Is country music popular anywhere besides america?

[LiberalVoice]

I mean is american country music popular in places like europe ? I know Garth Brooks was popular there but i dunno about country music as a whole.

[LeftyMom]

1. Some country artists are Canadian

(Shania Twain for example) so I assume somebody up there likes it.

[Telly Savalas]

6. I can confirm that.

A Toronto country music station sponsored a free concert at a nearby beach on Canada Day. We went down as it was ending to take in the fireworks. I've never seen so many people wearing cowboy hats in one place in my life (and I'm originally from Kansas). Strangely enough, I've never seen anyone in the Greater Toronto Area wearing a cowboy hat other than that.

[enigmatic]

9. Country music is very big in Canada

and has been since the beginning. Alot of country music giants are/were from Canada, and Stompin' Tom Connors is an icon.

[babylonsister]

The Irish like country; in my youth I worked in an Irish

pub in Manhattan that played country music pretty much non-stop. Maybe that's why I'm not crazy about it.

[regnaD kciN]

30. That must have been a pretty weird Irish pub...

Besides, I don't think an Irish pub in New York City is a reliable guide to the musical taste of people in Ireland.

[enigmatic]

2. What do you mean?

Traditional country music, or what's passed off as "country music" on corporate radio?

[WCGreen]

7. Hillbilly wanna be pop.......

Traditional country is more akin to folk and so a lot of folks around the world love the songs....

Remember, Carl Perkins was one of th Beatles earliest influencs...

[enigmatic]

10. Yep, that's what I was getting at

What's passed off as"country music" on coraporate radio is essentially pop music dressed up w/ an occaisional fiddle and pedal steel; it has nothing to do w/ traditional country music.

[ordinaryaveragegirl]

3. Probably not...

An Aussie I know pretty well says that country is NOT popular there.

[foreigncorrespondent]

11. Then your Aussie mate...

...is living in a dream.

You don't hear much country music in the cities around the country, but you do get it. However, take a drive out into the country, and you will get country music.

Plus has your Aussie mate not heard of the Tamworth country music festival? (BTW here is a list of country music events happening around Australia. http://www.country.com.au/index.cfm?page_id=1007 BTW that comes from the country music association of Australia)

Has he/she never heard of Tamworth being talked about as being Australia's Nashville?

Now the big ones are, has your mate never heard of James Blundell, John Williamson, Tania Kernaghan, Tommy Emmanuel, Troy Cassas-Daley, Slim Dusty, Kassey Chambers, Gina Jeffries, Lee Kernaghan, and that's all I need to mention at this point.

All this from a city based (never lived in the country) girl.

[enigmatic]

13. yep

Country/bluegrass music is a worldwide thing; I have a bluegrass/old time country show block on my station that gets thr most listeners from any of my shows and most of them are from Europe and Asia..

[foreigncorrespondent]

14. Exactly!

Australia also has its own online country music live streaming: http://www.coolcountry.com.au/

[Sapphocrat]

15. Psssssssssssst!

And let's not forget where homegrown Melbourne girl ONJ got her start -- strictly C&W. :)

I still have that vinyl LP where her denim shirt is unbuttoned to to her-- uh, never mind!

[foreigncorrespondent]

16. Yeppers! :)

Funny you mention that, they have been showing that particular song, and footage during a commercial for a country music CD on the telly resently. I think of you every time I see it. :)

[I Know How To Do it]

4. Dale Watson can hardly get a gig in the U.S. because of his

anti Country Music stance and wins awards in the U.K.

Remember, Country Music was born out of rebellion, distrust of the Government, and grinding poverty.

Right now it's no different than Pop Music.
Rebellious Country Artists, Like Watson and Steve Earle won't even be played except for College, and public access stations.
Steve Earle said that Shania Twain is, "The highest paid Lap Dancer in Nashville."

[sasquatch]

5. My German counterparts like it

They said that they wanted to go to Nashville to see the country music hall of fame too.

[JohnnyBoots]

8. Is chewing tobacco?

[LynneSin]

12. Keith Urban is Australian

maybe Australia

I don't know - in general Australians seem like really smart folks!

[crispini]

17. Alt-country is mad popular overseas.

Slobberbone used to tour Europe all the time, and my friend's band Slick 57 first got signed in Australia. But that's definitely not the corporate pseudo pop that is "country" music nowadays. For THOSE bands, I have this:

[enigmatic]

21. Slobberbone is an awesome band

I've play "Get Gone Again" on my show all the time..

[crispini]

22. Aren't they awesome?

Too bad they are no more. :cry: "Gimmie Back My Dawg" -- I love that one! Also Lumberlung, Sister Beams, etc. Many many great songs!

[enigmatic]

23. What's Brent doing these days?

Has he got any solo stuff out?

[Spider Jerusalem]

18. Ireland is the only one I can think of...

but that's not so surprising, really, considering that country came from Irish/Celtic folk music, brought over to America with the Scots-Irish who settled most of the mountain South...

[Tom Kitten]

19. It's really popular in the Czech Republic and Slovakia

they definitely put their own spin on it though.

[bikebloke]

20. I've heard it in Germany.

Sung in German, too (Ich liebe mien Hest/ Yippee Yay Heeyyyy.....) When I was pedalling through Deutschland, I stopped at a grocery store. Inside, up on a high shelf was a live country music band playing.

[ForrestGump]

24. Very big in Australia, New Zealand, Germany, and many other places

It's a universal music, and has been for a long time, for better and for worse. Plenty of homegrown country-music talent in other countries, too. Kinda wonder how some of today's more jingoistic ditties are doing overseas, these days, though.

[grace0418]

25. There are people in Japan into it. I saw a club when I was

there. It was odd, but to each his own, right?

[MrScorpio]

26. Mexico, I think

[GoddessOfGuinness]

27. I hear it's big in Crawford...

:evilgrin:

[lpbk2713]

28. Anybody see the "60 Minutes" piece a while back

about the group of four talented Russian kids who were a fairly successful group doing pretty good in the USA? It showed them playing at the Opry. I don't recall their name or I'd give a link.

And BTW, I've seen performers in Europe do C&W even though they had no idea what the words meant.

[leftofthedial]

29. real country (not pop schlock) is extremely popular in Europe

particularly The Netherlands, Belgium and the Scandinavian countries

Also in Ireland and England.

[regnaD kciN]

31. I knew a folksinger from Maine, David Mallett...

...who decided to move to Tennessee and position himself as a country singer. He even wrote a piece singing the praises of his Tennessee home, despite the fact that he'd lived virtually his entire life in Maine. The song laid an egg in the U.S., but was apparently quite popular in Japan.

:crazy:

[LiberalVoice]

32. lol

Thats funny

[tjwmason]

33. Depends on what you mean by popular

There is definitely a follwing here in England - but it strikes me as more a bunch of individual folk who like it, rather than a quasi-maintream sub-culture.