Just out of interest... UK country music fans seem to "love [and follow] American Country Music" as per the post above in the main, and I never really came across it (or them) in my 15+ years following the UK folk scene. By contrast Australia (where I have resided since 1986) seems mostly to create its own country music, something of a hybrid between U.S. country and folk in style, which occasionally also crosses over into popular music and also the folk music scene to a slightly greater degree, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_country_music ... mind you there is still a big Oz country music crowd (much bigger commercially than the folk scene) that would not be seen in folk clubs but have their own festivals, songwriting competitions, awards etc., all very successful over here (and lots of big hats and line dancing...) - more like the U.S. than the U.K. in that respect I guess. But the bottom line is that the "folkier" end of the Oz country scene does grade a bit more inmperceptibly into the "countrier" end of the folk scene over here, I would say.

- Tony