The Shires Sign to BMG
Following the huge success with Decca Records under the Universal Label umbrella with their first three albums ‘Brave‘, ‘My Universe‘ and ‘Accidentally On Purpose‘, British country music superstars The Shires have formally announced that for their next musical chapter they will be releasing via the BMG record label.
Those three LP’s garnered massive critical acclaim across the board and also scored the duo consisting of Ben Earle and Crissie Rhodes three consecutive Top 10’s on the Official UK Album Chart, making them the biggest selling homegrown country act in British history.
Along with major chart success with Decca, The Shires also picked up countless awards from the British Country Music Association including Album Of The Year, Entertainer Of The Year and Duo Of The Year. Back in 2017 the Nashville-based Country Music Association also honored the pair with its Global Artist Award.
And now after massive success throughout the UK, The Shires will step up their pursuit of world domination thanks to their new joint label deal with the British label BMG and BMG’s US-based Broken Bow Records.
Speaking about the signing of The Shires, BMG President Repertoire and Marketing UK Alistair Norbury said, “The Shires have been a gamechanger for country music in the UK. We are incredibly excited that they have turned to BMG to help them take their career on to the next level.”
Key to BMG securing the deal, was a joint approach by the BMG UK team and their Nashville-based colleagues from Broken Bow, led by Jon Loba, BMG EVP Nashville.
Norbury said: “The dilemma for UK-based country artists is that traditional UK labels have zero leverage in Nashville. The terrific strength of BMG is working directly with my peer and colleague Jon Loba and get a total US buy-in to The Shires and for Crissie and Ben to meet the Nashville team prior to signing the deal. Building on what they have achieved in the UK is just part of the plan. What we can achieve internationally is the real opportunity”.
Nashville based Jon Loba said, “We are incredibly excited to be working with The Shires. Their distinctive British sensibility brings something genuinely new to country music.”
Their upcoming fourth studio album will be A&R’d by Jamie Nelson (Director of A&R UK) and follows his current run of Top 10 albums with Richard Hawley, Aled Jones & Russell Watson and Kylie Minogue.
Rhodes and Earle both spoke of their excitement, saying: “We are both so excited to be working with Alistair, Jamie and the BMG team. Their vision and excitement for our music, not just in the UK but also internationally is infectious! Broken Bow’s involvement, for us, is the ‘Nashville’ icing on the cake and we cannot wait to get started.”
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