You wouldn’t spot a rhinestone cowboy walking the streets of Liverpool, but you would spot a couple thousand of them walking round the o2 arena in mid March each year as the ever popular country to country music festival makes a return with acts riding in from near and well very far with stars from Nashville and also more locally, artists from Hertfordshire. The festival has become increasingly popular throughout the years beginning in 2013 at London’s Wembley arena but as it rodeoed in thousands more it expanded, taking on locations in Dublin, Glasgow and London. And it seems that 2013 was a crucial year in the rise of popularity of the genre with the first dedicated country radio station, Chris country, gracing the uk. But it’s still far from the norm to be a country music fan in the uk.
Why is it that the genre is becoming increasingly popular, especially over the last decade? Is it the risk taking from popular country artists like Kacey Musgraves speaking up about things you wouldn’t normally expect to hear from a gracious southern belle? Or how the genre has evolved from twangy strings to more rock orientated? Was it just not cool enough back in the day?
With the evolution of the internet it is so much easier these days to access an array of different artists and hear what our friends across the pond are finding popular. An example of this is internet sensation lil Nas X with his viral hit ‘old town road’ which even had country legend Billy Ray Cyrus jump onto its bandwagon becoming one of the most recognisable songs of 2019. With mainstream sound being so different from that of country it’s no wonder the public are so heavily influenced by what they hear, decades ago you would hear a song on the radio and the only way to hear it again would be for you to wait until it’s back on the radio. With country just not being a popular option no wonder the brits couldn’t delve into the rich sound of rural America and unless you were lucky enough to have a relative or a friend with taste, it’s unlikely that you would come across anything that you haven’t heard before. You couldn’t Shazam or YouTube, it was what it was. There was no Spotify suggesting artists you may like, which is how many country stars are discovered these days.
Crowds of American country artists are beginning to expand at gigs, one artist who this applies to is American country artist Maren Morris, but you could thank her chart topping collaboration with the chainsmokers, “the middle” for growing her audience. It’s often unheard of that a pure country artist that doesn’t feature elements of pop is played on popular stations like radio one but maybe this will change in the near future? Who knows with the growing trend maybe in the future you will see a rhinestone cowboy gracing the streets of Liverpool.
Giving a folk 