The Shires and Lady Nade join Rissi Palmer on Color Me Country to celebrate the best new country music from the UK. Each week on Color Me Country, Rissi Palmer brings to the forefront the Black, Indigenous, and Latinx histories of country music that for too long have lived outside the spotlight and off mainstream airwaves. Listen to the full show live for free at midnight this Sunday 18th July on Apple Music Country or on-demand anytime with an Apple Music subscription here.
Ben Earle Of The Shires Tells Apple Music Why Discovering Country Music Felt Like ‘Coming Home’…
I had a solo record deal when I was seventeen with Universal, and then I got dropped when I was twenty. I was kind of in the wilderness for a while, trying to find my sound. I had lots of different lives, musically. I went very pop. I did a thing that was quite kind of R&B, hip-hoppy kind of thing, a collective thing. Then I discovered country just before I met Crissie. It genuinely changed my life. It was everything I wanted from music. I’ve said before, it was like coming home almost. I was trying to find musically who I was and where I wanted to be for so long and then when I really got into country, I was like, “Well, this is it.” I’ve never felt anything like that before where you just know this is what you want to do.
The Shires Tell Apple Music Why Their Partnership Works So Well…
Crissie: I feel like this is why it works between the two of us, because I come from very much a performance background, vocals being my main sort of focus and then visual things. I love putting staging together. I like putting artwork together. And then Ben, I mean, he’s the songwriter, he’s the one that hears the whole song going off in his head when there’s only a guitar picking away. He’s like, “Yeah. Yeah, it sounds like this. And then it goes like this and I’m hearing this.” And I’m like, “Okay.” He hears the whole lot, it’s fantastic.
Ben Earle: Totally. I mean that’s what Crissie says is why it works so well because we kind of bring each other up on those both sides. And I’ve learned so much from Crissie about performing and how important it is because a lot of people say, “If it’s a great song, it’s a great song.” And that’s kind of true, but great songs need great singers and they need great performances. And I definitely didn’t know that on those first tours, I thought you just got up, played your song and that was it.
Lady Nade Tells Apple Music How Music Has Helped Her Face Grief…
I’ve learned that validation is so important. And that through writing songs and having an audience and connecting with an audience and having people come on a journey with me, it not only helps me through my grief, because I don’t think grief is straightforward. For me, it’s just been a continuous journey. And it’s also the wellbeing of music and helping express for others what they can’t themselves. So I realised that this family member had left me with a gift, and now I continue to use that gift to help others who are experiencing what I’m experiencing. I’m trying to use my gift in positive ways, as much as possible.
Lady Nade Tells Apple Music About The Complex Issues Facing Talented Black Female Artists…
My phone started to ring off the hook and I’m like, “Why is my phone ringing off the hook? I haven’t done anything”. I just… I haven’t changed who I am. I’ve just been the same person writing songs. And suddenly it was like lots of people wanting to speak to me and it became this double-edged sword for a while, which was like, “Do you want to speak to me because you like my music or do you want to speak to me because I’m black and you’re trying to tick a criteria?” So, with that came a lot of difficult emotions, which was like, “Am I now just getting recognition because I’m aware that people want to champion black female artists?” And this is great that they’re seeing me as someone that they want to ring up and call. But, I don’t want to just be having interviews where I’m talking about what it’s like to be black. I want to have an interview talking about my music. And I want to normalise that, so I want to take on those interviews.
