By Catherine Bolado

I’M giggling down the phone discussing the joys of the Number 126 bus route with one of the UK’s top new stars thinking, ‘once again you’ve blown playing it cool.’

But being a Somerset girl, I’m delighted to find out that the very charming Ben Earle from UK country group The Shires is from my neck of the woods.

Wells to be precise. On the same 126 bus route. And all I can think to talk about is buses? Damn it!

The Cathedral School music graduate is delighted to be heading to Dorset to play Camp Bestival this summer.

The band are ridiculously busy touring the UK this summer and are heading to the Larmer Tree Festival this weekend near Salisbury before heading up to Yorkshire.

But they will be back in the county for Camp Bestival which runs from July 30 to August 2.

Ben chats away with a warmth and friendliness - apologising for chatting too quickly as he has had too much coffee. He laughs, jokes and clearly he is loving every second of the band’s success and is incredibly grateful for it.

Despite their busy schedule, you won’t hear them complaining, Ben said they were “very pleased” to be so busy and in demand.

He said: “We are really excited about Camp Bestival. I’m from near there, from Wells in Somerset.

“It’s really cool to play festivals in the South West – we are really excited about it.”

Having found out that he has never been to Dorset before, I do my best sales pitch, extolling the virtues of the beautiful Jurassic coastline and the Purbecks around Lulworth Castle, where the festival takes place.

Ben asks for my top tips for places to see while the band are in the area, so watch out for them at Durdle Door and Lulworth Cove.

The Shires, duo Chrissie Rhodes and Ben, are the first UK country act to enter the top ten with their debut album ‘Brave’ and have been tipped for the top, having gained huge support since forming in 2013, both through airplay on Radio 2 and through a growing legion of fans both in the UK and US.

They are signed to Decca Nashville, a record company that has previously been home to country legends Dolly Parton, Patsy Cline and Loretta Lynn.

A few years ago things were very different. Ben had been writing music for years but was working in a phone shop, while Chrissie had been singing country songs at weddings, pubs and clubs. Ben got into the genre after hearing the Lady Antebellum song ‘Need You Now.’

He said: “It was like an epiphany. I heard it and it changed everything musically.” He said he went on a journey finding out more about country music and finally felt like he had found a home for his songs.

The duo met through friends on Facebook after Ben put out a post asking for a country singer.

Both 25, he said he felt it was a bit of a “last roll of the dice” and they had a “crazy idea” of doing a country act. Not so crazy given their meteoric rise since their first single ‘Nashville Grey Skies’ was released in April 2014.

Album ‘Brave’ was released in February 2015 and the group heard during the week they were due to debut high in album charts. They found out they had reached Number 10 while playing onstage at the Country 2 Country Festival in London.

Ben said it was like if their story had been a Hollywood film, then that would have been the last scene, he said: “People were high-fiving us and we were given bottles of champagne – it was unreal.”

The group had a ten year plan to record the album, go to Nashville and record and write there, play festivals and stages around the world – a plan they have accomplished in just two years.

They were also asked to play the Grand Old Opry in Nashville, a weekly-country stage show that has played host to all the greats of the genre.

Ben said: “We were one of the first UK country acts to be asked to play. It was unreal. We have had loads of 'pinch me' moments. We feel so lucky.”

When I suggest that ‘Brave’ sounds more like a greatest hits album than a first album, Ben seems genuinely delighted.

Clearly here is a duo who have worked very hard for their success.

Playing live and especially at festivals is something they have really been enjoying, from the “incredible” experience of having the audience singing their songs back to them, to the fun atmosphere of the festival scene, they are clearly having a whale of a time.

They promise their Camp Bestival gig will be a lot of fun and possibly change people’s perceptions of country music.

Ben said: “People who think they know what country is will be shocked and surprised.

“A lot of people have perceptions – we say, come along. They will possibly be surprised about what modern country is like.”

He added: “It will be an emotional rollercoaster too.”

Ben said that as a songwriter you want to write something both personal and universal so it engages with the audience.

He said they had received a lot of messages on social media from fans telling them how much the songs meant to them.

He said: “Literally the most rewarding part of it is that people are connecting.”

With critical and fan acclaim, a packed festival season, followed by a UK tour this autumn, it looks like there will be a lot more ‘pinch me’ ‘unreal’ moments in store for the duo.