麻豆约拍

In 2013 the first C2C: Country to Country festival was held at the O2 in London. After many years of country music being the domain of a niche but loyal fan base, a new audience had started to discover the music, and country was becoming cool. With the UK’s voice of Country music ‘Whispering’ Bob Harris at the helm, Radio 2 became the broadcast partner for the festival, making two programmes of C2C highlights for its regular Bob Harris Country slot.

After two years of doing this however, it was becoming apparent the UK’s increasingly enthusiastic and ever growing audience were wanting even more. And then we had a thought. We knew that Radio 2’s four day pop-up station devoted to the Eurovision song contest had been a huge hit with the Eurovision fans, so why didn’t we do something similar for Country music? We could broadcast the festival live and exclusively on our own pop-up...

Fast forward to 2017 and, with its third incarnation just around the corner, Radio 2 Country is now the most successful music pop-up DAB ever provided by 麻豆约拍 Radio. Certainly on our launch day in 2015 we had an incredible audience response on social media – and the reaction then and in 2016 was resoundingly positive with the overwhelming sentiment on twitter being “Radio 2 Country - #makeitpermanent”!

We know that one of the biggest reasons for our listeners to tune in is our live coverage of performances from the C2C festival. Across three days this year, twelve of the biggest country acts in the world will take to the main stage at the O2, and Radio 2 Country is the only place you can hear it all broadcast live. This year coverage includes performances from one of country music’s biggest selling artists of all time, Reba McEntire; multimillion selling artist Brad Paisley; genre defying country rock group the Zac Brown Band; CMA New Artist 2016 Maren Morris and traditional country royalty - Marty Stuart - with his band of ace musicians, The Fabulous Superlatives. In between these acts our on-air Radio 2 country team, made up of Bob Harris, Baylen Leonard, Jo Whiley, Paul Sexton and Bobbie Pryor will be on hand with all the backstage action, including interviews and live sessions with some of the bands appearing on the festival’s other stages, including our very own Radio 2 Country stage.

When we’re not live from the O2, Radio 2 country will be broadcasting a rich variety of programmes which really show the wide spectrum of country music. Some of Nashville’s biggest stars will be taking a turn behind the microphone including Reba McEntire (Reba’s Gospel Hour), Marty Stuart (Marty Stuart’s Country Pickers) and Alison Krauss (Bluegrass and Beyond).

We’ve also invited the UK’s only digital country station Chris Country onto the pop-up. Fronted by broadcaster Chris Stevens, Chris Country first launched online in 2013 and on digital radio two years later. A massive country fan, Chris is a huge advocate of the music and artists here in the UK and it’s great to have him involved in Radio 2 Country.

And of course Radio 2’s own presenters will be out in force showing off their country credentials – with programmes from country experts Ricky Ross, Patrick Kielty and Bob Harris. Plus this year we welcome Trevor Nelson who will be taking listeners into the musical space where Country meets Soul; Sara Cox presents a country version of her popular Sounds of the 80s show; comedian and country fan Susan Calman looks at the comedy of country and plays ‘classic’ tracks such as ‘You’re the reason our kids are ugly’ and ‘Did I shave my legs for this?’; Mark Radcliffe pays tribute to one of his musical heroes, Hank Williams, and Colin Murray literally takes to a barstool to explore country music’s fascination with all things alcoholic.

But it’s not all about cowboys, whiskey and beer. If you’re someone who thinks they don’t like country music then prepare to be surprised. The tentacles of country music stretch far and wide …Lady Gaga, Al Green, The Rolling Stones, Leonard Cohen - listen out because they all make a musical appearance at some point across the four days. And if that’s not enough to make you retune your digital radio there’s always the John Denver and Miss Piggy duet. I’m not joking…

Al Booth is Editor, 麻豆约拍 Radio 2 Production.

• Radio 2 Country launches at midday on Thursday 9th March on .
• Find out more about the pop up station on the .
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