It’s a great time to be alive as a country music fan and you no longer have to rely on the home of country music Nashville to get your fix.
The genre has been going from strength-to-strength for years, particularly in Europe, where in the last year alone, streaming service Apple Music has reported seeing a surge of nearly five times that of the US. Meanwhile in the UK, country music grew at a pace of 4.6 times the US.
Such is the draw, a number of established artists in other genres have decided they want in, with Beyonce, Post Malone, Chappell Roan and Calvin Harris among those recently giving it their own spin.
This weekend sees Europe’s biggest country music festival, C2C: Country To Country return for the 13th year at the London O2 and will welcome over 70,000 cowbow hat-wearing fans across the three-days.
Friday night’s headliner Lainey Wilson may be making waves right now, but even she told The Standard she will “never forget” how the UK embraced her after Nashville initially deemed her “too country for country”.
Nashville native and Apple Music Country host Kelleigh Bannen - who is also a country artist in her own right - is looking forward to heading to C2C for the first time, saying she has heard great things.
She told The Standard: “UK and European audiences have this incredible reputation with artists for being really, like, listening audiences and ones who welcome a story song, welcome lyrical narrative and welcome deep cuts, so they are really, really fun audiences to play for.
“I think sometimes country has to overcome kind of the stigma of what people think it is and if they can get over what they think it is, that’s actually sometimes the biggest barrier for fans discovering music that they’re going to love, the preconceived notions about it.
“We’re seeing just this huge growth for country generally speaking but the numbers in the UK, specifically for Apple Music are staggering. I mean it’s really, really exciting. I’m sure that C2C plays a role in this too, I think that a lot of things were happening simultaneously so you’ve got the growth of the festival, the growth of country music and then you’ve got these crossover acts that are also bringing a lot of eyes to the genre and it’s just this magic combination of things that are unlocking the music for fans.
“I’m just excited to see these artists, particularly the more up and comers. To be in front of these kind of rooms, I just think it’s going to be amazing.”
Bannen originally started out hosting her own critically acclaimed podcast This Nashville Life before joining Apple Music country five years ago where she fronts Today’s Country Radio and The Kelleigh Bannen Show.
She is currently up for National Weekly On-Air Personality of the Year at this year’s AMC Awards and over the years has enjoyed sitting down with artists both new and established.
Reflecting on some of her more memorable encounters, she said: “Being around Dolly Parton is always kind of extra terrestrial, it’s out of this world. She is celestial and all of the things but she’s exactly what you hope she’s going to be. Nobody recommends meeting their heroes, everyone who has met Dolly Parton would say meet Dolly Parton. So that was one where you can’t even believe that you are getting to sit across with someone like her.
“My personal taste as an artist, I love Miranda Lambert, Chris Stapleton and Eric Church and getting to actually sit down with them as creators and be curious about how they do what they do as people whose music I admire so much, that’s been so powerful. Miranda has become a friend, I really didn’t know her before this job but we’ve had so many interviews now that I really, really treasure her, she has been so encouraging of me and of this work.”
Today’s Country Radio with Kelleigh Bannen (Fridays) Available HERE, The Kelleigh Bannen Show (Mon-Thurs) Available HERE Tune in and listen to Apple Music Country 24/7 live for free at apple.co/am-country
