Alex's Weekly Blog - Tuesday 28th May

This ain't Texas, it's Stalybridge! It appears 2024 is the year of country music, and the Official Charts Company have released some jaw dropping stats to back this theory up.

If you've switched on Tameside Radio over the last five months, I'm fairly sure you'll be familiar with Beyonce's Texas Hold 'Em, which is lifted from her incredible Cowboy Carter album. She's also done a creditable cover of Jolene by Dolly Parton, as well as Blackbird by the Beatles, which even Fab Four superfan Dave Sweetmore is a fan of.

Crunching the geeky chart numbers, combined sales and streaming-equivalent sales of country singles in the UK so far in 2024 have already reached 11.5 million and rising, compared to 6.9 million 21 weeks into last year. Post Malone's brilliant collaboration with Morgan Wallen, I Had Some Help, was released a couple of weeks ago, and has also been added to our playlist.

Other big country success stories include Dasha's Austin, and my personal favourite Bar Song (Tipsy) by Shaboozey. I'm told both have been viral on TikTok, which is popular with young and trendy people. I'll stick to Twitter, or X as I'm supposed to call it nowadays.

Country has, of course, been around for many decades. This year so far, country songs have had a whopping 1.3 billion streams in the UK, which represents a 63% increase on the 800.1 streams achieved at the same point last year.

Beyonce smashed glass ceilings when she became the first black artist to achieve a number one country album in the UK, and it really is a terrific album if you've not had a listen yet. Other artists who are riding on the country wave at the moment include Noah Kahan (Dial Drunk is a superb single), and Luke Combs, who's brought Tracey Chapman's Fast Car back into the charts.

It's been an incredible surge of popularity. I've always been a shy country fan, but perhaps it's now fine to say it out loud. Classics like Blanket on the Ground, Rose Garden and Rhinestone Cowboy have always been cool in my book, but if a whole new generation of kids are discovering the genre, then that has to be good news. It seems an opportune moment to remind you that we have a Country Show each week on Tameside Radio, presented by Peter Fairhead. You can hear it on Sundays (5-7PM) and Monday nights after the Dave Sweetmore Show (9-11PM).

I wonder what else might come back into fashion? I would love it if someone influential on TikTok could revive the fortunes of classics from Stock Aitken and Waterman, but the chances of a Reynolds Girls revival are probably remote. It's interesting to note how much social media and streaming have changed our consumption of music. Most new songs are now incredibly short, and we're almost back to the days of Beatles, Kinks and Hollies, when most songs were little over two and a half minutes long.

Another thing I've noticed is the lack of long musical intros for us radio presenters to talk over, and annoy you in the process. We're usually straight into the hook, to try and grab the listener's attention, and stop them scrolling to the next track. I'm not going to go all luddite on you and argue that streaming is a bad thing, mind. Aside from some issues with the share of the pie that goes to the artists, it's made music a lot more accessible, I would argue. It's crazy to think I used to pay £3.99 for a CD single at Woolworths over 20 years ago, when I can get most of the music in the world for little over a tenner a month.

If there's to be no SAW revival (come on, Brother Beyond's The Harder I Try deserves another bite of the cherry, at the very least!), it will be interesting to see how long the country surge lasts, and what comes next. I'm always keen to hear your feedback too on the music we play on Tameside Radio, so do get in touch with your thoughts. I love a good music discussion, as my boss will testify!

Oh, and on a side note, here's one to impress your friends with. What do you think is the UK's most streamed country song of all time? Islands In The Stream, Jolene, and Take Me Home Country Roads all miss out to Meant To Be by Bebe Rexha featuring Florida Georgia Line. A good one for the pub quiz.