caption current_members website years_active label article_title background instrument genre origin name
duo nashville grey skies profile photo used to illustrate the single titled ben earle crissie rhodes -lsb- http://www.theshiresmusic.com/ official site -rsb- 2013-present decca records universal music group nashville the shires -lrb- country duo -rrb-
 group_or_band singing , acoustic guitar , piano country hertfordshire , england bedfordshire , england the shires
the shires -lrb- country duo -rrb-

the shires , who formed in 2013 , are an english country pop duo composed of singer-songwriters ben earle and crissie rhodes .
they hail from the neighbouring counties of hertfordshire and bedfordshire .
ben sings vocals and plays guitar and shefford , bedfordshire native crissie rhodes shares lead vocals .
the duo fittingly took the band name in order to maintain a british identity and take a small part of the england back to the united states .
`` shire '' is the original term for what is usually now known as an english county .
after playing hardly half a dozen shows together the shires caught the attention of decca records who signed them in the uk and they secured a contract with american record label universal music group nashville thus becoming the first ever english country act to be signed to a major nashville label .
