There’s no denying that country-western is having its moment around the world. Here in the UK, it’s never been bigger. Over the past few years, there’s been a major surge in country-western brands that are championing music, fashion, food and drink.
Along with this surge comes a host of interesting folks who are promoting the space in their own way. It’s a pleasure to interview James Attfield, founder of the country-western marketing consultancy and marketing agency Canter Group.
Americana Aspects: Walk me through your background and how your interest in country and westerns led to the founding of Canter Group?
James Attfield: My background is in corporate marketing. For nearly a decade, I worked with global and household names across fashion, automotive, pharmaceutical, and retail. A lot of my work was solutions-focused. This meant helping brands overcome challenges in customer journeys, content creation, and campaigns, often balancing human expertise with emerging technologies.
But outside of that, my passion has always been country-western. I’m a lifelong fan of country music, food, drink and fashion. Brands like Wrangler and Ariat are part of my everyday wardrobe. I ride western and my family heritage is deeply tied to it. My grandfather, James “Jimmy” Futcher, a carpenter by trade, built his own western stables in the UK in the 1960s and trained horses himself. I’m named after him, and I still wear his belt buckles when I ride. I’ve also used my grandfather’s riding silhouette for the logo of Canter Group.
Image credit: James Attfield’s Instagram page and photography done by @shot_by_mattc at location of Harbour Ranch, Emsworth.
When I left the corporate world in early 2025, I didn’t plan to build a business in this space. I was just reconnecting with my passions, riding more, attending gigs, and spending time in the community. I noticed a big influx of new UK country-western brands launching on Instagram, particularly in fashion. They’d get the name, the logo, and a few products sorted, but then stall. There wEas a clear gap in marketing and strategic support.
That’s where the idea for Canter Group came in, combining my marketing expertise with my authentic passion for country-western culture. What started as me offering advice to a couple of brands quickly snowballed. Today, Canter Group supports a growing collective of businesses across fashion, music, venues, food, drink and riding, as well as offering local operations support to artists touring here in the UK.
Americana Aspects: Country and western is clearly growing fast in the UK. Beyond music and fashion, what trends are you seeing in the space?
James Attfield: There are two categories of trends: how brands operate and what consumers want. On the brand side, there’s a rush of startups entering the scene, but many risk burning out because they lack strategy. The challenge is staying relevant and sustainable. That’s part of Canter Group’s role, helping brands go beyond just a festival stall and build long-term presence.
When I’m working with a brand, I’m also coming at it from being a consumer and saying this is what I would buy or engage with because it’s a natural part of my own interests and passions. It’s about authenticity. Established brands have nailed the authenticity side and operational quality, you only have to look at Wrangler, Ariat and Yeti for examples of that done perfectly.
The more exciting trends are on the consumer side and start with fashion. A few years ago, wearing a cowboy hat in central London would be seen as odd, niche or the look of a tourist. Now, country-western style has become cool and everyday. The denim, the trucker caps, the boots, it’s all become culturally acceptable and desired. I wear country-western fashion most days. Mostly there are times I wear it for horse riding and when I’m going out to see friends. I think that’s why a lot of fashion brands are appearing in the UK. After music, fashion drives the culture.
Another big trend is experiences and that’s not only country music. It’s wanting to experience ranch life and time away from cities. In today’s post-COVID world, people crave digital detoxes and immersive escapes. Ranches and western-themed venues in the UK are starting to offer that and getting a piece of what’s been termed the “Yellowstone Effect” without having to leave the UK.
Country music is obviously the biggest trend. It’s the instigator for growing the fan base. And all of these trends are helping Canter Group shape the experiences of the brands and artists we’re working with and promoting the message of heritage and accessibility.
Image credit: James Attfield’s Instagram page. Photography done by @shot_by_mattc at location of Harbour Ranch, Emsworth.
Americana Aspects: Can you share some real-world examples of how Canter Group is working with brands?
James Attfield: Absolutely. Take Harbour Ranch in Emsworth. Our focus there is on creating immersive experiences and making visitors feel like they’ve lived the culture and not just attended an event, regardless if they’re a holiday guest or a brand making use of our setup there.
What’s been interesting about this is being able to market the ranch to multiple subcategories of country-western fans. There’s the country music fan base, which is the largest demographic in the UK. There are western riders, people who are into the food and drink, and people who are only into the fashion. A lot of these demographics intertwine, but some will stick within their subcategory. So, if you’re trying to market a ranch experience, but touch on fashion, music and food, how do you make that campaign relevant to everyone? It’s about looking into what the audience wants to experience and being audience-first in all the campaigns we do.
For Harbour Ranch, it’s promoting the message of an experience away where attendees feel like embracing the customs of a state like Montana or Texas. If you can get that right, the guests or brands will believe they are on an American ranch. It’s not a transaction like a product. It’s a moment in time where someone feels like they are living something as soon as they put their boots on the ground.
Another example is Clifton Supply Company, a new fashion brand launched by experienced fashion founders with a history of creating highly successful fashion brands. They bring deep knowledge of fashion production, and I bring marketing expertise and country-western insight.
Let’s look at an example of one of Clifton’s products – a camo trucker hat. You might look at it and think, “I’m seeing a lot of camo hats on Instagram right now.” But when you look into the finer details of the product, you realise why it’s so important to have the right partners in marketing and to keep coming back to the core principle of audience first.
The inside of the hat tells a story. The sweatband is Flexfit 110 sweatband. That won’t mean a lot to most people. But it’s actually the same standard and specification used by the most high-end country and western labels. It’s considered the best of the best. It’s comfortable and it’s long-wearing.
When Clifton was designing those hats, it wasn’t just about getting the design right. It’s considering how it feels to the wearer. That’s a strategy that starts all the way from manufacturing and combining it with the story we can now tell about the feeling of the hat for someone attending a country-western event.
Americana Aspects: What challenges have you faced in bringing authenticity to such a niche market?
James Attfield: The biggest lesson is that you can’t fake it. Authenticity is everything. Country-western fans can spot the difference between genuine heritage and a gimmick. That means avoiding clichés or cheap imitations. It’s not enough to slap on a cowboy hat or boots and call it western because it’s a spoof of an idea made with poor quality materials. You have to live it and not only look it. You have to understand the culture, test products in the saddle and make sure they hold up in real conditions.
Something I learned early is that the audience can sense a cheap cowboy aesthetic vs a genuine expression of the culture. It’s a lesson that shapes how a brand like Clifton makes products and how Canter Group markets them. For any product being made, we’ll put them through the paces on one of the Canter Group ranches. We’ll jump in the saddle and drag them through the dirt to see how they hold up, so they meet the requirements of a western rider demographic.
Americana Aspects: Storytelling is key in the country-western space. What makes good storytelling for brands in the UK?
James Attfield: Storytelling here has two purposes. The first is attracting customers and the second is educating them. Unlike in the US, where the culture is centuries deep, in the UK we need to explain why heritage, community and resilience matter in western life. We’re essentially the overseas cousins and ambassadors championing that way of life. That means if you’re riding western style, you use western saddles and tack. If you’re wearing a cowboy hat you take time to get the right shape and size.
Brands like Yeti and Ariat do this brilliantly. Their stories weave in values like community, grit, determination and durability without ever feeling cliché. Their storytelling doesn’t only sell a product because it immerses the audience in a way of life. That means the storytelling has done its job.
For UK brands, the challenge is to respect American heritage while creating a space that feels authentic to our audience here. Done right, storytelling turns customers into ambassadors.
Americana Aspects: Beyond the usual marketing KPIs, what does success mean to you? And where do you see Canter Group in five years?
James Attfield: For me, it starts with community signals. Are people not only buying, but wearing products proudly, posting about them or recommending them? Are they coming back to events with their friends? Are they backing the international artists and wanting them back for more? That sense of belonging is more important than follower counts.
What’s awesome about this space is bringing customers into brands early on and turning them into ambassadors. And it’s not in the sense of being influencers who get freebies. It’s regular people that are buying the products and wearing them, and we want to hear from them first hand. We want them to be candid and tell us what’s working and what’s not working. It’s also incredibly rewarding to connect homegrown and international country artists with this growing UK community and establish a strong fanbase for them this side of the pond.
As for where I see Canter Group in five years, I want to be Europe’s leading authentic country western marketing and operations partner, supporting the best brands, venues and artists. I see us building a collective that represents the UK’s country-western culture at its finest, with international recognition but a uniquely British character. The dream would be to bring all the experiences together in unified events and campaigns. Not to monopolise the space, but to ensure the best of the best thrive.
It’s also an exciting time for Canter Group as we look ahead to support country artists performing in the UK and those on international tours here. There’s huge advantages to artist agents and tour managers working with us to have local boots on the ground and ensure artist appearances are a success with the UK audiences. From tour logistics and operations to strategic tour partnerships and wider team support, the artist space is something that we’re looking to provide a wealth of expertise and support in.
At the end of the day, it’s not slowing down. From music festivals to fashion, to ranch experiences, country-western in the UK is only going to get bigger. And I want Canter Group to be at the heart of making it both authentic and sustainable.
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