The Shires chat to Baylen Leonard about their new album, 10 Year Plan

"It's been a long night, a long time", Ben Earle and Crissie Rhodes of The Shires sing in their new song, "I See Stars". And it sure has been a long time since the British duo and Absolute Radio Country's Baylen Leonard have been in the same room.

Ben recalls how odd it was not to be out on the road with Crissie back in 2020. "It was really weird because we spent so much time together over the last nine years, then we had about five months at the start of the pandemic where we didn’t see each other at all. Singing by myself in the shower was weird."

"Let’s clarify that I don't sing with you in the shower." Crissie joked.

So if they weren't singing together, what did they get up to? Well, it wasn't making sourdough like the rest of us.

"I took time off, it was lovely." Crissie told Absolute Radio Country. "We were so busy leading up to the pandemic we never took a break, we were constantly working so all of a sudden, I didn’t have to pack my suitcase, I didn’t have to be out on the road. I enjoyed hanging out at home, doing some renovations."

Ben, on the other hand, went for the I-need-to-stay-busy option.

"I locked myself away in the garden shed, I have a little studio in there and I just started writing, I thought I’m going to use this time as productively as I can. I knew the label would be like, we need an album now. With no time frame in mind, just write. It was a nice escape from looking after the kids sometimes!"

The Shires' fifth studio album, 10 Year Plan, is finally here and it's worth the wait. "I See Stars" was written by Ben and frequent collaborator Jeff Cohen, (Daddy’s Little Girl) (A Thousand Hallelujahs) (Echo), during the pandemic.

So what was the inspiration? "I was writing with Jeff on Zoom, in my shed and from there you can see all the stars," Ben explained.

"It’s near a flight path there’s no lights allowed, it was holding onto hope that these days will be over, as long as you’ve got one thing to hold onto, one star in that sky, dreaming of this time now where I’m sat here with this record, for a long time it felt like we were going to be stuck at home forever."

Fresh off of hosting the Spotlight stage at C2C: Country To Country Music Festival at the O2 Arena in London and winning a Country Music Association Award, it's safe to say The Shires are back and better than ever.

Crissie and Ben performed a 10-minute acoustic set for Absolute Radio Country. Check it out below!

Read next: The most awarded country music stars of all time.

• The Shires
• Country Music
• ben earle
• crissie rhodes