Keith Urban’s Rolling Stone Australia Cover Helps Country Go Mainstream

In December 2020, Keith Urban was listed at number 29 in Rolling Stone Australia's "50 Greatest Australian Artists of All Time" issue. Now, the four-time Grammy award-winning singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and record producer will appear on the cover of the upcoming sixth issue.

This marks his first time ever to be anointed with the cover of Rolling Stone, and overall, another example of the country genre becoming more accepted in mainstream media.

Urban, along with artists like LeAnn Rimes, The Chicks, Faith Hill and Shania Twain, is renowned for helping to lead a sonic change for country music in the 1990s, with its influences in rock and pop. His most recent number one album, The Speed Of Now Pt.1, clearly shows his passion for genre-fluidity, with features from P!nk, Nile Rodgers and Breland.

Rolling Stone Australia's Managing Editor Poppy Reid says, "To me, despite his 31-year career so far, Keith Urban is one of the most exciting and interesting artists we've ever had the pleasure of chatting to at Rolling Stone Australia. For an artist who has been in the game this long, and especially given his close ties to country music, Keith is uncharacteristically genre-less. You only need a cursory listen to his last few records to hear how difficult it is to pigeon-hole his music.”

Recently, commercial radio have welcomed artists like Morgan Evans, Taylor Swift and Lady A among others. Evans’ Day Drunk played on both commercial and country radio, as did Lady A's Need You Now. Similar was Swift’s 2008 crossover hit, Love Story.

Also, though Swift was named the highest paid musician of 2020, Urban is Australia’s highest-earning country-crossover export. According to Celebrity Net Worth his net worth is put at $75 million, while he and his wife, Nicole Kidman, were placed as 15th richest celebrity couple with a combined income of $325 million.

The Rolling Stone Australia cover profiles the New Zealand-born, Australian-raised artist’s years on both sides of drug and alcohol abuse, to becoming a global export with 24 number one hits and a multitude of multi-platinum records. It also includes interviews with Swift, Nile Rodgers and John Mayer, who all candidly shared what they love most about Urban and the impact he has had.

In the cover photo by Tim Ashton, Urban wears his own Gucci coat and jewellery, with styling by Nichhia Wippell and grooming by Sophie Roberts.

Katie Taylor, Rolling Stone Australia Creative Director and Designer says, “I love this cover as much as I love Keith and his music … which is a lot. He is a man of creative excellence and the end result speaks for itself. Photographer Tim Ashton hit the brief perfectly and it is testament to his work that we are able to show Keith in this light."

Arriving on September 6th, the next issue of the magazine is set to continue the publication’s status as a major addition to the music and publishing industry, ensuring lovers of music, politics, and culture have everything they could ever dream of in one sharp homegrown package, while also helping to support long form journalism in the process. Rolling Stone Australia is also giving readers the chance to win a 'Squier by Fender' Bullet Stratocaster guitar, signed by Urban himself.

Keep up to date with Keith Urban on his Facebook page here.

For more breaking news from CountryTown, check out here.

Image: via Facebook