「经济学人」What ho, y’all

TikTok, tattoos and dreams of Texas

“All aboard the freight train,” Rattlesnake Johnny announces from the DJ booth, as he plays Alan Jackson’s “Freight Train”. A large crowd, sporting cowboy hats and boots, obediently falls into a Conga line and belts out “wish I was a freight train, baby”. They are led by “Memo the Hero”, a Turkish man from Newcastle, who waves an American flag as dancers gyrate on tables.

The line soon turns into “shot limbo”. Two dancers hold aloft a shot tray that punters must limbo under before downing a drink, while singing “It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere” by Mr Jackson and Jimmy Buffett. It is, in fact, 3pm on a Saturday in Revolution, a bar in Ipswich, a market town in the quiet English county of Suffolk. Ipswich, an attendee declares, is “the Texas of the UK”.

Country music has never been more popular in Britain. Streaming of country songs increased by 70% in the first four months of 2024, says the British Phonographic Industry, a trade body. It has overtaken easy listening to become the nation’s sixth-most loved music genre. Although its share of streams (3%) still lags a long way behind dance (9%), the fifth-most popular genre, country music is on a roll.

In the past stars of country music, which is predominantly popular in America, were little known in Britain. But Spotify, a music streamer, and TikTok, a video-sharing platform, have exposed more Britons to the genre. Rattlesnake Johnny, who was born in Newcastle before moving to North Carolina as a child, says new ways of consuming music have “broken down geographical barriers” so modern country stars can gain fame in Britain, too.

British fans are now forming a country scene in real life. Yeehaw, Rattlesnake Johnny’s events company, has packed out clubs from Aberdeen to Milton Keynes. Rhinestone Rodeo, another events-planning firm based in Edinburgh, has played clubs across the country and also held boat parties on the Thames. Y’allternative, which runs country-music club nights, has moved from a 400-capacity venue to Scala, a 1,000-capacity venue in London.

Organisers say punters want to enjoy the entire country-music experience. YeeHaw’s ambition is to become “the Cirque de Soleil” of country music, which explains the line-dancing and acrobatics, if not the alcohol. Rhinestone Rodeo brings hay bales to its club nights. One organiser says fans are drawn to his shows because they dislike the drugs prominent in much of Britain’s club culture. “They just want to sing songs,” he says. Country music, says a young hairdresser attending the gig in Ipswich, makes her happy—unlike the drill music she liked as a teenager and now believes is “brainwashing the youth” to become more violent.

Many in the crowd think country music fits with conservative values. A tattooed man in a cowboy hat says, for him, country is about the “freedom to do whatever you want”. He elaborates: “You think of Texas…farmsteads…little family units.” A man in his 20s, who lifts his sleeveless denim jacket to reveal religious tattoos beneath, says his conservative politics and his Christian faith intertwine perfectly with country music. It helps him find a connection with a “higher power”, he says.

Organisers of these events are quick to say that conservatism is not as relevant to the British scene as it is in America. Inside the crowd sing the Zac Brown Band anthem, “Chicken Fried”: “Salute the ones who died / The ones that give their lives / So we don’t have to sacrifice / All the things we love…like our chicken fried.” Your correspondent decided to slip out early, his stomach rumbling.

This article appeared in the Britain section of the print edition under the headline “What ho, y’all”(Aug 29th 2024)

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