Yeeeehaaa! It's country time

FRIDAY night in Pokfulam and there's a lot of hootin' and a-hollerin' going on at the monthly University Hall line dance. Over in Lan Kwai Fong, May Ip strums her guitar and sings of love, life and coalminers' daughters. Across the harbour in Bar City's Country and Western Bar, cowpoke wannabees sup beer and listen to their favourite tunes covered by The Urban Cowboys.

It ain't much folks, but Hongkong's country lovers are doing the best they can to mirror a worldwide trend.

When Billy Ray Cyrus covered an old favourite, adapted its title from Aching Breaking Heart to Achy Breaky Heart and found himself sitting on a mega-selling single and album, he fanned the embers already lit by the likes of Garth Brooks and Randy Travis.

Country was back in a big way Stateside and the world has slowly been catching up. But Asia and Nashville don't have a lot in common, and although country's new-found sales potential has been recognised by country radio stations in Australia and Japan, Hongkong has been lagging behind.

Faced with a lack of support from the big record companies and a limited supply of releases, Hongkong's country fans have had to turn to the live music scene and a steadily-expanding number of country performers.

But the choices are limited. There is the Country and Western Bar which recently celebrated its 14th anniversary, and venues like Lan Kwai Fong's Brown Sugar, Amoeba and the Fringe Club, but little in the way of structured support for country.