Grab your Stetsons! How country music is taking over the UK | nation

“T“There’s a certain magic with country music in the UK at the moment,” says Anna-Sophie Mertens, smiling loudly from the build-up at State Fayre, the UK’s newest festival for country music fans. The festival is based in Chelmsford but modeled after the American South – think clapboards, rusty metal and water points disguised as old gas stations – and this weekend, the gates will open to 50,000 country fans.

Country music is the fastest growing genre in the UK, according to data from the Country Music Association (CMA), and has been so for three consecutive years. Until 2023, tastes in the UK leaned towards heritage acts, but now contemporary stars like Morgan Wallen, Luke Combs and Cowboy Carter Beyoncé are taking the lead, reflecting a changing of the guard.

As consumer spending on live music continues to rise (the latest annual report from Live, the union representing Britain’s live music industry, announced a record £6.68 billion), live country music is big business: Combs will play to more than 560,000 fans across England, Scotland and Ireland this summer; Celebrating its 10th anniversary, Nashville’s touring summer festival brings “the full Southern experience” to 15 towns and cities, from the Isle of Wight to Aberdeen.

“It seemed like the right time to seize the moment and build something really custom, like a large-scale outdoor event,” Mertens says, pointing at State Fayre’s main stage in the distance. Mertens is in a unique position to comment on this “magical” moment, as he is senior vice president, touring entertainment giant Live Nation and a board director of the CMA, the organization dedicated to supporting the country’s growth in the U.S. and abroad. She credits the UK’s rise to an “accumulation of a lot of effort” from the industry, but also to stylistic changes – such as Wallen’s modern production and Ella Langley’s lively narration – which attracted younger audiences.

Reflecting the country’s transition from niche interest to pop music’s mainstream, State Fayre places American stars like Steven Wilson Jr. and Sierra Ferrell alongside long-term UK favorites like Kings of Leon and Alanis Morissette – a blurring of like-minded musical genres that lends itself to listening practices in the streaming era.

They may be a broad church of sound, but State Fayre takes their southern world-building seriously. American BBQ is billed as the festival’s “fourth headliner,” and Merten is looking forward to seeing fans in boots and denim: “The experience economy is booming, and festivals are no longer just about the music. They have to be about lifestyle and that sense of community.”

Across small country festivals in the UK, this southern ‘experience’ is considered more important than booking big American names. Along with rodeo and group dance sessions, Summer in Nashville features programs by up-and-coming country music artists from the UK along with tribute acts impersonating Nashville stars. Wolverhampton musician Liam Price is both: He will perform original music but is known as Luke Combs UK, the only officially sanctioned tribute to one of the best-selling country artists in history.

In early 2023, Price was working as a wedding singer, and Combs’ requests were increasing. He proposed a tribute night to Wolverhampton’s Rodeos BBQ (which opened in 2021 as the UK’s “first honky tonk”). “I said, ‘I think there’s a market for it,'” he grinned at the statement. Combs’ first act sold out after three nights, “and I’m not kidding, my ass hasn’t touched the ground since.”

The UK’s economic boom changed Price’s life. He’s done his best to perfect Combs’ voice and style – now he sings in a raspy tone. “I was definitely thinner before, and I definitely didn’t have that beard,” he says. This dedication has paid off. He will perform more than 50 shows as Combs this year, including concerts in the United States and Germany, and is receiving enthusiastic responses. “I feel a great deal of responsibility playing these songs, because of how important they are to people,” he says. When he performed at Combs Pub in Nashville, fans ran out of the street saying, “They said, ‘Dude, you’re him!'”

Next year, he will reimagine Combs’ songs in a new show with a 10-piece orchestra, but although business is booming, Price dreams of making it just as big with his own name. He sells original music on vinyl to audiences at his Combs shows, and won the Home Grown Talent competition at Leicestershire country festival The Long Road in 2025, which earned him studio time, mentorship and the opportunity to perform at the CMA Heavyweight Festival in Nashville.

Baylin Leonard was watching proudly from the audience that night. Leonard, creative director of The Long Road (which runs from 27-30 August this year, featuring headliners including Maren Morris and Emmylou Harris), and presenter of Absolute Country Radio, believes a supportive ecosystem for homegrown talent is key to making the UK’s love of live country more than just a quick affair. “We wanted to lift someone up in a tremendous way,” he says. “We have no shortage of talent in the UK, and I want to see them absolutely excel it on the international stage.”

The Long Road was created to “expand someone’s idea of ​​what country music can be”, with a lineup that includes glossy pop sounds, earthy American sounds and everything in between, performed by artists from the US, UK and further afield; Attendance has risen from 9,000 in 2018 to an expected 40,000 this year. Leonard believes the UK market is expanding, both because of the genre’s storytelling power – and because it breaks free from wider misconceptions.

“Country doesn’t always fit into the box you think it will,” he says. “I mean that politically, but also lyrically. Things that are hard to put into words, country music has talked about and probably had a lot of success with.”

In terms of trends, “there will always be ebbs and flows,” Leonard says. “But there’s something about country that’s timeless. Quality always wins, and in the UK, the genie comes out of the bottle – or the cowboy comes out of the boot.”