Ella, Stella, Kacey — a new dawn or false Country sunrise?

MUCH has been made, particularly in the media, about a resurgence of Country music, but it’s only females Ella Langley, Stella Lefty and Kacey Musgraves or male stars Luke Combs and Zach Bryan who have made the charts over here since spring.

This begs the question — does five swallows make a summer?

Of course, the most sensational success of all was that of Ella Langley, especially in the UK which was always known as an arid desert for Country.

It was only for the spasmodic hits of Dolly Parton, Tammy Wynette, Shania Twain or their male contemporaries Johnny Cash, Glen Campbell, Kenny Rogers or a once-off Billy Ray Cyrus that the genre survived at all on this side of the Atlantic.

Ireland has had its own Country scene for decades but few artists in that genre except for Daniel O’Donnell and Country Folkies Foster & Allen made any real impact on charts in the UK.

Choosin' Texas

The hitherto almost unknown Ella Langley with an amazingly pure Country song Choosin’ Texas has become a sensational spring, summer and now almost all year around hit on both sides of the Atlantic in the Pop as well as Country charts.

Choosin’ Texas topped the Irish Pop charts also but this country has, over the years, a lot more regularity than the UK for Country songs doing so.

The US star became the first pure Country artist in more than 20 years with a No. 1 in the UK singles chart apart from crossover acts such as Taylor Swift, Chappell Roan, Beyoncé and Lil Nas X.

Ella is also the first female Country artist with a Country single to top the UK Pop charts since Stand by Your Man in 1975 by Tammy Wynette.

Around the time that Ella was in the top spot here the iconic Dolly Parton was back in the British charts with three hits in the Top 10 – 9 To 5 at number 5, Jolene at number 6 and Islands in The Stream with Kenny Rogers at number 9. Sadly, that was in the wake of Dolly’s passing at 80 earlier this summer.

Meanwhile, Stella Lefty was snapping at the heels of Ella (almost) by making the UK and US singles charts with her song Boston. In the US charts Boston peaked at number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and reached number 1 on the Billboard Country Airplay chart.

Closer to home Boston didn’t have the same amount of chart success as the Ella Langly hit as Stella Lefty’s song peaked at number 8 across the Irish Sea. It also reached number 1 on UK Country charts.

In the case of Kacey Musgraves, it seems a bit like yet another reincarnation as she was touted as the hottest new female Country singer back in 2014. Back then she was having hits with songs such as Merry Go Round or Follow your Arrow to name but two.

Here in Ireland this summer it was a collaboration with Zach Bryan on I Remember Everything that took them as high as number 13 on the Irish Singles chart.

The duo hit the top of the Pop charts here last July and of course Zach and the band played a number of sold out concerts in Cork during the summer.

Luke Combs sold out two concerts, months in advance, at Slane Castle in July but many fans were trying to sell off their tickets on discovering that it clashed with the Galway vs Limerick All-Ireland hurling final on July 19th.

So those five stars were the main soundtrack of Country in this country and the UK during the summer. But will there be more?

There will need to be, for Country to retain its upwards trajectory over here in this country, which really was the original country of Country anyway!