Ed Sheeran is collaborating with country music act The Shires.
British country duo Ben Earle and Crissie Rhodes met Ed in Nashville at the afterparty for his concert and following a heavy night of drinking together, Ed offered them his track ‘Stay The Night’.
Ben told The Sun: "Crissie and I went along to an after-party Ed was hosting after his concert at Nashville but she wasn’t feeling great.
"He told us he was familiar with our music and we were like, ‘Woah, that’s incredible’.
"A few hours later I was about to leave and I saw Ed and his mates playing a drinking game with a girl who was downing beer out of a keg while doing a handstand.
"Everyone there was cheering, it was pretty mental.
"Then I did a double take and it was Crissie.
"Afterwards we said it would be great if we could work together in the future, and a few days later he sent us his track Stay The Night."
Crissie added: "So basically my drinking ability got us an Ed Sheeran song."
Meanwhile, The Shires previously revealed that Lady Antebellum inadvertently helped put them together.
Ben had "completely had enough" of trying to make it in the music industry and was "on the brink of giving up", but he was inspired to pen several country tracks after hearing the US group’s number one hit ‘Need You Now’.
He previously told BANG Showbiz: "I was writing for years and the songs didn’t really fit anywhere and I was on the brink of giving up, I’d completely had enough, I was so frustrated. But then I heard ‘Need You Now’ by Lady Antebellum and it changed my life as a songwriter and a musician.
"When I heard that song I wrote about four or five country songs and I put out a Facebook post saying, ‘There must be a country singer out there,’ and that’s how Chrissie and I met."
Crissie added: "Lady A had got quite a lot of mainstream radio play as well which was pretty good. That went really well over here for sure."
Ed Sheeran’s country music move
