THEY made history with their album Cartwheels and now twins Catherine and Lizzy Ward Thomas are on the road showing what all the fuss is about.

Officially the most successful UK country act ever - their new album Cartwheels was the first by a UK country act to top the album charts - a sold out the Deaf Institute witnessed the amazing vocal talents of the pair first hand.

At the heart of the show are some wonderful harmonies, you can tell they have been singing together since their early teens.

Rising superstars they may be but there is an endearing charm to the stage show. As twins often do, the girls finish each other's sentences, or in some cases say the same thing at the same time when introducing a song which sets off a fit of giggles from one or both.

But make no mistake, they make some serious music.

With a great band behind them, the girls rocked us, moved us, entertained and charmed us. And they seemed to be having just as much fun as the audience in doing so.

UK country is not all hats, boots and pick-up trucks, indeed some purists would argue it's not even country at all. What you get are well crafted songs about everyday life with great choruses and plenty of emotion.

Ranging from a rousing encore of Town Called Ugley to a wonderfully vulnerable version of Safe, the full Ward Thomas repertoire was on display.

Special mention too for support, Nashville-based Sarah Darling. Often a support act coming on stage is a signal for the bar to be packed and the volume in the audience to rise. With a voice so spectacularly pure it had to be heard to be believed, you could hear a pin drop as she ran through her set which took us from the honkey-tonk rockers to heartfelt, ethereal ballads. The chances are the next time she's in the UK she'll be headlining her own tour.

As for Ward Thomas, they are the rising stars of the British country scene - and they deserve to be.