Keeping it Country - The rising popularity of country music in the UK.
A few weeks ago I was watching a television show on BBC2 called 'Back in time for the weekend'. It featured a family called the Ashby Hawkins who each weekend would experience family life in a different decade. Each episode featured a different decade starting with the 1950's and ending on what the future might look like. What was of particular interest was that in the 1990's the parents went line dancing.
It was good to see line dancing on mainstream television particularly to country music which is currently seeing a resurgence of popularity in the UK and I do hope that it inspired a few more people to dance
Country does seem as popular as ever at the moment, so popular that a new music channel 'Keep it Country' has recently been launched to meet the demand for Country Music in the UK. Launched in early March, the channel features shows such as"The Smith and Rogers Country Show", "Live Laugh Linedance!" & "Hot Country" to name just a few, with country music of all genre's featured and not just from America either but from the UK and Ireland too. It's great to see and is very unique as we don't have any other dedicated country music channels so if you wanted to see/listen to country music you either had to hope that it was in the music charts and featured on the normal music channels such as MTV - (although you will have to wait a while for a track to appear and then it will most likely be Taylor Swift). Or listen to the radio and hope a country song features in the playlist (but again other than Lady Antebellum's 'Need you now' or a bit of Shania or Taylor, that is all you are likely to get). Of course we are lucky that we also have Ranch Dance Radio's show on a Wednesday which plays a great variety - but the music is not just country. Looking forward, it seems it will be easier to get that 'country fix'.
Times are changing though, and not only do we have a country tv channel (Yay) but last year saw a British country duo top the album charts in the UK for the first time in UK history. The duo called 'The Shires' also broke another record as the first UK country act to be signed to Universal Music Group Nashville - one of the most well known and highly respected record labels for the country genre with other signings such as Shania Twain, Little Big Town, Lady Antebellum, Josh Turner and Alan Jackson (to name a few).
They first came to the attention of many in their appearance at C2C Country to Country - one of the biggest country music festivals in the UK. The festival first started in 2013 but has become hugely successful in only a few short years with demand being such that the London event had to be extended over a few days. The 2016 event featured some hugely successful acts which you will be familiar with including Miranda Lambert, Carrie Underwood, Little Big Town, and Kacey Musgraves to name but a few. Of course this doesn't even take into consideration all the other country music events going on this year all of which are seeing high demand and increasing numbers year on year. Just google 'country music festivals UK' and I am sure you will find one near you.
One of the more mainstream supporters of country music has got to be BBC Radio 2 which has a regular country show - 'Bob Harris Country Music show' which airs on a Thursday evening and features news, reviews and the latest country music. In addition BBC Radio 2 provided a 4 day pop up digital radio service from 10th-13th March this year providing coverage and special programmes related to the C2C- Country to Country Music event which was great for those who couldn't be there.
Country also made it onto mainstream television recently in a big way. I'm sure many of you recently saw the UK's recent "Eurovision: You Decide" which featured a female country duo called Darline. Whilst they didn't get through it would have been great if they did, and it shows how increasingly popular country is becoming in the UK for it to be featured as an entrant for the UK's Eurovision entry.
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