After completing and releasing their eighth studio album Cold Frontier (2001), Show of Hands embarked on a nationwide tour in which they played a great deal of unreleased or "rare" material.

Both the recording of Cold Frontier and the subsequent tour were in an era of several social and political concerns for Knightley, culminating in the more "heavy" lyrics that landed on the album.

The duo had been commissioned by the National Trust and English Heritage to record an instrumental album to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the South West Coast Path.

The Path was released on 14 April 2003,[7] by which point Country Life had been recorded at Riverside Studios in Exeter in the early part of 2003.

At the time of release, Jane Brace of Living Tradition described Country Life as the duo's "most ambitious, exciting and keenly awaited project to date".

All the usual SOH ingredients are present: soulful vocals, accomplished instrumentation, excellent production, original compositions featuring politically-charged lyrics, the occasional nod to the tradition.

[1] Inspired by the 2001 United Kingdom foot-and-mouth outbreak, it became something of a break-through recording for the band that has brought their work to a wider audience.

"[9] "Hard Shoulder" is followed by "Suntrap", featuring Spanish guitar playing from Beer, and the poignant and gentle "Smile She Said", which tells of the journey of a relationship in five "exposures".

[8] Country Life was commercially released 20 October 2003 on the band's own label Hands on Music with the catalogue number HMCD19, but had already been sold at the duo's concerts since the middle of the year.

[10] The bonus disc also contained other CD-ROM bonus material, namely the music videos for "Country Life" and their older song "The Train", a photo slideshow set to "I Promise You", a lyrics section set to "The Exe Estuary" from their previous album The Path, live footage from their 2001 performance at the Royal Albert Hall and a downloadable screensaver.

"[1] Iain Hazlewood of Spiral Earth said that "Country Life is one of their defining moments" and "a deceptively complex album, repeated listening reveals a musical and emotional depth that just picks you up and runs off with your imagination.

Just when you think you've got a handle on them and decided it's 'acoustic with attitude' or out and out English folk they'll throw in some rock, shades of country, a reel of Celtic, a bit of bluegrass and then recreate the sitar sounds of India in the blink of an eye.

The title track of Country Life has continued to be played live by the band, it was nominated for "Best Original Song" at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards 2005,[13] and featured on the corresponding compilation album.