Ben Earle Takes the Reins at BBC Radio 2’s Country Show

The Shires’ Ben Earle has been announced as the new presenter of BBC Radio 2’s long-running Country Show, taking over the programme previously hosted for more than 25 years by broadcasting legend Bob Harris.

For British country music, it is a significant appointment. Earle is not simply a broadcaster with an enthusiasm for the genre, but one of the artists who has helped shape its remarkable growth in the UK over the past decade.

One half of The Shires, alongside Crissie Rhodes, Earle has gone from playing and writing country music to becoming the regular voice of one of its most influential national radio programmes.

He will present The Radio 2 Country Show every Thursday from 9pm to 10pm, succeeding Bob Harris, who stepped down earlier this year due to ill health after presenting the programme since 1999.

For Earle, however, the Radio 2 studio will already feel familiar.

“It really feels like I’m coming home”

Earle made his Radio 2 presenting debut in 2019 when he stood in for Harris on The Country Show. His stint behind the microphone proved successful enough to earn him the CMA International Country Broadcaster of the Year Award in 2020.

Since then, broadcasting has become an increasingly important part of his career. Alongside writing and recording with The Shires, and writing for other artists in Britain and Nashville, Earle has spent the past five years presenting a weekly Sunday morning programme on Absolute Radio Country.

Now he returns to the programme where his broadcasting career began.

“It really feels like I’m coming home to the Radio 2 Country Show. I’m truly honoured to have been asked to present such a prestigious show in such an exciting time for Country music, especially in the UK.”

His appointment comes at a very different moment for country music in Britain from the one Harris encountered when he began presenting the programme in 1999.

Country artists are now regular visitors to Britain’s biggest arenas and stadiums, while festivals, tours and an increasingly confident homegrown scene have pushed the genre far beyond the niche position it once occupied.

Earle has experienced much of that transformation from the stage himself.

“I still pinch myself that the genre has become so huge that we now have US acts coming over and headlining stadiums here,” he said. “I’m so excited to chat to those artists on the show and hear their stories, and also discover some homegrown talent too.”

That final point could prove particularly significant for the British country scene.

As a songwriter and performer who understands both Nashville and the UK industry, Earle is unusually well placed to bridge the two. His new role gives him a national platform not only to interview the international stars arriving on these shores, but potentially to introduce Radio 2’s audience to more of the artists developing much closer to home.

Putting the songs first

Despite the interviews, discoveries and changing face of country music, Earle says the heart of the programme will remain something much simpler: great songs.

“What I’m most excited for though is what made me fall in love with Country – the songs. Searching out the best Country songs and playing them every week is going to be so much fun.”

It is an approach that feels particularly appropriate for an artist whose career has been built around songwriting.

The Shires emerged during a pivotal period for British country music and went on to become the UK’s bestselling country duo, helping demonstrate that artists from this side of the Atlantic could build substantial audiences without pretending Nashville was their hometown.

Earle’s appointment now puts a British country artist at the centre of Radio 2’s weekly coverage of the genre at a time when those boundaries between the UK and Nashville scenes are becoming increasingly porous.

Following Bob Harris

Earle inevitably inherits a programme closely associated with Bob Harris, whose contribution to country and Americana music in Britain extends far beyond his years behind the Radio 2 microphone.

Harris presented the show from 1999 until stepping down earlier this year due to ill health, championing generations of established and emerging artists and becoming one of the most recognisable advocates for country music on British radio.

Radio 2’s Head of Station, Helen Thomas, said Earle’s combination of experience as both musician and broadcaster made him the right person to continue that legacy.

“His knowledge, passion and enthusiasm for the genre, coupled with his years as a musician plus experience presenting on the radio, make him the ideal person to pick up the reins from the legendary Bob Harris.”

Thomas added: “Like Bob, I hope Ben hosts the show for decades to come.”

She also thanked Darius Rucker, who has hosted the programme during recent months. Rucker will return next month with his handpicked highlights from the Country Music Association Awards.

The handover also comes in a year when both sides of the story have been recognised by the British country community. At the 2026 BCMA Awards, The Shires were named Duo/Trio of the Year, while Harris was named Radio Presenter of the Year.

A British voice at a remarkable moment

There is a neat symmetry to Earle’s appointment.

When The Shires began making their mark, the idea of a British country duo achieving mainstream chart success was still unusual enough to attract attention in itself. More than a decade later, country music’s UK audience has expanded dramatically, Nashville stars routinely include Britain on major international tours, and British artists are building careers within a scene that increasingly has its own identity.

Now one of the musicians who lived through that change will have a weekly national platform from which to document what happens next.

Earle clearly intends to keep Nashville firmly in the picture, but his promise to seek out homegrown talent may be the most interesting part of the announcement for the UK scene.

Following Bob Harris is an unenviable task. Few broadcasters become as closely associated with the music they champion as Harris has with country and Americana.

But Radio 2 has chosen someone who knows the music from the other side of the microphone, understands the peculiar journey country has taken in Britain and, most importantly, still sounds genuinely excited about finding the next great song.

For British country music, that makes Ben Earle’s homecoming to The Country Show one worth watching, and listening to.