It's quite comical that some people (who haven't met me) think that because I write a music blog I must be some sort of hip trendy dude. Far from it. The reality is that, myself and most music bloggers I’ve met are far from cool. Put a couple of us in a room together and we’ll sit and happily have a geek-off for hours obsessing about nothing but music. Why on earth would we spend money on trendy clothes and haircuts and hanging out at cool clubs and bars when we could spend it on enlarging our record collections? However, being a music nerd and particularly one who loves new music does mean that from time to time I end up writing about artists that are considered trendy (note: trendiness never lasts, it’s transient, and generally relies on another factor – youth) but I’ve never written about those artists because of that. It’s always been because I like what they've created. So today I’m featuring the new single from UK duo The Shires – a band who I’m sure are in no way considered trendy. They’re probably considered the opposite of that and I'm positive they really couldn’t care. After all, in the UK country music has never really been perceived as cool. Yet if trendiness is linked to youth you might be surprised to know that according to a recent CMA study 47% of 18-24 year olds now identify themselves as country music fans. And irrespective of how you perceive The Shires and their music, they’ve been doing rather nicely in terms of finding an audience as I predicted when I named them as Ones to Watch back in 2014. Since that time The Shires have become the biggest-selling country act in the UK last year (including US artists), and one of the biggest-selling breakthrough UK artists of any genre alongside James Bay, Years & Years & Jess Glynn. And unlike those three acts I’ve just named The Shires haven’t continued to flog the hell out their debut record until people are sick of it. They’ve already got another album in the bag (it’s out in October) and kick it off with this song Beats To Your Rhythm. Whilst the title of the song might sound like The Shires have discovered a new previously hidden dance direction, fear not. For this new tune does exactly what you want from The Shires, namely country music is a reference point, but it also has a big old fashioned pop heart. Maybe The Shires aren’t the sort of band you’d expect to find on a hip trendy new music blog. But then Breaking More Waves has never been about being hip or trendy - you should be able to tell that just from landing here and seeing that I still post via an old-school blogspot template. Take a listen to Beats To Your Rhythm - a rousing, glad to be alive hook laden tune that I imagine will be all over BBC Radio 2 this summer. It was released to streaming services today. The Shires - Beats To Your Rhythm
Country music often gets a fair amount of bad press. Often this is deservedly so, the ‘bro country’ movement and its associated misogyny cannot be ignored, but like any genre of music there are good and bad performers and songwriters. It’s why last November Breaking More Waves named UK based duo The Shires as one of its Ones To Watch for 2015. The main reason was very simple – good songs, but also it seems that there is a bigger degree of acceptance of country music in the UK than ever before right now. Dolly Parton at Glastonbury seemed to push the boat along a bit and Taylor Swift’s current all-conquering-can-do-no-wrong stream of popularity (albeit partly because of her newer pop sound rather than her country roots) has generated even more interest. It seems the perfect time for new talent from the country scene to come forward and The Shires, with their addictive tunes, seem perfectly poised. The band has recently released a new video for their song Friday Night, a rousing and infectious country pop ode to having a few drinks after the 9 to 5 drudgery of the week. Shot in LA it features actor Mark Boone Junior from Sons of Anarchy, as well as a group of US championship skateboarders. Uplifting and joyous sounding it will make you look forward to next weekend already. The Shires are out on tour in the UK this Spring (dates on their website here) to promote their forthcoming debut album Brave, including a show in Breaking More Waves home city of Portsmouth as well as London's Union Chapel. If you’re going to the Portsmouth date, we’ll see you down the front for that one. The Shires - Friday Night (Video)
Most of the acts listed on Breaking More Waves Ones to Watch list have already featured on the site at some point over the last year or so, many of them a number of times, the list effectively being a summary of some of the best acts we’ve featured who we think are going to go on to a prosperous 2015 either creatively, commercially or both. A large number of the acts featured were originally introduced under our New Waves feature. However today’s pick is the exception to the rule. With a debut single titled Nashville Grey Skies it probably doesn’t take much brain power to deduce that The Shires play country music. However, the spelling of grey should also give a big clue to the nationality of this duo. They don’t come from Tenessee or Texas but from Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire in the UK, hence the name. The Shires music is rooted in the traditional sounds of country, but they give it their own UK twist as they sing of gin and tonic and village greens. With a groundswell of popularity for country music over the last few years in the UK with acts like First Aid Kit and Caitlin Rose finding sizeable audiences and with Taylor Swift becoming one of the most talked about stars worldwide (albeit now with a move to pop) The Shires could be next in line. This is a band with an ability to connect to trad-country fans with those simple old fashioned virtues of strong songs and an ability to play live. They have a chance of not only finding a loving in audience in their homeland, but in the same way that the UK took black r’n’b and rock n roll music from America in the 50’s and sold it back to the States with its own UK twist, The Shires could do so with country in 2015. The Shires are Ben Earle and Crissie Rhodes and signed to Decca Records early in 2014. They have so far released 2 singles and The Green Note EP, which got to number 1 in the iTunes Country charts. The EP includes a cover of Reef’s Place Your Hands that transforms that beast of a song into a thing of pristine beauty. They won’t be lighting up the blogosphere, getting approval from Zane Lowe, and the so called tastemakers will probably sneer at their ‘uncoolness’, but for those who like country music, aren’t concerned with trends or fashion and just like good songs (Nashville Grey Skies is a real earworm - you've been warned) whatever the genre, keep an ear out for The Shires. The Shires - Nashville Grey Skies (Video)
