Essex County
The men – Nate Bass, Mark Bass and Kieran Bass – have been performing together since they were children. Mark won U.K. Guitarist of the Year when he was 11 years old, awarded by a panel of celebrity judges. The brothers formed a group called Next of Kin, signed their first record deal and toured Europe with some of the world’s most known pop stars. They were finalists on “The X Factor” U.K. before coming to Nashville to pursue a career in country music.
In 2020, Essex County released their debut country single, “So Good,” which accumulated nearly 2 million streams and soared to the top of Spotify’s prestigious New Boots playlist. The song’s video stayed in the Top 10 on CMT for months. Propelled by that success, their EP, also called “So Good,” is the first and only video EP to debut on CMT. Later that year, their Christmas song “Last Christmas” was No. 1 on Spotify’s Country Christmas playlist for the entire holiday season.
Essex County released their follow-up, self-titled EP in the fall of 2022 while they were in England to play multiple, soldout theater shows and festivals. With an assortment of dates and genre-jumping music slated for the coming months, Essex County is poised to lead country music’s first British Invasion.
Preston D Barnes
2022 has been quite a year for emerging UK country music superstar Preston D Barnes. Since his debut single hit the No.2 spot in the iTunes Country Music Charts within three days of its release, the former soldier from Lancashire has been on a whirlwind journey. Three subsequent singles have gone on to surpass all expectations including the most recent climbing to No.1. His rise to prominence has been quite unprecedented and he has now been nominated for the Best UK Male Vocalist at this year’s BCMA Awards!