Are Aussies Taking Over Nashville? Billboard Seems To Think So

It seems the classic Aussie traveller stereotype that says, 'Wherever you go, you will meet an Australian,' holds true for country music in the US.

In a recent feature by Tom Roland on Billboard, the publication drew attention to "the rising tide of Aussie influence" in the US country music biz.

The trend was noted most recently when Nashville singer-songwriter Dylan Scott peaked at number two on Billboard's Country Airplay chart last month with his track Hooked. Nashville-based artist Morgan Evans and producer Lindsay Rimes, two of its songwriters, originally hailed from Oz. That together with the ongoing success of Keith Urban and Evans' own rise to country music stardom in the States highlighted an apparent shift of influence. 

According to APRA AMCOS Nashville member relations representative Mark Moffatt, the number of Australians working actively in the Nashville music scene has more than tripled in the past four years, from 30 to 110.

"I find that in Nashville, Americans like Australians," Rimes told Billboard. "They love the accent and stuff, but you do have to have the talent and work ethic to make it."

One artist who is outspokenly influenced by Urban's success is Evans. "He had those footsteps sort of already marked in the sand of how it is possible," he shared with Billboard. 

This influence of Australians runs deeper than an accent however, because according to the article, prior to Urban, the only Aussie success story in US country music was Olivia Newton-John, who when crossing over into the genre "created unintended controversy in Nashville".

Many including Moffatt also claim the "bush balladeer" stereotype "heavily influenced" mainstream media in Australian contributing to its perception problem back home and contributed to many moving Stateside.

"Success needs no explanation," Moffatt told Billboard. "It has changed the media perception of contemporary country, so there's a lot more attention to that. People can see that it's a pretty appealing genre, and it's not all about the bush [balladeers]."

Evans shared this sentiment. "I love that you can travel from one end to the other and feel like you're in a completely different part of the world. 

"But there are country music fans everywhere."

Urban will be heading home next month to host the 2018 ARIA Awards in Sydney. It will be his first time at the ARIAs since 2007. Read the story here.