We were as excited as anyone to see Rolling Stone rolling out its new "RS Country" segment, to deal with news related to the titular genre. In our eyes, it represented the opportunity to break down the barrier between country and "cool." After all, the world is still thick with thick individuals who claim to love all music "except country," about as dumb a statement as can be made by anyone who professes to be a music fan. At the very least, hopefully a new segment from the foremost music news source would show that country goes beyond Luke Bryan, to more obscure and quality acts such as Brandy Clark and Sturgill Simpson, and change many an opinion in the process.
That didn't happen.
"RS Country" is nothing new. It's tough to blame them. As people who scour sales charts and media every week, we can verify that country fans are unusually loyal. As in, they actually go out and buy records and spend money. They're also a valuable resource as readers, one that Rolling Stone realized it wasn't getting by largely ignoring the genre for years. The new section, theoretically, should be bringing huge numbers to the site.
The content, however, remains less than cutting-edge.
The major problem affecting the most popular country news platforms is that they don't have enough news to fill the space, partially because they don't dig deep enough into their own scene to find the Clarks and Simpsons. The result is news sites essentially becoming social media pages for the artists. "So and so has a baby," "John Doe talks about why he loves fishing," etc. We had hoped that Rolling Stone would buck the trend.
"Brett Eldredge swims with the fishes" comes close to jumping the shark. At least it features the aforementioned performer swimming with them. The musician was celebrating his single "Beat of The Music" going to no. 1 by diving with sharks in Nassau, and there's nothing wrong with that. Kudos to Eldredge for the accomplishment and the most excellent way to celebrate. But that's fodder for his Facebook. Not a Rolling Stone exclusive.
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