Nashville’s biggest stars stunned by one Australian concert tradition
As shocked as country musicians are to discover they have a huge fan base outside of the US, Nashville’s biggest names are stunned by one particular Australian onstage concert “tradition”.
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Every American country music star heading to Australia for the first time is given the same piece of advice: pack a new pair of boots.
As shocked as they are to discover they have a huge fanbase outside of the US, Nashville’s biggest names are stunned by a particular Australian concert “tradition” they encounter when performing on our stages.
Kane Brown, the award-winning singer declared the “future of country music” when he broke into the American charts, was primed for the shoey chants when he headlined the influential CMC Rocks festival in 2022.
“I got asked to do it a couple times. I ended up doing it at the music festival that we played. But even then, I used the new boot; don’t tell nobody,” he said from Nashville.
“I thought it was an awesome tradition. I wish I was cooler and did it at every show.”
Australia is becoming a must-tour destination for the new generation of cool country stars who wear their hearts on their sleeves and their beer in their boots.
American global chart stars including Morgan Wallen, Luke Combs, Zach Bryan, Chris Stapleton, Tyler Childers, Lainey Wilson, Tyler Hubbard and Kip Moore have all booked wildly successful tours of Australia last year and into 2024 and 2025.
On Brown’s first visit to Australia, he also sold out two side shows in Sydney and Melbourne. He returns in November for an upgraded national tour of our biggest indoor arenas.
The 30-year-old singer and songwriter kicked off his music career in the postmillennial style, auditioning for American Idol and X Factor. When the latter show tried to force him into a boy band, he quit and began uploading covers recorded in his bathroom to Facebook, scoring a hit with his first original single Used To Love You Sober, which scored him a major record label deal.
In the past eight years his career has exploded outside of the US as Australian, British and European music lovers who weren’t into country music connected with the new cool guard of artists who sang from the heart with songs that fused hip hop and R & B with fiddles and acoustic guitars.
Brown’s latest hit Miles On It is his second collaboration with American electronic producer and chartslayer Marshmello.
“I’m all over the box with my music … and I think that might be what kinda helped me out,” Brown said.
“But I think it’s about just following your heart and not letting anybody tell you no.
“And especially with today’s country, everybody’s different, there’s hardly anybody that sounds alike.”
This may be the key to why country music is having its global moment. While the Nashville gatekeepers may have held a tight grip on how artists should sound and look for decades, the new generation born in the era of social media, streaming and music-making software have embraced the freedom offered by the digital world.
They also embrace collaboration with their pop and hip hop peers.
Kylie Minogue was an early adopter of the country trend with her Golden album in 2018 made in Nashville and recently teamed with queer altcountry star Orville Peck and Diplo for the single Midnight Ride, which is bootscootin’ its way onto playlists and TikTok videos.
The clearest sign the pop world was taking note came with the release of Beyonce’s Cowboy Carter album which celebrated the influence of black artists on the treasured American genre.
Tanner Adell, one of the singers she tapped to feature on her stunning reinvention of the Beatles song Blackbird for that album, is now pricking ears with her line dancing anthem Too Easy from the Twisters movie soundtrack.
She is one of the next gen country artists performing at the Ridin’ Hearts festival in Sydney and Melbourne in November which aims to spotlight the American and Australian talent about the blow up worldwide.
“I think that, honestly, the biggest portion of my listeners is people who thought they didn’t like country music,” she told Countrytown.
“I have tried to make my sound as palatable in a global sense that anyone who listens to it can put on a cowboy hat and cowboy boots and be country for the night with me.”
Pop, rock and hip hop superstar Post Malone is also a country music chartslayer.
Songs from his upcoming record F-1 Trillion are dominating playlists and the Aussie charts with I had Some Help, featuring Wallen hitting No. 1 here and Pour Me A Drink with Blake Shelton breaching the top 40.
Warner Music Australia signalled their belief American artist Dasha will be a major pop crossover star this year by bringing her to Sydney for a special showcase next week as Austin (Boots Stop Workin’) cracked the ARIA top 10 singles.
Festival and concert promoter Brian Taranto, who has been touring alternative Americana artists here for decades and is bringing Tyler Childers back for an arena tour next February, said the key to building the Australian country audience has been to go regional and then bring the artists back for tours that include city venues.
“Country music is growing here partly because we are following the trend set by America,” he said.
“But it’s also become a fashion trend here. You walk down the street in Fitzroy or Newtown and there’s a hip country look happening, the tattooed cowboy or cowgirl.”
Tickets are now on sale for the Kane Brown tour via frontiertouring.com and Tyler Childers via livenation.com.au
Ridin’ Hearts festival tickets are available via ridinhearts.com
Originally published as Nashville’s biggest stars stunned by one Australian concert tradition
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