They barely had time to draw breath after knocking out a couple of pre-wedding songs for Radio 2 at Windsor before breezing on stage at Folkestone’s Leas Cliff Hall on Saturday.

The Shires are one of the station’s favourites and the male half, Ben Earle, proudly declared that the second single – Sleepwalk – from their third album had just made the A playlist to ensure plenty of airplay.

It was the duo’s fourth visit to the seaside venue in the five years they have been together, their considerable talents having fortuitously collided on Facebook, so a rollicking good welcome was assured.

With two gold albums and a Country Music Award in Nashville to their name, Ben and Crissie Rhodes, from Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire, are now officially the UK’s most successful country act ever – not bad for two X-Factor rejects!

As the neatly dreadlocked Ben, a former chorister at Windsor Castle, so aptly put it: “Living the dream.”

Warmed up nicely by talented support acts Sinead Burgess and Andy Brown, The Shires joined their three young backing musicians to belt out Echo to a whooping audience crossing all generations.

Ben and Crissie’s vocals compliment each other perfectly and are equally impressive in solo spots. Ed Sheeran wrote Stay The Night for their latest album Accidentally On Purpose, but they are powerful songwriters in their own right.

The harmonies are spot on as they join some of Nashville’s top acts in taking the genre to a different level, straddling pop and rock, away from the often morbid "my wife left me and my dog died" tradition of country music.

Fresh from playing The Royal Albert Hall the previous evening, The Shires cruised smoothly through 19 songs from their already impressive songbook – sometimes to the accompaniment of meaty guitars and a fat drum sound and then to moving acoustic moments and Ben on piano.

Refusing to perform to a sedentary audience, Crissie immediately ordered us to our feet to add to the crackling atmosphere, before Ben allowed us to sit to save “creaking knees” among the older fans.

Beats to Your Rhythm kept the momentum flowing, followed by My Universe, State Lines and Stay The Night from the ginger genius who can do no wrong. Accidentally On Purpose, we were told, earned its title because of the manner in which it was created.

A moment of poignancy came when Crissie performed Daddy’s Little Girl, a song about losing her dad to cancer when she was just eight which earns Ben’s praise for being able to get through such emotionally charged sentiments.

Sleepwalk, Guilty, Nashville Grey Skies and River of Love brought us to the dreaded finale too soon for an audience having far too much fun to go home.

There was comfort, however, that after bowing out with Tonight The Shires returned for three more songs – the sublime Loving You Too Long, a stripped down Islands In The Stream Dolly would be proud of and it was arms in the air for the gospel influenced A Thousand Hallelujahs.

After graciously applauding their adoring devotees, Ben and Crissie left to a hallelujah chorus of resounding approval.