Care for Country

We love getting our tutors to write blogs for us about their interests and expertise and so are very excited to share Connor’s thoughts on country music. Connor teaches piano, guitar, singing and songwriting at the London academies.

by Connor Roff

Country on the rise: Americana what?

I never liked Country.

I used to think it was cheesy, basic and all sounded the same.

Recently, after starting a new music project called Little Water with a friend of mine, I’ve been proven wrong. Somehow and completely accidentally, we created a sound with some dulcet country tones and I discovered Country is a broad genre with all sorts of cool complexities and little gems.

Country originated in the southern United States from folk and blues music in the early 1900’s. Working class Americans developed its beginnings and it moved from hillbilly music and barn dances to blue grass, country rock and country pop in the later 1980s.

Chris Carlisle (first generation country): 

Country music is on the rise, especially in the UK. This doesn’t just come down to the popularity of mainstream country style artists such as Taylor Swift and Carrie Underwood. There’s a lot of genre blending occurring now, hence why the popularity of “Country” is developing more and more traction.

You may have heard the word Americana tossed around a few times recently in the music world. According to americanamusic.org:

“Americana is contemporary music that incorporates elements of various American roots music styles, including country, roots-rock, folk, bluegrass, R&B and blues, resulting in a distinctive roots-oriented sound that lives in a world apart from the pure forms of the genres upon which it may draw.”

In other words, a crossover of all sorts of genres, the first being country. Some classic examples of artists fitting into the Americana box include Neil Young, Jonny Cash and Tom Petty.

Some more current examples include Ryan Adams, The War on Drugs, Laura Marling, Ray LaMontagne, The Lumineers and so much more.

Here’s one of my new favourites called Chris Stapleton and his wife performing his song “Traveller” below. Go check out his two solo albums, they’re honest and cool: 

Meanwhile for some more traditional country sounds, check out rising UK duo The Shires and American acts Sam Hunt and Kacey Musgraves.

Kacey Musgraves has pushed conventional country norms talking about same sex relationships and smoking marijuana: 

If you’re like me and you want to start exploring this diverse world more, London has some fantastic events to promote and support country music within the UK coming up.

Grab your cowboy hat and boots and head down to Americana Music Festival in Hackney London from 31st Jan-1st Feb in Hackney London from 31st Jan-1st Feb and C2C (Country to Country) Music Festival at The O2 in March.

I’ll be there with a whiskey in hand.

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For more information about Connor’s new band “Little Water” follow them on social media:

Facebook: @littlewatermusic

Instagram: littlewatermusic