The Shires eye "British invasion" of American country music

LONDON (Reuters) - The Shires hope to win over American country music fans with their own British twist to the genre after making UK chart history with their debut album last year. Singer-songwriters Ben Earle and Crissie Rhodes, who met through Facebook, became the first British country band to make it into the UK's top 10 album chart with "Brave". "We love American country music but we want to kind of bring it over here, put kind of a Brit spin on it and then take it back to them out there," Rhodes told Reuters in an interview. "(Breaking the U.S. market) would be incredible," she added, jokingly calling such a move "The British Invasion". Country music is relatively popular in Britain - people like Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers have played the storied Glastonbury festival - but home-grown bands are well out on the mainstream. The band, who have supported The Corrs on tour, headed to country music capital Nashville, Tennessee to work on their second album "My Universe", due for release in October, and also performed at the city's famed Grand Ole Opry venue. "We've been away on tour and on tour buses and we did actually go to Nashville for three weeks to go and write out there as well," Rhodes said. "That was a special moment." (Reporting By Sarah Mills Editing by Jeremy Gaunt)