Laura Grant, a police detective from Hertfordshire, is a country music enthusiast. She grew up listening to Johnny Cash with her father, but since 2019, she’s developed her own taste for the genre. So, as it turns out, has half of her department. And nearly everybody at her gym. Even a friend of hers who used to dislike country has incorporated songs from the genre into her repertoire as a wedding singer.

“One of my very good friends, Georgia, didn’t get it, and I dragged her to a country themed brunch in London,” says Grant. “I was like: ‘Just come, it’ll be fun. You can dress up; you don’t have to if you don’t want to.’ And now she’s sold. She’s like, ‘I love country music. How did I not listen to this before?’” 

Grant saw Zach Bryan perform at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in June. “As I got off the train, [I] started seeing hats, boots, people wearing plaid, little booty shorts or cute dresses,” she says. “You see people leaning into it a lot. I think when you’re there, obviously lots of people were wearing the merch as well. [Bryan] had this camo shirt for the tour that had gone absolutely viral, and every single stand sold out.”

Country music is having its moment in the UK, and Britons are more enthusiastic about it than ever. For the past several years, British Summer Time (BST) Hyde Park has platformed artists from the genre, both legacy and contemporary. This year, Garth Brooks kicked off the festival to a sold out crowd, and two days later, Mumford and Sons brought out Shania Twain to sing Man! I Feel Like a Woman.

In 2025, Zach Bryan performed at BST Hyde Park. Bryan’s With Heaven on Tour this year included four UK dates, which he performed across England and Scotland in June. Willow Avalon also performed at BST Hyde Park last year and returned to the UK in early 2026 to perform at several venues as part of the C2C Music Festival. 

Although enthusiasm for country music at its current scale is unprecedented in the UK, the genre has long-been championed in other ways. The C2C, or Country to Country, Festival started in London in 2013 and has since expanded to five cities across the UK and Europe. 

Claire Horton, who runs an independent PR agency and specialises in country, Americana, folk and blues, says C2C has played a significant role: “It was one of the first things that really allowed artists to come over here–the bigger American artists–and play venues that were anywhere comparable to where they’d be playing in the States.”

“There’s been a change, really. I would say probably for at least the last 10 years we’ve seen this growth, and then more recently it’s accelerated,” she says. “Many years ago, it was very rare for country artists to come over here, and now we get a lot of people coming and touring here,” says Horton.

Beyond C2C, country music festivals are now happening across the UK. The Road to Nashville music festival has 15 dates across as many cities this spring and summer, with tribute artists to Dolly Parton and Shania Twain and tribute bands to Morgan Wallen and Luke Combs. Country on the Common, “London’s only outdoor country, blues and roots celebration,” took over Tooting Common for its second year this July 4 weekend. State Feyre, which describes itself as “a major new Rock, Country, Folk and Americana-inspired festival in Chelmsford, Essex,” launched this year and gathered a crowd of 50,000 across its three-day lineup. State Feyre has already announced its return in 2027, with early bird tickets on sale now.

But why country, and why now? 

“I think it’s partly the emotional openness of country,” says Tim de Lisle, author, editor and rock critic at The Mail on Sunday. “I think people like that, [Gen-Z] like that and also it lends itself to songs being found on Spotify. Very often a country song does what it says on the tune. The title of the song is often very plain and clear and open. It’s not so apt to hide behind metaphors, as a lot of pop lyrics do.”

While pop and country have their differences, some pop musicians are vocal in their support for the country genre. While Taylor Swift notably shifted from her country roots to pop with her 1989 album, she is a crucial figure in contemporary country music among younger generations. Harry Styles has been another driving force. In 2019, he joined Kacey Musgraves at her gig at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville where the duo performed a cover of Shania Twain’s You’re Still The One, and at at Madison Square Garden in 2018 and Coachella in 2022. Styles also invited Twain to open for him during his 12-night run at Wembley this summer for the London leg of his Together, Together tour.

Horton and de Lisle both cite Cowboy Carter, Beyonce’s 2024 country album, as a catalyst in the genre’s growth. “Beyonce has obviously made a difference, although I didn’t feel her so-called country album was really a country album.” says de Lisle. “There was gospel, there was heavy rock in there, there was a bit of Aretha Franklin. I don’t think there was any pure country, but Beyonce used a lot of the kind of paraphernalia of country music and of westerns. It was actually more of a western album than a country album, I would say.”

While those visuals are not synonymous with the genre, as de Lisle points out, western and Americana aesthetics are still a big part of the excitement. They’re a way to signal interest and community in a region where most people dress otherwise.

“I think that another element of the growth is slightly more amorphous, but is this idea of community,” says Horton. “People go to these concerts and festivals and they see people they know. They’ve made friends, they meet with groups.”

“It’s almost an identified community group now, and I think that’s important because when you see people, certainly at some of the gigs and the festivals, they have embraced the western wear,” says Horton. “They know all the songs, and so this social cohesion that has come from people regularly attending these shows and these festivals–I think that’s an element that people really enjoy, and I think that is quite a strong factor in the development.”

Wearing a camo-print Cowboy Calling baseball cap from the western-inspired Scottish brand, Grant says as that style has become more available in the UK, she’s leaned more into it.

“I will go to the pub with my friends and have my cowboy boots on,” she says, “I don’t care if people think: ‘Why is that girl wearing cowboy boots in the middle of Hertfordshire?’”

Although mainstream retail and fast fashion brands in the UK have embraced the country and western style, Grant prefers to source higher-quality pieces. Along with Cowboy Calling, she recommends 12th Tribe and Hey Cowboy!

“There’s a shop called 12th Tribe, which is set in California, but they do deliveries over to the UK and they have some really cool Western pieces,” she says. “It’s more expensive, but again, I’d rather pay a little bit more to get the sort of one-off piece and then mix it up with other bits.”

Hey Cowboy!, a western wear shop in Shoreditch, is the only store dedicated to the style in London. Founded and owned by Ed McAllister, the shop sells mostly vintage and sources its pieces directly from the US. 

“When I went there, [McAllister] said that he’ll fly out to the States and he’ll go to Austin or Nashville and hit up thrift shops there and then bring stuff over, which is really cool,” says Grant.

While western and country aesthetics have been traditionally associated with conservatism and tradition, Hey Cowboy! looks at it through another lens. “At its best, western wear’s joyous disregard for gender boundaries and acceptance of cross-cultural pollination make it totally contemporary and relevant,” its website says.

“30 or 40 years ago we thought of country music as pretty uncool”, says de Lisle, “because it was the conservative side of America, I suppose, rather than what we then young people saw as the kind of cool side of America.”

Now, many artists are flipping the script. Kacey Musgraves, who played an intimate show in Kingston in April after an album-signing for her latest record, Middle of Nowhere, is notably left-wing. Since the release of her first album, Same Trailer Different Park, in 2013, she hasn’t shied away from sharing her beliefs through music. In the song Follow Your Arrow from that first record, the chorus harks: “So make lots of noise/Kiss lots of boys/Or kiss lots of girls/If that’s what you’re into.” Performing for her latest album, she chose mariachi musicians Antonio, Caleb and Joshua Gámez-Cuéllar, who were arrested and detained by ICE, to open for her at several shows in her home state of Texas.

“The same is true of people like Margot Price. She’s on the left politically, and a bit of a misfit in Nashville, but she loves country music and is a proper country singer,” says de Lisle.

Not all contemporary country artists are liberal or left-wing, but country is a diverse genre and we’re seeing that manifest in different ways, including politically.

“What’s considered country now is much more diverse than it would have been in the past, so you’ve got artists like Post Malone and Jelly Roll. You’ve got elements of hip hop,” says Horton. “I think country has probably picked up fans from going to those, pushing on those edges a little bit more. Then I think once people have found that gateway into the music, they start looking for other artists and they start discovering more.”

Post Malone’s most notable side quest is owning a Raising Cane’s fast-food restaurant in Texas, while Jelly Roll’s is participating in Kid Rock’s 2026 Rock the Country Festival. Jelly Roll received backlash for his participation, as Kid Rock is a major supporter of Donald Trump, even performing during the MAGA “All-American Halftime Show” to protest Bad Bunny as the artist performing in the NFL’s Super Bowl Halftime Show this February. While Jelly Roll cannot vote due to felony convictions, the singer has not publicly identified with any political ideology.

Morgan Wallen, who performed at BST Hyde Park in 2024, has also faced major backlash. In 2021, Wallen was suspended by his record label after being caught on video yelling a racial slur. He went on to win country album of the year by the Academy of Country Music in 2022. In 2025, he performed at The Roundhouse in Camden to celebrate his latest album at the time, I’m The Problem, which charted as the number one album in the UK upon its release.

In an earlier visit to the UK in 2020, Wallen joined Bob Harris on BBC Radio Two for a live broadcast of The Country Show with Bob Harris. Harris, or “Whispering Bob,” DJ’d for the BBC from 1970 until his retirement in April this year. He hosted the Old Grey Whistle Test from 1972 to 1979, and his Country Show from 1996 onward.

Harris, revered by country stars, DJs and listeners alike, has been a pioneer of country music in the UK. “Radio Two has, for a long time, championed these artists and that has been incredibly important in their career development,” says Horton.

Darius Rucker, known for his hit song Wagon Wheel, took over Harris’ country show in the interim after his retirement, though now his isn’t the only show platforming country artists in the UK. Digital media like radio extends the reach country music gets, and now with social media, it goes even further.

“I think one of the things that is playing a role is the different way people listen to music now. You’re not just reliant on radio stations or television programmes. You’ve got streaming services,” says Horton. “With those, you have this strand where: ‘If you’ve listened to that, you will probably like this’, and I think that helps to broaden people’s appreciation of the artists that are out there. But certainly social media–artists now can break out just by posting things on TikTok.”

Girls in Low Places, a podcast hosted by Katie Atkin founded in 2024, “asks country artists what only British girls can”. Previous guests include Lainey Wilson, Shaboozey, Tucker Wetmore–who recently toured in the UK–and Willow Avalon, who joined while in London for her C2C performance at the Electric Ballroom.

Full episodes of Girls in Low Places are available across multiple streaming platforms. The podcast also has a huge social media presence, with over 45,000 followers on Instagram and nearly 40,000 on TikTok. Podcast episodes are video recorded, with Atkin and her guests sat in front of a bright pink backdrop, often wearing pink cowboy hats and other accessories. They talk about music, dating, cultural observations and more.

In his career, Harris won four Country Music Association (CMA) International Broadcaster of the Year Awards. He was no stranger to Nashville, and neither is Atkin. She travelled to Tennessee for this years’ CMA Fest where she hosted a live podcast episode with The Cowgays, a queer country trio, during Pride Month.

The country music genre, and all it comes with, is bringing people together across continents, belief systems and generations. Country-themed bars, venues, shops and events are popping up all across the UK. Even Harry Kane, one of England’s star players in the 2026 World Cup, is Choosin’ Texas.

The footballer was photographed with country star Ella Langley in June. Kane, along with Dan Burn and Jason Steele attended her concert in Independence, Missouri on their day off from training and playing. Langley’s hit song, Choosin’ Texas, from her recent album Dandelion, hit number four on the UK charts at its peak, while Be Her, from the same record, charted at 47 on the Official Singles List. 

Data from the CMA shows that country music growth in the UK is the fastest of anywhere in the world, by 10.9 per cent. It’s been the fastest-growing genre here for the past three years, and in that time contemporary artists have joined legacies in what people are listening to.

“I think now you’ve got so many different types of country,” says Grant. “You’ve obviously got old school country, but then you’ve got Morgan Wallen, who’s almost dabbling with electronic backing sounds with his country and collabing with Tate McRae. And then you’ve got Ella Langley, who has got that kind of old school country charm.”

“But I think her humour and her personality–and obviously her fashion–is what draws a lot of people in, as well,” she says. “You’ve got a lot more interesting people that are younger that are influencing people. I think that’s where it’s becoming more fun.”

Whether you’re a big fan of Bonnie Raitt or Beyonce, the country genre welcomes every cowgirl, cowboy or anyone interested to take a ride.