The salt air of Cape Cod is carrying an unexpected twang. Amidst lobster rolls and lighthouses, beaches and hydrangeas, a growing presence of belt buckles, cowboy boots, and a southern twist is emerging.

Country culture is experiencing an ever-growing glory in recent years. The hit television series glamorizing the western experience, like Yellowstone and its spin-offs are recurring instigators, drawing people into the culture and lifestyle. Recently, Cape Cod is hopping on board. 

Ross Roncelli is the General Manager at South Shore Music Circus and the Cape Cod Melody Tent. The uniquely circular venue, celebrating its 75th anniversary this year, creates an intimate atmosphere for up to 2,250 guests—and increasingly, those guests are coming for country music. The Tent has hosted major country artists like Tyler Hubbard, one part of the country duo Florida Georgia Line, Brett Eldredge, who has 2.1 million monthly listeners on Spotify and the Brothers Osborne, who have picked up the Country Music Award (CMA) award for Vocal Duo of the Year multiple times.

“This kind of country uptick is something that’s evolved over the last five or six years. It started pre-pandemic and then just continued to ramp up. I think some of our more successful shows have come out of the country genre, and we’ve had some luck finding some people on their way up,” Roncelli says. 

Lainey Wilson graced their stage in July 2023—she’s now a Grammy winner with nine CMA awards under her belt. Walker Hayes, the Grammy-nominated artist who won Best New Artist at the 2022 Country Music Awards, also played the Tent.  

“I think country music is having its moment right now,” Roncelli says. “The Northeast is on the back end of that, this wasn’t an overnight sensation thing; it was something that built up and, eventually, broke its way into the Northeast.”

The impact of entertainment on country interest expands beyond the music for Monique Costa, a born and raised Cape Codder. Her roots run deep—her dad’s fishing business once operated out of Provincetown—but over time, she gradually moved up the Cape. She only left for a few years to attend Bridgewater State University, returning with a deeper appreciation for home. Her passion for all things country started much like the cultural interest today—through a movie. Footloose lit the first spark, but a night out brought it to life. “I went line dancing at Barrett’s Alehouse in West Bridgewater and saw a girl on stage teaching,” Costa recalls. “I was so inspired, I told myself, ‘I’m going to be her one day.’ And now—look at what I’ve created!”

The rest is history, as they say. One night of line dancing fun turned into three years of traveling around the Cape for lessons. Eventually, Costa transitioned from student to teacher, creating Salty Boots in 2023, her traveling line dance lesson business. 

She started small, teaching at Hog Island Brewery in Orleans on a one-night contract. But, the response was resounding and the Brewery hired her time and time again. The growth, Costa says, was organic. 

“We have built such a good community,” she says. “It’s a healthy environment, good energy, no drama or fighting, and you are using your brain while working out.”

Families and individuals come back, learning how to feel the music and start dances to new songs on their own. It becomes muscle memory Costa says, and that is when people begin to love the activity. Costa credits TikTok and entertainment media for sparking initial interest but believes her community has staying power. “Make mistakes, don’t get frustrated. Mess up, because that’s when you’re going to figure it out,” she advises newcomers, teaching everyone from brewery patrons to senior living facility residents.

For Suzie Lambrich, owner of North Falmouth’s Old Main Mercantile, the country aesthetic was a perfect addition to the preponderance of  coastal chic retail offerings across the Cape. Lambrich, a Kentucky native, grew up traveling to Nashville for her ultimate shopping fix. When she decided to open her bespoke emporium of  unexpected treasures, she says customers have told her it is their top destination shopping choice. “When I grew up,  I was obsessed with Oleson’s Mercantile from Little House on the Prairie. I was amazed that one store could offer something for most anyone, and that was my goal when my career moved from design to retail. And the response from the customers has confirmed my suspicion. People come in all the time and say, ‘Whoah, I’ve never seen a store like this. How did you ever come up with such an eclectic mix of items?’” That mix at Old Main Mercantile includes fashion for women as well as men, housewares, personal care items and jewelry—and of course, a perfect accent seasoning of some country-affirming products—all with a healthy price range from “grab and gift, to luxurious indulgence.” Lambrich says a repeated compliment comes from the accompanying husbands, who upon checking out, offer that they dreaded the thought of the retail therapy they knew was in store for their partner, but they found the experience to be one they plan on repeating with another visit in the future.

The country wave caught another unlikely convert, Debra Palino, who traded her Boston banking career for cowboy boots and western wear. Palino transitioned from a job in banking to entrepreneurship after working part-time at a barbecue joint on the Cape. “I got to wear all my boots and hats. The owner put the bug in my ear about opening a Western clothing store, so I did,” she says.

Country Soul opened in May 2016, offering an assortment of clothing, boots, hats and almost any western accessory. Palino learned the retail business and the western trends she needed to stock from traveling to trade shows in Dallas and Tennessee. Attending shows, flipping through catalogs, and talking to colleagues helps Palino get an idea of what stock will catch a Cape Codder’s eye and what is still too flashy for New England.

“Being in Texas and the South, it’s different clothing. I can’t go all gung-ho like I like to, so I bring in a little bit at a time,” Palino says. For the first two years of Country Soul, she could not sell any Aztec print clothing. Today, Palino can, indicating the growing interest and acceptance of the western style. 

Styles have changed and so have age groups. When Country Soul first opened its doors, Palino sold to mostly middle-aged adults, but has recently seen more late teens and early twenties coming into the shop. Similarly, there has been a change in the demographics of who is purchasing items. While the store originally catered to Western riders, like barrel racers and ropers, concert goers quickly integrated into the usual customer base. 

“After a couple of years of catering to the concert goers, Yellowstone came on the scene and everybody wanted to look like the character Beth Dutton, so we changed again,” Palino says. 

Yellowstone caused a frenzy of entrepreneurs interested in opening a western store Palino says, but the pandemic created limited stock—businesses like Stetson had a waiting list for new customers and struggled to get product out to existing businesses. The entrepreneurial craze died down, but the interest in the style remained. 

“It’s not about being a cowboy. It’s just like any other style that is out there, like Bohemian or preppy. You just like it, you are lured to it. It doesn’t have to be practical. I try to educate people—if you want to wear it, wear it,” Palino shares. 

Country Soul specializes in customizations, stretching boots to individuals’ feet and making special orders for customers who know exactly what they want. Clothing is the stores best seller, but boots are the heart of Palino’s dream for Country Soul. “I love the person that comes in that has never put on a pair of boots and we go through everything—different toes, heels and shaft heights—it’s so exciting,” Palino says. The next trade show is in January of 2026, and Palino can’t wait to see what else the vendors have to offer. 

Candace Bouffard, owner of Beach Bum Surf Co. offers a Cape Cod Cowgirl^™ line in her Chatham store. She hand-draws all of her designs and logos, combining her love of the ocean with her lifelong affinity for line dancing. She shares, “We recently released a new design “Cape Cod Cowgirls Do It Better” which has been a fun addition. And our trucker hats are a fan favorite—we’re planning on expanding new designs and products!”

Some of those new styles may be worn to a show by Monica Rizzio, a Cape Country musician who embodies the energy of her album title Washashore Cowgirl. The record encompasses her experience as a Texan moving to New England and all the nuances that occurred in between.

Rizzio grew up on a thirty acre ranch in Quitman, Texas, a small town with very little entertainment. But her family leaned into music, staying up late on school nights to listen to records. Rizzio’s father, a native New Yorker, would play records back repeatedly, having her learn the rhythms, melodies and lyrics to each song. “Having that was essential,” she says now. 

While attending college in Nashville, Tennessee, Rizzio collaborated with a musician who was from the Cape. Upon graduating, Rizzio noticed that Nashville was not the music machine it has come to be known as today, and decided to move to New York where her family was. After months of commuting from New York to the Cape for rehearsals and writing sessions with her collaborator, Rizzio decided to commit to music full time, making the move and settling in Cape Cod by 2004.

“When I moved to the Cape, there was a bluegrass jam that was happening. It was called The Chefs, and it was held every Thursday night at nine in the evening, rotating through peoples’ houses. We would just jam until the wee hours of the morning,” Rizzio remembers. It was the only bluegrass scene she found on the Cape at the time, but since then, the world has completely changed she says.

Rizzio decided to head back to Nashville, where she cut her teeth on country music songwriting and collaboration. “Being back in Nashville felt really great. Anytime you step away from a place and return, I realized how much of an influence Nashville was on this latest record.”

Rizzio notes the explosion of Mumford & Sons, a bluegrass band from England with 12.1M monthly Spotify listeners and five studio albums, as well as Billy Strings and Bill Monroe , as an explanation for the growing interest in bluegrass culture. In addition, she credits organic interest from live music venues on the Cape as well as manufactured attention within concerts and festivals. Rizzio founded the Vinegrass Music Festival in 2013, a nonprofit music festival that hosts country, bluegrass, and similar genre bands. The festival, which is being held at the Truro Vineyards on October 5 this year, gives out multiple scholarships each year to students attending a four-year university in pursuit of a degree in music. Rizzio also teaches music lessons at her school, Washashore Music, in Orleans. Teaching students of all ages the techniques of bluegrass fiddle and flatpicking songs, she inspires a new generation of Cape country enthusiasts.

“From the time I moved here in 2004 to now, it is completely different. There are so many people dipping their toes into country Americana music,” Rizzio says. 

Brooklyn Moore is a freelance writer for Cape Cod Life Publications.