Grab your Stetsons! How country music is being received in the UK | The world

“There’s some magic with country music in the UK right now,” says Anna-Sophie Mertens, beaming brightly from the stands at State Fayre, the UK’s latest festival for country fans.

Country is the fastest growing brand in the UK, according to research by The world Music Association (CMA), and has been three years in a row. Until 2023, the UK’s interests leaned towards the past, but now modern megastars such as Morgan Wallen, Luke Combs and Cowboy Carter-era Beyoncé have taken the wheel, signaling a changing of the guard.

As consumer spending on live music continues to rise (the latest annual report from Live, the association representing the music industry in Britain, announced a record £6.68bn), the live world has become big business: Combs will play to more than 560,000 fans across England, Scotland and Ireland this summer; The Buckle & Boots festival has just celebrated its 10th year, and the summer touring festival in Nashville brings the “southern experience” to 15 towns and cities, from the Isle of Wight to Aberdeen.

“It felt like the right time to take the time and create something dedicated, like a big outdoor event,” Mertens says, pointing to the large State Fayre in the distance. Specially placed to comment on this “magic” period, Mertens is the executive vice president, overseeing Live Nation entertainment and the board of directors at CMA, an organization dedicated to supporting the growth of the country in the US and abroad. He credits the UK boom to “a lot of hard work” from the industry, as well as a shift in style – such as Wallen’s modern productions and Ella Langley’s brilliant storytelling – which has attracted a younger audience.

Reflecting the country’s migration from the latest concerns to the mainstream, State Fayre places US stars such as Stephen Wilson Jr. and Sierra Ferrell alongside long-time UK favorites such as Kings of Leon and Alanis Morissette – a blurring of like-minded genres that resonate with the media’s era of listening.

It may be a clear cathedral, but the State Fayre focuses on its southern architecture. American cuisine is described as the “fourth theme” of the fest, and Merten hopes to see fans wearing boots, Stetsons and denim: “The economy is improving, and festivals are not just about music anymore.

Beyond the smaller UK parties, these southern “events” are more important than booking American celebrities. In addition to the bull rodeo and line dancing sessions, Summer in Nashville is developing programs for UK artists alongside shows based on Nashville artists. Wolverhampton singer Liam Price is both: he’ll be singing originals but he’s known as Luke Combs UK, the only official tribute to one of the country’s best-selling acts in history.

By early 2023, Price was working as a wedding singer, and Combs’ requests were gathering steam. He organized a night in honor of Wolverhampton’s Rodeos BBQ (which opened in 2021 as the first “honky tonk” in the UK). “I said, I think there’s a market in there,” he laments. Combs’ first performance sold out in three nights, “and I don’t play, my back hasn’t touched the floor since.”

The rise of the UK has changed Price’s life. He worked hard to get the sound and style of Combs – now he sings with a recorded song, and says: “I used to be thin, and I didn’t have this beard.” Such dedication has paid off. He will play over 50 shows as Combs this year, including dates in the US and Germany, to rave reviews. He said: “I feel a great responsibility to play these songs, because of how important they are to people. When they played in Combs’ bar in Nashville, fans ran into the street: “They told me, ‘Dude, you’re the one!'”

Next year, he’ll revisit Combs’ hits in a new show with a 10-piece band, but even as business continues to grow, Price wants to make it big under his name. He sells originals on vinyl to audiences at his Combs shows, and won the Home Grown Talent competition at Leicestershire’s The Long Road festival in 2025, earning him studio time, mentorship and the chance to perform at Nashville’s heavyweight CMA Fest.

Baylen Leonard was watching proudly from the crowd that night. Creative Director of The Long Road (which runs from 27 to 30 August this year, with headliners including Maren Morris and Emmylou Harris), and presenter on Absolute Radio Country, Leonard believes that an environment that supports homegrown talent is the key to making the UK a place to live rather than a rush. “We wanted to raise the bar a lot,” he says. “We have no shortage of talent in the UK, and I want to see them slaying around the world.”

The Long Road was born to “expand one’s idea of ​​what country music can be”, with a line around the sound of pop, earthy Americana and everything in between, made by artists from the US, the UK and further afield; attendance has increased from 9,000 in 2018 to an expected 40,000 this year. The UK market is booming, Mr Leonard believes, because of the genre’s power in storytelling – and because it is freed from many misconceptions.

He said: “The country is not always the box that you think it’s going to be. “I mean politics, but also music. Things that are hard to explain, country music has been talking about it and maybe won No 1.”

In terms of what’s going on, “there will always be fluctuations”, says Leonard. “But there is something in the world that is timeless. Good always wins, and in the UK the genie is out of the bottle – or the breeder is out.”