Ward Thomas made chart history last year by becoming the first ever British country act to score a number 1 album on the Official UK Album Chart. They achieved the magnificent feat with their sophomore LP ‘Cartwheels‘, which was the follow up to their 2014 debut number 1 UK Country record ‘From Where We Stand‘.
And being British, fans were eager to find out where they got their love of country music from, and the 23-year-old twins have confessed in many interviews over the past few years that it was their older Canadian cousin Libby. Libby came to stay with the Ward Thomas family while she was travelling around Europe and during her stay she introduced a young Catherine and Lizzy to the likes of the Dixie Chicks, and Miranda Lambert.
During one of our exclusive interviews with the duo back last year, the twins said: “Our Canadian cousin Libby came to live with us and introduced us to lots of country music, mainly The Dixie Chicks!”
The style of music resonated with the then youngsters and made them realize that country was the genre for them.
But while supporters of Ward Thomas have long known about Libby’s major influence on their career, they have never been able to put a face to the name, that is until now. The twin sisters yesterday shared a snap of themselves with their cousin, who they are on holiday with in France.
They captioned the snap: “Anyone remember that “Canadian Cousin” (basically big sister) that introduced us into country music…? Well here is a face and a name!!! She is called Libby and we are currently enjoying a wonderful week in France with her and the whole family! @heylibs” sic
Fans were quick to thank Libby for introducing Catherine and Lizzy to country music, with many commenting things such as; “Thank her, thank her, thank her!”, and “I think Libby deserves a big round of applause”.
Are you happy that you have now met the person who introduced Ward Thomas to country music? Let us know your thoughts over on Twitter @CelebMix.