America! Big Machine Label
Group President/Ceo Scott Borchetta signs The Shires
Check out a video of The Shires receiving the award
here:
Country Music duo @TheShiresUK were surprised with their first CMA 🏆 at the #CMAsongwriters Series show in London! pic.twitter.com/L7G3IMrRAw— CMA Country Music (@CountryMusic) 10 March 2017
Commenting on this incredible achievement The Shires
stated: “We are completely thrilled to win the CMA Jeff Walker Global Artist Award. To win a CMA Award this early
in our career and to be the first band from the UK to be acknowledged by the
CMAs in this way is huge for us – thank you to everyone who voted for us and
thank you to our fans who support our music and the UK country movement.”
Last week The Shires were presented with their
second GOLD disc in just 12 months
as they officially announced their hit album ‘My Universe’ had sold more than 100K
copies in the UK. This unprecedented achievement further cements the band’s
position as the UK’s most successful Country act. The Shires are the fastest
selling UK country act ever – going Gold with two albums within a year of
release as well as reaching this level of sales with ‘My Universe’ a mere 20
weeks after its release. The new album has not left the Top 60 since release in
October last year, and has been back up in the Top 20 numerous times.
The Shires also recently announced the release of
their next single ‘Drive’. The country-rock tinged single, with its delayed
guitars and stadium sized drums is the latest single from the UK Country superstars
who landed three consecutive A-list on BBC Radio 2 for previous singles
releases including; ‘Beats To Your Rhythm‘, ‘My Universe‘ and 'A Thousand
Hallelujahs’. Co-written with USA Country music star Kip Moore, the song has
potential to break across the pound as well as the UK. Discussing the tracks
potential Decca’s Managing Director, Rebecca Allen stated: “Drive is one of
those tracks that has potential to break not just the UK, but it will no doubt
resonate with USA Country Radio too. Kip and the band have written a modern
country pop classic and I’m sure when the time is right the USA label Big Machine, will launch it
into the stratosphere.”
On Oct 28, 2016 The Shires made music history by
signing a ground-breaking record deal with the Nashville-based Big Machine Label Group under the
historic Dot Records imprint.
Breaking News: On March 13, 2017, Big Machine
Records announced a restructuring of its
promotion staff. Former Dot Records artists Tucker Beathard and
Carly Pearce are now Big Machine Records artists, whilst former Dot artist
Drake White moves to BMLG Records. Dot Records, a joint venture between Big Machine
Label Group (BMLG) and Republic Records, will now not continue.
The future label home status is not known for DOT
artists Maddie & Tae, Aaron Lewis, or Steven Tyler or The Shires.
Maddie & Tae were the first signees announced
to the reactivated imprint in June 2014. BMLG also went through a recent label
makeover when Republic Nashville became the BMLG imprint.
— Country2Country (@C2Cfestival) 12 March 2017
(Update March 18) The Shires premiered their hotly anticipated
BBC documentary The Shires: New Country
on BBC Four (Fri March 17, 2017 at 10.30pm)
which followed their rise, the first British country group to have a Top 10
album in the UK pop charts, and how they have spearheaded today's interest in
country music. The programme followed Crissie
Rhodes and Ben Earle as they
launched their second album, MY UNIVERSE, in the UK, as well as on a working
trip to Nashville where they were signed by the leading country label in town,
Big Machine. The duo play The Bluebird
Cafe (pictured below with The Shires co-writer award winning Canadian songwriter Victoria Banks), the intimate club where the performances from the TV series Nashville
are filmed, and meet with Scott Borchetta, who discovered Taylor Swift and
signed the band to Big Machine records.
Ben and Crissie of The Shires said: “We’re so excited to be
part of this documentary which explores the rise of country music in the UK -
it’s a truly fascinating story.”
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