This year, Country Calling festival is laying down its roots in Essex. So, in preparation for this slice of Americana, let’s take a look at the enduring popularity of the Country and Western genre and aesthetic across entertainment in the UK, as well as the location itself, and what we can expect from the festival.
Enduring Influence of Country and Western Genre in British Entertainment
Country music might be the last thing you’d expect to hear in Essex, its origins being in the Southwest of the USA. As such, it originated in some of the same Western towns that we associate with all things cowboys, which is why the two are generally intertwined in modern popular culture and entertainment. This can be seen throughout elements of British culture, such as entertainment and fashion, with cowboy boots being named the shoe of the season for British Autumn Winter 2024 collections.
Particularly, in entertainment, online casino games intertwines country music with Wild West visual vernacular – after all, the slot game format by its nature distils themes down to its most simple symbolic elements. When players look at the latest slots on online platforms, they will find games like Buffalo Mania Megaways, Wild Wild Web, and Wild West Wilds, which combine themed visual motifs like hats, spurs, sheriff badges, and animals with country music soundtracks to create an immersive and authentic country-themed experience. With this in mind, country music helps to make cowboy, Western, and period US-themed entertainment feel more well-rounded, helping the theme to be a mainstay of British entertainment.
Source: Pixabay
The Festival and its Historic Location
Country Calling festival first opened its doors back in 2024, in Colchester. However, for the 2025 festival, the organisers, Wild Promotions, wanted to expand the festival. So, when looking for a new location to provide an immersive country music and Americana experience, they looked no further than Hyland Estate. Outside of music, this estate is home to Hylands House, a Grade II listed neoclassical Georgian villa, with the estate making up 574 acres.
Of course, Hylands Estate in Chelmsford is no stranger to music festivals; Hylands Estate is home to Creamfields South – the southern version of the Cheshire-based electronic dance music festival. As well as this, a new festival is currently proposing it be to at Hylands Estate in September 2025, if the council permits it.
What to Expect for Country Calling 2025
Source: Pixabay
Country Calling 2025 takes place Saturday 16th August to Sunday 17th August, from 11 am to 10.30 pm on each day. That’s right – this year, it will take place for an entire weekend, packed full of some of the top names in country music right now, as well as some epic homegrown talent.
Artists performing across the weekend are Alex Francis, Alli Walker, Blake O’Connor, Fanny Lumsden, First Time Flyers, The Bondurants, Morganway, Kezia Gill, Tom Hodge, and Wood Burnt Red. It is being headlined by Dillon Carmichael and Kaylee Bell, who have chart-topping hits and songwriting excellence in their repertoire.
So there you have it – how country music and Americana remain a popular theme in British entertainment, fuelling the growth of this newbie to the festival scene. And with this year set to be bigger than ever, its potential is sky-high.
