They have been blazing a trail across the UK and America with their unique style of country music but last week it was The Shires who were dazzled when they visited Walthamstow.

Ben Earle, 28, and Crissie Rhodes, 27, took a break from their tour and made a whistlestop visit to Europe’s largest stockist of neon signs, God’s Own Junkyard, to film their latest music video for single I Just Wanna Love You.

“We were really tired because we had a gig in Aberdeen the night before and got off stage at 11.30pm and had a flight down at 7am,” says Ben.

“We walked into this place and there were just lights everywhere. It’s a gem, you just wouldn’t know it’s there. It was unbelievable.

“Shooting videos can be a bit boring and repetitive whereas this, there was so much around you, it was constant ‘that’s cool, that’s cool’, so I think the video will look amazing.”

“Most of our videos have been done in America so it was good to come back home and do one here.”

It has been quite a year for the duo, named after the counties of Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire where they were living when they met. Their debut album Brave went top 10 in the UK charts, they have performed at legendary venue The Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, to 4,000 fans at Glastonbury, with Carrie Underwood at the Apple Music Festival in London and at the start of this month were guests on The Graham Norton Show.

“It’s the weirdest thing in the world after all those years of dreaming, “ Ben says of their success.

“Everyone keeps going on about how we are the first UK country act to do this, but it hasn’t really hit home. I know it sounds arrogant but it is really weird dealing with success. All those hard years all I wanted was to be successful and then when it comes it sort of makes you paranoid because you want to keep doing better and better. All I’m thinking about now is that the second album has to be good.”

Ben grew up in Chiswick, Windsor and Somerset and started playing piano aged seven and writing songs aged 12 but never felt like he had found his niche.

“I got very frustrated in my late teens because I wanted to write classically great songs but listening to the charts felt like they didn’t fit anywhere, so I almost gave up. But then I heard Lady Antebellum and it was like an epiphany.”

Moving to St Albans in Hertfordshire changed everything for him as not only did it inspire a whole raft of new country songs but it is also where he met Crissie after placing an appeal on Facebook. He was amazed to discover that she was just 20 minutes away in Bedford.

“I actually saw her profile on starnow.co.uk but scrolled straight passed her because she looked like trouble,” says Ben who was working in a phone shop at the time.

“She was all glammed up because of her wedding singing and I thought she would be high maintenance. But then I heard her singing a Martina McBride song on YouTube and I thought her voice was unreal, a diamond in the rough.”

The pair began writing and performing together and Ben says their voices meshed from the start and his songwriting background complemented Crissie’s performance experience.

“When men and women work together people always ask ‘are they sleeping together?’ But there doesn’t have to be a sexual element to a male and female relationship at all. You can get along and work well and see things from different angles.”

Their unique mix of American country vibes and very English lyrics saw them land a record contract with Decca Records after just a few months. They then signed with American record label Universal Music Group Nashville, becoming the first ever English country act to be signed to a major Nashville label.

Ben says people still assume they are American but their songs are very much inspired by their home with Made in England written in a shed in Hatfield and Nashville Grey Skies in St Albans.

“I don’t think I would be writing the songs I am without St Albans,” says Ben.

“American’s love the fact we are English is definitely our unique selling point when we go out there. They love it because we are not singing about the same things they are, like trucks and blue jeans, we are singing about G&Ts and cups of tea.”

They have also recently toured with another British great, Tom Jones, have just been announced as tour support for Irish band The Corrs as well as recording a track with Irish singer Ronan Keating.

“People might not think that is the coolest,” says Ben, “but he brought a lot of country songs over from the US and made them pop. When You Say Nothing At All is a Garth Brookes song and his version was great.”

Ben believes their popularity is partly due to television show Nashville and events such as Country to Country festival at The 02 making country music cool in the UK.

“I think people were just waiting for a UK country act that would put their own spin on it and not just copy what the American’s were doing, “ says Ben.

“A lot of people think country is about Stetsons and rhinestones but honesty and storytelling is what is about for us.

“Ed Sheeran and Sam Smith and the people at the top of the charts are all writing great songs that have real meaning.

"The charts went through a time when it was more focused on sound but songs are having a really good time right now.”

02 Shepherd’s Bush Empire, October 24 and The 02, January 23. Details: theshiresmusic.com