ONE of the hottest duos on the country music scene will be heading to Manchester next week as part of their biggest UK tour to date.

Striking Matches - Sarah Zimmermann and Justin Davis - will play Manchester Academy promoting their debut album Nothing But the Silence.

Fans of the hit TV drama series Nashville will be familiar with their work as their songs have been an integral part of the show's soundtrack.

"The TV series has been nothing but a blessing to be honest," said Justin. "It has opened up so many doors to us and given us such great exposure."

In Nashville a number of their songs are sung by the characters Gunnar and Scarlett played by Sam Palladio and Clare Bowen.

The couple met when they moved to Nashville and attended Belmont University to study guitar.

"It's Nashville, of course you can go to university to play guitar," laughed Justin.

"We were thrown together in class," said Sarah, "and it's just turned into this thing that neither of us expected."

Striking Matches are at the forefront of a new wave of country artists. Their music is both heartfelt and also heavily influenced by rock music - it's not uncommon to see Justin and Sarah trading licks on electric guitars during a show.

"For Manchester we will be playing with the full band," said Justin, "but because a lot of our fans really like the acoustic numbers we will make sure we have an acoustic section during the evening too."

Moving to Nashville has played a major role in the duo's development.

"It is not known as music city for nothing," said Justin. "There are just so many great musicians there. It really forces you to be even better."

Although home may now be in Nashville, the couple have developed a special bond with UK audiences.

"We have been over to the UK seven times in the last 18 months," said Sarah. "It really has become our second home. The fans have just embraced our music and made us so welcome.

"We have noticed that each time we have toured, the audiences are getting bigger and the fanbase is growing."

Justin added: "We get a real mix of fans at the show of all ages but there are a lot of younger country music fans out there now and they are really getting into what we do."

The songs that Justin and Sarah write such as Hanging on a Lie and Never Gonna Love Again, often centre around love and heartache.

"The songs develop pretty organically," said Sarah. "One of us may have a lyric or come up with a hook and it goes from there. We both write lyrics and we both write music."

Justin added: "We write about things that have directly affected us. It might be that we are remembering something or are going through it right now. The longer we do this the more experiences we will have to write about and the subject matter may change."

At the moment the UK tour is the centre of attention.

"We have never been away for so long before, we can't work out what we need to pack," said Justin.

Striking Matches, Manchester Academy, Friday, November 20. Details from www.gigsandtours.com