What's the Country Music Scene Like in Europe and the UK?

[Paul in Colorado]

I've noticed a few of our members are country pickers from the UK and the rest of Europe. What kind of country do you play? Traditional? Modern? What kinds of gigs do you play? Clubs? Festivals? Concerts? Other? Is there a circuit? Where do visiting American bands play? Do Euro-Country bands ever play in the States? How popular is American C&W in Europe? What kind of crowds turn out for shows? Are there ever large multi-band festivals combining local and famous acts?

Most of these questions are research for a story I'm writing (fiction) where an American band (think someone like Neil Young who has a fluke success in Europe with a country tribute album) is touring Europe with an up and coming British band fronted by a young woman who is trying to make her breakthrough in the States.

Thanks for you interest and help!

[Big John]

The UK, in a word - "Dire"

There was something of a scene here in the late 60's right up until the '80's but for various reasons its gone south since then, let me think of the many and varied ......
1)The audience were always 'older', kids very rarely get into it (apart from players) so that 'older' audience is now either expired or close to it.
2)As club numbers dwindled the amateur promoters have turned more and more to the karaoke type minidisc, backing track using acts and it has really hurt the band scene. Now the audiences are slowly realising what they have lost it's too late.
3)All the "Yanks" have gone home !!, as a kid in the east of England i grew up and went to school with as many American kids as did English because of the US air bases in our area, they were a HUGE influence on our country scene and listening to Merle Haggard was as common as listening to Deep Purple for me and my friends.
When the Berlin wall came down and the Russians changed and we had the "peace dividend" so the US have slowly withdrawn from here.
4) Line dancing, it attracted some younger blood in but all they will do is dance to the songs that they have learnt specific dances too and aren't too aware of whats going on anywhere.
Remember when a waltz was a waltz was a waltz ?

To be honest, its always going to be another countries music and nothing will change that and in this country a very "niche" type of thing, occaisionaly it becomes "hip" to say you like it but that never lasts too long.
One of the acts i work with now ONLY works in mainland Europe, i'm sure someone from 'over there' can chime in here but i find the Euro-gigs we do MUCH better than anything happening in the UK, sensible money, good gear, somewhere to stay and eat etc are all things we get there but NOT the UK.
Yes, some of us get to play 'stateside' but with the ever more complicated visa restrictions its not an everyday thing.

Neat idea for a story though, you need to get over here to see it really, just make sure you bring a barf bag and a sense of humour !!

[RomanS]

Well, basically here in Austria there are two completely different scenes:

-) The "Wannabe-American" scene - guys that dress up in cowboy boots and hats (which looks REALLY out of place in a Central European city...), sometimes even pioneer/frontier/civil war-type outfits, often they are organized in "country clubs" (decorated with rebel flags, longhorn skulls, beaver-fur hats, etc.), where they hang out together, everyone dressed up, and listen to country music (anything from classics like Johnny Cash or Buck Owens to contemporary mainstream schlock from Nashville), do line-dancing, have barbecues. Some of those clubs are very exclusive and have strict regulations; average age is in the 50s and above.
There are also quite a few country bands singing in German that cater to that scene, trucker songs being a favorite of those.
There's a bit of crossover into the "Volksmusik" scene as well (nope, that doesn't have anything to do with folk music - it's a very commercialised, polished over tpye of music with a few traditional instruments like the accordion thrown in for flavor, kinda like our version of Nashville schlock).

-) And then there's a completely different scene of people in their 20s and 30s who listen to "alternative country"; many got turned on by bands like Calexico and 16 Horsepower, as well as by Johnny Cash's American Recordings series, and now start to listen and learn about country classics like Cash, Buck Owens, etc., too.
This alt.country scene is REALLY popular at the moment, lots of bands being formed, American alt.country bands draw huge crowds (often more than in the US).
There is a huge crossover between the alt.country scene and the indie/alternative/punk rock/hardcore scene, when it comes to concert venues (quite often alt.coutnry bands play in punk rock clubs, like squatted houses, etc.), audience, band members, record stores, etc.
One of the biggest record labels/distributors (also for many American bands) in this scene is Glitterhouse from Germany - which started out as a punk/grunge rock label in the 1980s.

There's almost no crossover between those two major 'country scenes' in Europe, the alt.country guys don't go to the 'country clubs', and the 'wannabe Americans' don't listen to alt.country music - these two scenes exist side by side.
The only exception might be if a well known, respected 'classic' (like Johnny Cash, when he was still alive, or Kris Kristofferson, WIllie Nelson, etc.) was playing here - such concerts draw crowds from both scenes.

[Paul in Colorado]

Thanks for the info. I've heard of the wannabe American scene but it kind of slipped my mind. That gives me some great ideas.

Anybody else?

What about bluegrass? I have friends who've played a festival in Ireland that they liked.

[Big John]

The "wannabee's" how could i NOT mention them, excuse me while i growl quietly to myself .....

Bluegrass ?, bluegrass players here seem very "precious" and dare i say a bit "elitist", they certainly don't mix with us "ordinary" types.
If your friends played a festival in Ireland i could almost guarantee they had a great time ! ho ho ho !!

[Stefan]

We have a pretty big festival here in Sweden every summer.

Furuvik Country Festival

Not much info in english but.. you can e-mail this guy and he will tell you ALL about the Country Music scene in Sweden.

[weelie]

Was I am just today going to see a local country band, who have been at it for 20 years. They've had some hits, they are a houshold name. People (may) like them, but if you say to common people they are a contry band... some of them will look puzzled... "Country? No, they are a good rock band".

Country music somehow is the opposite of anything cool. It's not that people wouldn't like the songs or the sounds, it's the cowboy hats, funny accents and Achy breaky heart. If you mention Dolly Parton here, singing isn't one of the two things people think of, but they might very well associate her with country music.

Of course, there are people here who will like some specific styles of country, and the "Wanne-be-Americans" (the rockabilly scene, 50s car scene etc) and all that. But that's a minority, I feel.

EDIT: My boss actually does line dancing, has Southfork Ranch coffee mug and listens to Clint Black. :/ :D

[jhundt]

Here in Holland I don't see much country. There IS a lot of that horrid line-dancing. It's kind of a costume dress-up scene, kind of like the wannabe's described above, but I don't think they really want to be American. They just want to dress in dumb clothes and do dumb dance steps with a whole bunch of like-minded people. I think there is more country in the country, meaning in the east part of the Netherlands where it's more rural. Truck drivers appear to sometimes like country-ish stuff. There is a Dutch-language truck-music genre (I have noticed in the thrift-store record bins).

[PeterUK]

but it's there!

I've got tickets to see Kevin Montgomery next week (backed by Robert Reynolds and Paul Deakin of the Mavericks fame plus Al Perkins), and I saw the Hascienda Brothers last year.

We get visits from some of the big stars but the highlight for this year will be the Craponne Coutry Festival in the summer featuring Bill Kirchen and the Twangbangers and headlining Lee Ann Womack!

There is some home grown talent such as my mate, Harley Dave's band Too Country or one of my multi-genre favourites Micky Kemp Band.

For the best country radio programme worldwide listen to Nick Barraclough of BBC's Radio 2, followed closely by Bob Harris.

If you love country and live in Europe, you're made to work hard for your passion.

Peter

[Roli]

Country music culture is basically nonexistent here, in Hungary. There was a country band in the '80s, they first turned into a children's music band in the early '90s, then recently became a bad electronic pop parody of themselves.

There was a guy in the last "Megasztár" (it's the local American Idol...), he sang some songs I could call modern country, and he's got a cowboy hat and holding a Tele on the cover of his 1st (and probably last) album.

I don't even know bar bands that play this genre. That's all.

[Spenceh]

We tend to find ways in which to get access to our favourite music. Mine tends to be from streaming radio and CMT video streaming. I have friends in the States who send me TV recordings and I also send them shopping orders for stuff that is difficult to buy online (such as Garth Brooks' damn Walmart exclusives - Walmart won't ship to the UK).

A few country artists come over. I have seen Dwight Yoakam, Keith Urban and Trisha Yearwood in London.

Borderline was the place to go for smaller country acts (don't know if it still is).

We get a couple of magazines - Country Music People and Maverick.

BUT we also have about 15 satellite music channels and not one dedicated to country (we used to have CMT Europe). Best we can hope for now is cut down versions of the CMAs on BBC2 late at night and the odd program on channels such as Life24 and Performance.

Many UKers still think country music is just cowboys and Dolly Parton.

[TG]

There are people here who are into US country/western music, but there are people here who'd be into any type of music if you look for them.
I have no idea just how popular US country music here, though. It's been a bit unique even in European terms, I know that much. Jim Reeves was wierdly popular here for years and I know that today every Irish person would know who Garth Brooks is, I should think.

I'm in a little side band that I put together for a local postmaster who's a Johnny Cash/Charlie Pride nut. He even went over to meet them and sang backup for Mr. Pride at the Grand Ol Opry, apparently. But I suppose you'd get people like that anywhere.

But there was a stange phenomenon which I think manifested in the counties north of here a few decades ago...Cavan and Roscommon, I think. It's a sort of middle aged Americanish Irish country music scene where they dress in sparkly cowboy duds and do country and western type music...but there's always an accordian and most of the songs seem to be waltzes. And the lyrics often seem to include something about an 'old bog road back home' and/or their mothers.

[blue metalflake]

There's a few bluegrass festivals in Ireland, mostly linked to the Irish American theme. They're well supported and seem to feature some American bands as well as local acts.

Not a great deal of big name country acts come over here - Gene Watson did a short tour last year. Garth Brooks was here as part of European tours maybe 4 or 5 years back.

As TG says, theres a curious Irish country thing - a sort of a cross between American country of a few decades back, and Irish traditional. The sound is unique to Ireland, and wouldn't be considered country by many. Thing is that the punters love American stuff, and lots of the local artists recorded american covers. A lot of the scene is ballroom & cabaret.

I haven't gigged for over 20 years now, but the live music scene is dying quite a bit. Lots of two piece bands with midi tracks, or as I say karaoke.

Back in 60's & 70's & 80's Buck, Merle, Charley P, Don Williams, Faron Young, Bill Anderson, to name but a few all played in Ireland, to what was probably fairly dedicated purist audience. Ricky Scaggs was here too, 6 or 7 years back, but there's little or none proper country scene.

[fakeocaster]

Country and Monaghon is the technical description(Monaghon being a county in Ulster)

[Paul in Colorado]

Thanks for the reports. Some interesting observations.

I wrote a scene today about a Country Club in Munich that's a converted 500 seat theater where they have a video game where you can test your fast draw and a mechanical bull. The bar stools are made from saddles and silver dollars are inlayed in the bar. The promoter looks like he walked off the set of a German language version of Bonanza. All the musicians are taking in this surreal scene and are mystified by it, but pull out some classic country gems for the crowd of swing and line dancers. The dressing rooms are tiny and people keep coming backstage to talk to them while their trying to get ready to play. The food backstage is mostly meat and the musicians are mostly vegetarians. There's nothing open after the gig and the restaurant in the hotel has already closed.

Does any of this sound authentic?

[Stefan]

Originally Posted by Paul in Colorado

Thanks for the reports. Some interesting observations.

I wrote a scene today about a Country Club in Munich that's a converted 500 seat theater where they have a video game where you can test your fast draw and a mechanical bull. The bar stools are made from saddles and silver dollars are inlayed in the bar. The promoter looks like he walked off the set of a German language version of Bonanza. All the musicians are taking in this surreal scene and are mystified by it, but pull out some classic country gems for the crowd of swing and line dancers. The dressing rooms are tiny and people keep coming backstage to talk to them while their trying to get ready to play. The food backstage is mostly meat and the musicians are mostly vegetarians. There's nothing open after the gig and the restaurant in the hotel has already closed.

Does any of this sound authentic?

It sounds surreal to me too.

[J-man]

Totally nonexistant around here and I couldn't be more happy.

[johnreardon]

Don't see much of it around us. I wouldn't care if there were any. It's only music. If it's good, then that's fine by me.

[blue metalflake]

Originally Posted by fakeocaster

Country and Monaghon is the technical description(Monaghon being a county in Ulster)

I was reared up a few miles from Monaghan, just across the border to Northern Ireland.

maybe thats what did the harm!

[Fatmanstratman]

Originally Posted by Spenceh

Many UKers still think country music is just cowboys and Dolly Parton.

Well.... they DO have a point.......

And not forgetting those dreadful whining, drawling pedal steels...

I'm afraid that the old "sh*t kicking" scene is very limited over here - unless you know where to look for it.

I was interested to see some names mentioned by PeterUK that were instantly recognisable to me through my good friend JOHN DAVIS, a man who travels the length and breadth of the country for several nights each week playing one of his many pedal steels at one show or another.

He will shortly be starting yet another tour with a show called "Nashville nights and Dixie days" - I'm afraid it is not my scene, but he tells me that they play to packed audiences most of the time so somebody over here must like country music!....



That's John in the middle on the back row - clearly looking at a different camera to everyone else! He is so obsessed with his pedal steels, he keeps one in Ireland and one over in the States, so that each time he visits he'll always have one handy to enable him to sit in with bands wherever he is. Is he MAD? Some of you may even recognise him in the USA - he pokes his nose in everywhere - invited or not!

PS: Big John - do you think the three people in the front row are what you were referring to as "wannabees"????....

[john s]

Before I emigrated to Perth WA, I worked in a country band in London up to 1981. The scene was very healthy and our band worked 6 nights a week in a 50 mile radius of London. Every Easter we used to do support to US artists at the Wembley Country Music Festival. I don't know too much about the gig scene in London now and would like to to hear if any of the Country Music Clubs are still going.

[john s]

Originally Posted by J-man

Totally nonexistant around here and I couldn't be more happy.

Hey J man......I teach guitar ( all styles) and the one style that facinates all my students is country picking.
Most come to me wanting to learn all the modern styles and even ...Jimmy Page!! but nearly all of them ,after hearing ...Brent,Vince, Albert...and all......decide thats what they want to try.
Not all country stuff is great but somewhere in the Valleys!!! there must be some great Tele pickers??

[Big John]