With country music festival attendances soaring and US artists selling out tours, are British and Irish audiences ready for “the full Southern experience”? “There’s a certain magic with country music in the UK right now,” says Anna-Sophie Mertens, smiling in hi-vis from the build at State Fayre, the UK’s newest festival for country fans. It is located in Chelmsford but styled like the American South – think clapboard, rusted metal and water points disguised as retro gas stations – and this weekend, the gates will open to 50,000 country devotees. Country is the UK’s fastest-growing genre, according to data from the Country Music Association (CMA), and has been for three years in a row. Until 2023, UK tastes leaned towards legacy acts, but now modern megastars such as Morgan Wallen, Luke Combs and Cowboy Carter-era Beyoncé have taken the wheel, reflecting a changing of the guard. As consumer spending on live music continues to rise (the latest annual report from Live, the federation representing Britain’s live music industry, announced a record £6.68bn), live country has become big business: Combs will play to more than 560,000 fans across England, Scotland and Ireland this summer; s
Jun 26, 2026 → Jun 28, 2026
BST Hyde Park, London The country star is deeply moved by the reception at this sold-out event, as a growing UK fanbase shows its love for his songs Five minutes before Garth Brooks takes to the stage at Hyde Park, a booming American voice…
Read original at The Guardian →2 updates from 1 source over 2 days.
BST Hyde Park, London The country star is deeply moved by the reception at this sold-out event, as a growing UK fanbase shows its love for his songs Five minutes before Garth Brooks takes to the stage at Hyde Park, a…
Read original at The Guardian →With country music festival attendances soaring and US artists selling out tours, are British and Irish audiences ready for “the full Southern experience”? “There’s a certain magic with country music in the UK right…
Read original at The Guardian →What this story stands on. Tier 0 is a primary record or the subject's own words; higher tiers must be attributed, never stated as bare fact.
BST Hyde Park, London The country star is deeply moved by the reception at this sold-out event, as a growing UK fanbase shows its love for his songs Five minutes before Garth Brooks takes to the stage at Hyde Park, a booming American voice…
View source →With country music festival attendances soaring and US artists selling out tours, are British and Irish audiences ready for “the full Southern experience”? “There’s a certain magic with country music in the UK right now,” says Anna-Sophie…
View source →Tier key: T0 = Primary source · T1 = Wire · T2 = Outlet report · T3 = Commentary
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