Happy Birthday Keith Urban! + #327 - Keith On His Childhood, Relationship with Father, Marriage, Rehab and Overcoming Addiction

Keith Urban turns 55 years old today! In honor of his birthday, we wanted to share when Bobby and Keith sat down and dove into where his love of music started and how he discovered country music in Australia. Keith explains how his dad got him into country music and how their relationship led to him wanting to pursue it as a career. Keith talks about his early days starting out, his biggest inspiration as an artist, why he strives to make his live show so BIG and he also breaks down the day he wrote “Somebody Like You”. Bobby talks to Keith about how he and his wife Nicole Kidman seem like a normal despite each being huge stars. Keith confirms and debunks facts that you may have read about him online. Keith also talks about going to rehab for his struggles with addiction. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Today's Keith Urban's birthday. We love Keith, and we're gonna
play an episode I mean into last year. I guess.
He came over to the house, drove up in a
really cool car, sat for an hour and had a
really personal talk. You know, played some of this on
the radio show and some of the clips, and even
the show members were like, day, I never knew all that.
So this is Keith Urban and myself talking about life

(00:20):
for an hour. We talked about him growing up, his dad,
getting in and out of rehab, how he writes songs
in a really peculiar way. I hope you enjoy it.
Happy birthday to Keith Urban. And here is Keith Urban
on the Bobby Cast alright, and with Keith Urban, which
is Caitlin sends her best my wife. She just said,

(00:41):
Keith's coming over. I said, yeah. She said, tell him,
first of all, thank you for the wedding gift. You
sends the nicest sheets we've ever owned in our entire life.
You should, you know. I she got onto me a
little bit because you probably don't do this, but I
still have two. At times I have to spray tan. Yeah, okay.
And I got into the sheets and sprayed hand once

(01:01):
and she reminded me how nice of sheets they were,
and then I should never do that again. And then
you reminded her how much expensive tanning was, and it
didn't work. The tanning does not really hold a candle
to the but they weren't destroyed and they all came
out wonderfully. But she said, tell him thank you, And
she had even asked, and you tell me because we

(01:21):
had written you and your lovely wife and thank you card,
but we thought we would just mail it instead of
handing it to you, which would have been more awkward
to hand it to you in person or just to
get it in like a normal in the mail, both
of mine. Yeah, and you could have even not send it,
but tell me that you did in the thought that
they counts. I said that to to people, and I said, hey,
what if I just send people a message for a

(01:43):
wedding gift like a video? Mesthode felt human and said that,
and I said, but everybody just roasted me like it
was the dumbest thing they had ever heard, because they
just loved the tradition of the hand. If someone sent
to me a thank you card for something, I expected
thank you card four. Yeah, I don't feel like it
means as much if I get a thank you card

(02:03):
for something I don't expect to thank you. Absolutely that's awesome,
I hear you. Yeah, it's it's a complicated etiquette, isn't it?
Is this back home? Is it so? Etiquette back in
like Australia, New Zealand is a dumb American thing where
we have this, you know? Is this? Is this the
thing there with after if someone gets married. Back in

(02:24):
New Zealand, I had to learn the whole thing about
thank you gods. And because I didn't grow out with
any of that, I think my family was not that
etiquette at all. Etiquette that were not at all. I
I had to learn the hard way here that you're
right thank you notes to people. That was that was
completely far into me. I remember once you were kind
enough to invite me over to your place. It was

(02:45):
a Christmas and we were in Australia and he said, hey,
you should come over, and I was talking to you
about music in Australia New Zealand and country music in particular.
I was like, what is country music like here? And
you you had kind of expressed to me that country
music there is kind of am like, it's a different

(03:07):
kind of homebred, folksy country in Australia. That's some of
the the American version is getting over there, but it's
hard to find country music on the radio in Australia. Well,
the struggle for Australian country artists is there isn't the
big mainstream infrastructure that there is here in America. You know,
here we have FM country stations everywhere, get satellite radio,

(03:30):
you've got multiple video platforms. This is even preceding YouTube
with CMT and and g a C. None of that
existed in Australia. So there was a lot of country
out us wanting to make more mainstream sounding country music,
but there wasn't the platforms for it. And to some
degree that's still a struggle there. So how growing up

(03:51):
there did you attach yourself to the thought of country
music and that that's the kind of music you wanted
to make, or were you naturally just making it and
it was the most organic place for you to fit
musically here? It well, I mean Nashville was just the
destination because why why why was it the destination? It
was written on the back of all the records that

(04:12):
my dad had um Don Williams mostly and Glenn Campbell,
Charlie Pride, Merle Hagged. All of those records all sit
on the back of them. Recorded Nashville, Tennessee. So as
a kid, I'm like, oh, that's where you go to
make records period. I just thought that's where you go
if you want to make a record. But how did
your dad get so involved in music from Nashville? Because
not not at all was from Nashville. You're talking about

(04:34):
country music, like other than Bob Dylan, Nashville Skyline, you know,
there's there weren't a lot of I don't know if
pop would be the word or Nashville wasn't big unless
it was country American. How did your dad get involved
in that scene? Musically? So, in the fifties he was
playing in a band. In the fifties he was a
drummer and he played the band called Ricochets in New
Zealand and in the fifties. Rock and roll happened in

(04:57):
the mid fifties right, so made its way down in
his the island. My dad got obsessed with rock and
roll and consequently American movies, American cars. We always had
American cars growing up. Which is crazy in Australia, and
he was just in love with America and he loved
rock and roll in the fifties, all through the sixties,
and then in the late sixties when rock and roll

(05:19):
kind of went in a in a bigger, kind of
different direction than I mean, the origins of rock and
roll is really rockabilly, you know. There was there was
a country element in early rock and roll. So when
rock then became more rock as we knew it through
the sixties seventies, my dad went, that's kind of a
little too hard for me. And here's the connection. There

(05:39):
was a group called Oposo Sako Singers, which was a
folk group in the sixties, and one of the members
of that group was a guy called Donald Williams. And
then he broke away from that group, dropped that Donald
became Don Williams and went country, and my dad just
followed him. That was really it. And so you growing
up listening to that music, that was your music in
the house. Yeah, yeah, Well, and my mom loved Neil

(06:02):
Diamond Everly brothers. Um My brother was into e l
O and Super Tramp and Eagles and Fleetwood Mac. So
that was all the fusion. How proficient. Was your dad
with a guitar, terrible with guitar, great with drums, but
terrible anguitar. So for you, was it drums at first
or were other people playing a guitar around you and

(06:23):
you're like, think that that's it for me? No, they
said that Mom and dad brought me a ukulele when
I was five, and I guess it's a toy, I mean,
and and my dad said I could strum it in
time with songs on the radio. Wasn't playing any chords,
but the rhythm was there, so um rhythm, which I
mean possibly from him, definitely. Yeah. And my grandfather played piano,
so all of my dad's brother's role musical, trumpet, piano, guitar, drums,

(06:47):
four brothers, so it was all musical. And and I
just took the guitar, I guess because of the ukulele.
Was he the dad that wanted you to follow in
his footsteps of Hey, if I'm musical, I think it's
called that your musical or like so you people in
the creative world, that's I've seen what a beast this
can be. Like I would like to push you away
from it unless you push so hard back that you
want to get in it. Yeah, that that was it definitely,

(07:09):
because I I heided, I wasn't very disciplined as a kid.
I don't know if you can relate to that, Bobby,
But were you disciplined as a kid, because now, yes,
because of the addiction that my mom had and my
dad left, you know, because I was by myself with
my dad bailing out when I was six, my mom

(07:31):
being a drug addict her entire life. I was so
disciplined that I couldn't go down that path or I
was going to just go down the path and live
in that path. Um. So you know, even today, I've
never had a drink of alcohol because I feel the
addict in me with other things I do. So I
am extremely disciplined until i'm not, and then I'm off

(07:52):
the end and I have to find and I don't
know if you have to do this at times, Well,
I have to find my healthy addict. And I don't
know if that's a if that's a safe thing to say,
but I need to be addicted to something, So I
have to find the healthiest thing for me to be
addicted to, because my natural gravity is to go to
something and and and invest myself all the way in it,

(08:13):
so much so that it is unhealthy. So I got
upind the healthiest version of that because it's just in
me intrinsically, like I I yes, I am so disciplined
to a fault, so because I know I had one
instance where I really felt it and I do want
to get back to, you know, talking about your parents.

(08:34):
But at one instance, whe now I was um, I
got jumped and got a gun to my head, and
I had a bunch of like trauma in that way
where I got held at gunpoint. I had UM, I
have a house broken into. It was like a lot
of things happening when my career was just starting to
take off and I didn't take it seriously yet, and
I was having some some threats from the outside and
I couldn't sleep, and so my doctor was like, hey,

(08:56):
you should if you can't sleep and you're sick, you
should take sleeping pills. Took them, how trouble with them,
couldn't get off of them, and I was like, oh
my god, are staying up doing that side of them? Well, yeah,
I don't remember. I don't right, I don't remember. And
so I would take these sleeping pills and I remember
the day where I went, oh, I'm stuck. I'm stuck.

(09:18):
And it was the only time because I remember my
mom being because you couldn't sleep without them, couldn't sleep,
but couldn't sleep without him. I felt like they were
tethered to me. Anywhere I went at any point, I
had to have them with me because if I needed
to sleep, that was the only way I could go.
And I remember thinking, oh, I'm I can't. I can't
beat this right now, like this has got a hold
of me. And it was the only time that I

(09:39):
ever related to my mom because she had been in
rehabit and out and I always thought, why can't you
just beat it? But I just had smidgen of it,
and I was like, oh God, this is it. And
so because of that and how I grew up, I
am extremely disciplined. So did you answer your easy question
about life and music? You know, I do have that

(10:00):
discipline in me from I gotta be or I'm gonna
go off. Yeah that makes sense and not be completely Yeah.
So I was disciplined as a child. You were not disciplined. No,
I wasn't. Um. I think just being an artist comes
with a sense of being able to create, and there's
so there's a sense of just freedom and liberation. Also

(10:22):
as the youngest, you know, I had an older brother,
and I think it's not uncommon for the younger sibling
two potentially be a little more like, well, everyone else
takes care of everything. I'm fine, I'm just floating along.
So if your older brother played music, how come eating
get stuck with the bass? Yeah, he didn't play. We
started playing guitar at the exact same time. I was six,

(10:43):
he was eight, and he started on a steel string
acoustic and I started on one with nylon strings, and
he he just couldn't hack it and gave up pretty quick.
And to your point about my dad, I went into
my dad one time and said these strengths, these hate
playing guitar, and my dad has all right, but then
don't do it. And I was like, that's not what

(11:03):
I wanted. I wanted him to tell me I have
to do it and get into a fight. So it's
kind of reverse psychology that worked really well. What was
the relationship like with your dad and you as you
became twelve, fourteen, sixteen years old? My dad's alcoholic was, um,
he's not here anymore. Um, But he was alcoholic his
whole life and never just never dealt with it. You know.

(11:25):
So my brother and I classic adult children of alcoholic
raised and uh, I got the same genetic disposition as
my dad, and my brother didn't have that. Really, it
doesn't have it. It's wild because I feel it. I
have it, and luckily I saw it early. But it's
crazy that you would have it and your brother doesn't. Yeah,

(11:48):
but then he has no hair and I have hair,
so it's a fair trade. Did you feel like as
you tried to achieve musically you were doing it for
you or you were doing it somewhat to create a
bond to your dad? Maybe wasn't there because of other circumstances.
Probably both, you know both, And you know I think, Um,

(12:09):
in the song we Have Wild Hearts, you know, there's
a song about it opens with Johnny Cash, you know,
sort of man in Black. Because when I was five, dad,
mom and Dad took us to see Johnny Cash, and
I remember so much about that concert. But the thing
I think that is subconsciously in me. I was really
taken by how my dad was staring at this guy

(12:30):
on stage and probably thinking how do I get my
dad to look at me like that, Right, isn't that wild? Yeah?
So I don't I don't know if I saw it.
It's hard to know, right was that that? Did I
recognize in that person on stage with the guitar? Did
I recognize something that I was going to do or
something that I wanted to do, or something that I

(12:50):
should do? I don't know. It doesn't really matter in
the end. When did it start to be And I'm
not going to say the word easy, I don't think
that's fair to you. But when did it start to
be that you had an understanding that you could actually
create and manipulate with that instrument? Tuesday? This week? This
week you've been missing, You've been missing a lot. You've
been doing pretty good up until Tuesday. You've had us

(13:11):
all fold. Was it was it fourteen fifteen? Was it
earlier than that where you're like, Okay, I can actually
do this at a higher level than like my peers
who are doing this. Uh. I don't know if I've
ever felt that way. No, because you know, in Australia, Yeah,
because I've always been around people way better than me, always,
and in Australia there's like the local guy playing in

(13:33):
the cover band, because people go who your influences? I'm
like the guy in the local cover band Barried Clough
and then Dallas Seldom and then Ridge Grant and all
these guys playing in cover bands. I'm twelve years old,
thirteen years old watching them gone. I wish you could
play that good. And then at some point you play
that good, and so you're already looking to the next guy.
I wish you could play as good as him, and
you just your your influences, keep moving. Who was it

(13:56):
for you that was your favorite your first favorite artist?
We're you really clicked and you're like, that's my favorite,
your own. It's a good question, Gosh, I don't know
for me. I'll vamp a bit as you think about that,
so you can have a good answer for me. You know,
it was it was John Mayer whenever he was starting,
because I felt someone writing the things that I was thinking,

(14:16):
and I never had had experienced that before. He's a
couple of years older than I am, but I was like, wow,
this guy one. I liked his tone, I liked the style,
but he was saying things. It was like a really
good comedian. You know how you go, oh, I always
thought that I just didn't know how to say it
like that. It was the first time I've ever heard
that in song, and I thought, wow, he's he's kind
of speaking for me musically. Is the first time that

(14:38):
had ever happened. So he became my first ever like,
that's my favorite artist. There have been others that that
since I've done that, I'm a big Counting Crows guy too,
you know, Um, but John Mayor was it for me?
Now that I've given you a little time, who do
you think it is? Well, what I actually think about
is John Mellencamp is the is the guy that's coming mind. Um.

(15:02):
The reason is I grew up playing list country music, right,
going to all these talent quests and different competitions playing
country music. But then I got to be twelve fourteen.
I left school at fifteen. I was playing in a
cover band at fifteen. So we're just doing top forty
and I'm playing in all the pubs in Australia. And
the pubs are rough places, you know, just concrete floor,

(15:25):
hose it out the end of the night, rough crowd,
no holes barred. If you suck, that will let you
know you suck. And I grew up playing in that
very rock environment, and so I loved country, I loved rock.
I love Top forty. I'm like, what the hell do
I do? Who am I? Musically? And then John put
out Loans from Jubilee, which was an album that had

(15:45):
songs like paper and fire check it out, Cherry Bomb, YadA, YadA,
and it was rock, but it had like fiddle and
at accordion and everything. So we went to see him
in concert on that tour. I was playing in a
cover band. The band got tickets. We went to see him,
and we were way up in the nosebleeds in this arena.

(16:07):
Him and the band comes out and they play, and
it was It was so insanely great and it was rock,
country something whatever the hell was going on. It was
literally an epiphany. And I saw what John was doing
and I went, oh, that's the answer. You don't think
about labels. Just take all the things you love, figure

(16:28):
out how to put them together and make it be
like this. And I was very lucky to meet John
many many years later and tell him that story, and
he said, it's so great that that's what you took
away from that concert, because most people leave the concert
and go I'm going to do that. I'm going to
have fiddle in my bed and you know, and just
rip off John Mellencamp. But what I took from it
was just do your own thing. Take all the things

(16:48):
you love and the original and John Mellencamp, obviously a
Middle America guy who had country and rock roots at
the same time, incorporated the mall. How do you see
that affecting your show that you do now, Like, what
are the surroundings that you've taken from your life because
you have a different kind of show? Yeah, of really anyone?
I mean, and I say that in the most complimentary way.
And I've told you this off a microphone too, Like

(17:10):
you do the best live show I've ever seen. I've
seen a lot of live shows. I'm jaded at this
point too. I'm extremely jaded. That compliment it is, Yeah,
it is. I've seen it all and I don't care
to see anymore because it's just part of the life
we live right until. But when you're moved, you're moved
so hard when you're jaded, and to watch you perform,
I leave and I'm like, god, dang, I just I

(17:32):
thought i'd seen it all. So because of that your
it is so so what do you take what are
your influences that have created what is your project? In
the same way that he had taken fiddle and he
had taken you know, a different kind of percussion yeah, um,
and the different service off me as I play guitar,
So that becomes a strong point of of the of
what I do. I love guitar riffs. I love catchy songs,

(17:57):
you know, unapologetically energy too, and energy yeah, and fiercely
in the moment presence, absolutely and really giving a ship,
like really really like this is the last gig I'll
ever play. Every gig is the last gig you'll ever play.
That's what I think I want to talk about your
shows is not only is it musically wonderful and sonically
just the greatest, but there's so much energy there that

(18:19):
doesn't feel forced energy. It feels like pure energy. And
there's a difference. Sometimes you go out and you really don't, like,
I want to really work for this show, but it
doesn't feel like work. It feels like that's who you
are as an artist, Like that's the most genuine version
of you. And again, if you if you haven't seen
Keith show and Honestly, this wasn't leading up to the
promo of your tour yet your tickets are until today,
which works in great into this um and it's the

(18:42):
it's the greatest live show I think I've seen because
and I don't know why you keep going into the audience.
You may not not do that with COVID. Now what
I've just seen you do it so many times. Like stop,
like I'm worried for your own hell. Like people we
were talking to Jerry uh Flower, Yeah, yeah, yeah, Jerry Clower.

(19:05):
Jerry Clowers one of my favorites too. By the way,
Jerry Jerry Clowers only one time and he is just
a pistol. Yeah. So but the other Jerry, who you
were in the ranch with and who is your musical
leader band director, I don't know. He said that you
guys were doing a private function and you ran into

(19:25):
the crowd and they were so high they started biting you. Yeah.
It's like, wait, what, Like I knew that was going
to happen, but it's already happened. Like they pulled your
shirt off and they were biting you, and you kind
of give off the door, like you accept that. So
we try and feed people before this day now and

(19:48):
very passionate, very passionate. Let me say this. The new
American tour, The Speed of Now World to fifty three
shows between June sevente and November five of two. There
was a full list of dates and tickets right now
at keith Urban dot com. Let's go back whenever you're
playing in these cover bands, what was the ceiling for
you as far as for your career when you're sixteen

(20:13):
years old? What's the ceiling in your mind? How far
you can get in your career. I never thought of
I don't know, it's so weird. I was never one
of these kids with a plan at all, none, just
let's try and get better. I was playing in this
cover band that I talked about so well Mally can't
yeah yah yeah, And I wasn't the lead singer was
guitar playing and uh we well, well it was for

(20:37):
a cover band. We were doing a couple of thousand
people on a on a Sunday afternoon, which was a
lot of people to come and see this cover band.
But it was a really good band. What was your
role in the cover band guitar and lead singer? Uh? Well,
we had a lead singer that wasn't you, wasn't me um.
And the only reason I joined this band was I
had a manager who was also managing this band. It's

(20:58):
a long story, but I been in I've done jos,
I've done bands. I've always had my own thing, right.
It was always me was whatever. I was always doing
my thing. My manager thought, I really need some frontman experience,
how to handle a crowd, how to put a set
list together, how to put on a show, how to
just lead. And so he said, I've got this band.
I think you should join the band and watch this
front man because he's amazing and you'll learn so much.

(21:19):
So I was with that band for about a year
and he was right. I learned so much from that
lead singer. But but one of the things was I
wanted to do some original songs. We're doing all these covers,
and so I started writing a song and he loved it,
and the band learned it, and he was going to
even sing it and it would be on the set

(21:40):
list and I'll be looking at the guys in the band,
I'm like, here comes a song, gets a song, We're
gonna get to do a song. And he would bail
on it. Every time he'd be like, no, skip that one,
Let's do money money, and I'm like yeah. And after
a while of that, I just went and I'm not
this is going nowhere. What are you gonna do with covers?
I want to want to play Ridge all music. So

(22:00):
I left the band and the drummer and bass player
quit at the same time and came and joined me.
And so then what do you do? Is it a
new name band? Is it? Are you? It was just me?
It was just solo. Um. But then of course I
couldn't get any work playing original songs, and so we

(22:22):
resorted to being another cover band, but slipping in my
own songs in between the covers at least. And so
as you're doing your own music, are you in Australia
at this point? Yeah? Yeah, that's all in Australia. Was
the plan to get to the States at some point? Yeah,
but I didn't know how when nothing knew nothing about that?
Then how did you? So nine my manager got some

(22:45):
tickets for us to come over to America, and we
came to Nashville and spent played down at the Shownees
which was on to Mombrian and pitched my crappy demo
to all the labels met with complete silence? Is it now?
It was met with complete silence because that's your big,
famous and successful or was it really met with complete silence? Oh? No,

(23:08):
it was terrible. But first of all, it was a
terrible demo, which, of course, when you come from if
you're not from here, you think it's pretty pretty good,
because it's pretty good from where you come from, but
it's pretty crap when you get here compared to everything else.
And I was just out of out of step, out
of place, out of step. My music didn't fit at all.
So what made you think that you could stay and thrive?

(23:31):
Because Nashville was like sixteenth and sevent to have. And
I got here and I went, this is it? Is
this it this is the legendary iconic music row, Like
that's it, My god, this is this is fantastic. It's
not New York City. It's not like this is I'm
at home. I love it here, it's great, and I
didn't want to leave. And I also foolishly thought, we'll

(23:53):
get I'll get here and I'll start writing songs and
I'll record and boom, we'll be often running in no time.
And man, the years just went by, and by what
are you doing? And could you make money? Though? At
the time, Like if you're coming from Australia and you're
just visiting, were you able to make money? So I
signed a publishing deal with a company in Australia that
had an office in Nashville. It's very small, little wage

(24:13):
to where it's not even a wage. What is it
like money that you're gonna have to pay them back? Right?
So I'd come over for a couple of weeks on
my own, stay with crash of somebody at their house,
gonna write songs every day with whoever they've put me with.
You know that thing that we do here in Nashville
professional songwriters. Whenever the new kid in town is, they

(24:33):
throw them in with the pro songwriters and see if
something happens. Was that weird for you, by the way,
because that was the culture and you've been writing probably
by yourself. Yeah, but yeah, it was really difficult. I
also was no when you're good enough yet? And so
I'm getting with really great pro writerers and I just
I sucked. I just had so much to learn that
was excruciating. And are you learning or are you overwhelmed?

(24:54):
I think I had also frustrated the way in which
I would write with my drum machine, of my bass
or a banjo or something, and always with a groove. Always.
I would never sit with a guitar on a legal
pad in a windowless room. So were you an early
track guy? Because if yeah, definitely, because I like I
like them well, because I write from the music out.

(25:15):
The music is trying to tell a story and then
I extrapolate the story from the music. Will you write
songs with melody first? Uh? Just straight melody? Will you
write a melody and that's what you have? Then you
create around the melody. Are you more prone to do
that when writing if you're starting from scratch or an

(25:36):
idea a lyric like where do you like to start?
If you get to choose, If I get to choose,
I like a groove. A beat doesn't have to be fast,
just any kind of beat that I can then play
along with, whether it's bass, guitar, guitar, piano, something, banjo,
whatever the matter, Just something that you pick up and
just respond to and then a melody comes, A melody

(25:58):
comes of some sort, and then you the music has
an emotion about it's trying to say something I make
somebody like you. You know. That song started from flying
out to l A meeting this guy John Shanks. So
I didn't know. Um, I was so nervous to meet
with some l A guy, you know, and I'm like,
what do I know. I've showed up with my banjo
and everything. And before I went to the session, I

(26:20):
went to this Irish pub and I had a pint
of guinness and it was like ten in the morning
and it was really good. Sad another one and it
was a really good So I had like a third one.
I get in my car, drive over to the studio
where he is and by and by then I walked
in and I felt pretty pretty just not bulletproof, but
I felt very relaxed, very confident, you know. And he

(26:43):
had this little drum machine and it was going that's
all I was doing. And I pulled my banjo out
of the case and dang, the dang the dawn and
then dan, dang and dang, and no idea why, I
just it just came out and we're like, oh, it
feels good. What do we do with that? You know?
It's in the new sound nothing sundown down and so

(27:06):
does something gotta find some words and that's that's it,
and then you just the rest comes. You're creating that
vocal melody to without putting the words on it. Yeah yeah,
so blah blah blah. So that that that, and then
you'll go would you record that? And you go back
over and go, okay, you know what's down here? Yeah?
Well A lot of times it Gibberish is actually trying
to say something like you listen to the type which

(27:28):
way had a type then and it would be new
and then you're like, oh, there's a never there was
that a new win something right there down never never
known sounds like it's like screw, it's all in there.
I think Mick Jagger calls it making foul movements. Great.
So as you're here and you're learning to write, when

(27:50):
does the ranch start to be a thing? Uh? Well? Um,
this three piece band that I mentioned, I had drummer
bass playoff that I took from this cover band. I thought, well,
let's let's head over to Nashville and do some shows.
You know, all I can bring is bass playing and drums.
I got no money, I can't afford anything. Um. By

(28:11):
right around that time, I actually had built out a
five piece band. I signed a record deal in Australia,
did it, did an album, put two more guys in
my band, keyboard and guitar, drums, bass, keyboard, guitar, and me,
and we're touring around playing these songs off my album.
So it was starting to happen in Stay. It was popping,
had a song on the radio and I was like,

(28:32):
here we go. It's great, you know, but all I
wanted to do is come to Nashville. I couldn't bring
the whole band, so I could bring bass and drums
at least I could bring and make a sound out
of it. My basse play Drama were the two guys
that didn't sing, so I had no harmony, no nothing.
So my bass player went back to Australia and I
found a singing bass player from Florida and we played

(28:52):
for a year or so, and then he went back
to Florida and we found Jerry who came in and
took over. So we were three piece because of no money.
It was not my preference. It just couldn't afford anymore players,
and that eventually became the ranch. What's interesting about that,
if we were playing back some of the Ranch stuff
with Jerry, and it feels like it was just ahead
of its time, like that, that music, and we were

(29:13):
listening to some demos and some old some old you
know Ranch cuts. It feels like seven years later that
probably hits. Do you feel like it was a bit
advanced musically and that's why it didn't work at the time. Yeah,
it certainly didn't sound like anything on radio, and that

(29:34):
that's always the thing, you know with the record we
made in just didn't sound like anything on the radio.
It was hell making that record because we were signed
to Warner Brothers and we went in with every quarter
pointed producer in town. Ah, every one of those situations

(29:54):
didn't work because what happens is we would either sound
like us, which didn't sound the radio, or we would
sound like something that could go on the radio. It
didn't sound like us. And we were just in hell
and just no matter what we did, we just couldn't
make it, couldn't make it work. Was there someone that
was betting on you? Though? As Keith Urban like, Okay,
the Ranch didn't work, but we still have faith in you.

(30:14):
And so many times in this town, once you don't
make it, people are like, well, You're just not gonna
make it. I see it all the time, like, well,
you didn't make it, probably not for you. Was there
anyone that was like, hey, I know that didn't work,
and maybe it was just you. Was there anyone that
was like, hey, you have that star, like, let's keep
going and try to figure out who Keith Urban is
instead of this three piece? I think that was me.

(30:37):
I mean I just had that burning belief. I know
wise because I was I'd grown up on oldest music.
I knew how to make the music, but I didn't
know how to make it with this band. This band
had a unique sound about it, and the band wasn't
I wasn't trying to get the band signed, you know.
The van wasn't in the plan. Originally it morphed into that.

(30:59):
So it was originally you. It was me. It was
me and my bass player and drummer. We didn't have
a name. It was just my name, um. But we
got messed around with so much by the record company,
and the tipping point was over at that label at
Warner Brothers at the time. They just signed me, not
the other two guys, and we made the record and
they said, oh, we're gonna send you guys out, maybe

(31:19):
to play some of these songs. But actually we're not
sending you guys out. We're just going to put a
house band together, and I'm going to send out you
Keith and about four other artists on our label, and
you guys will all share the same band. And I went, no,
I won't you like, what do you mean? I go,
I'm not, I'm not. I'm not playing with just I
got a band, take my band with me. And they're like, yeah,

(31:40):
but we didn't sign your band. I go, no, I know,
but I mean they're my band. It doesn't make sense
when I play with someone else. And uh, when we
got dropped from that label and went over to Capital,
I said, you have to sign everybody, and I'm I'm
going to get rid of my name. To the hell
with it, getting rid of my name we're doing, you know.
And I had so many people around me saying, don't
do that, don't don't drop your and just lose yourself

(32:01):
in the band. But that's what I did. When you
became keithone, rolled through some number one here two thousand
and one, your first number one. But for the grace
of God, it's here a little bit it is again
after the years of struggle on a label to have

(32:23):
a hit, did it feel like a relief or did
it feel like this is amazing, because there's a difference.
Was that like, oh my god, thank you? Was like, whoa,
That's what I'm talking about? It only above. It was
surreal to have a number one song in America was
just crazy. Remember that like it was yesterday. Really, oh

(32:48):
my god, twenty years ago, you still remember it like
that your first Yeah, I remember exactly the house I
was at, what I was doing, who told me everything,
like detail because it was too surreal. I was like
number one, like the number one most played song and
country radio in America. Truly really did your life change
after that? After you had a number one, since you

(33:09):
could say it, um, I felt like, okay, now we
got a chance to get some more music going. And
the next single off to that, I think was Where
the Black Top Bands, which is weird because it peaked.
I was looking at numbers. It wasn't a number one,
but that, to me is one of the songs I
think of when I think of you and your catalog

(33:30):
is Where the Black Cop Ends. It wasn't even number one,
which shows you not all number one or career songs,
and not all career songs or number one song even
in two thousand two two did that song feel big
like a number one song? Where the black Top ends.
I can't remember that that when you can't remember now,
I can't remember that. I mean I remember making that

(33:52):
a whole album with Matt Rawlings. And it was the
first time where I was in a studio and having
gone through all of the famous producers and realizing none
of it works for me. It just I don't know
what I'm gonna do. Um. There was a guy running
Capital Records at the time called Pat Quigley, and he
was the president, and I used every proper famous producer

(34:14):
and none of it was working. And I went into
Pat and I said, can I just I had just
done a session with Matt Rowlings for somebody else. The
two of us were playing on it, and I clicked
with him and I really liked him a light, and
I said, could I just go and record some songs
with this guy? Because I think he can put a
good band together and we can just make a record
that sounds good anyway. Whatever. It was very much that

(34:35):
case of like go do whatever you want to do.
We're not that interest. You could tell whatever it's going to.
So we went and cut up the Grace God and
like four or five songs, and I took him in
and played for him and he goes, that sounds good.
Just finished the record out, was no big deal. And
we handed in the record and it had It's a
love Thing and I want to Be Everything. All the
singles that came out, Grace God, Blacktop, all that stuff. Um,

(34:59):
and I put out Love It's a love Thing, and
I think I went to the number eighteen or something like,
It's okay, pretty good. They put out another song, I
Want to Be Everything, and I got to top five
or close to it, and it wasn't It was okay.
Everything was okay. And then the label really focused on
me and they put out Grace of God and it
did that and I could feel everything changed after that.

(35:22):
Whenever Somebody like You comes out two thousand two, there's
a little clip, do you remember this one is vivid
at your second number one, you do everything about it
recording it first time, I'd work with Dan huff Um

(35:43):
working out at Sound Kitchen and Franklin and the putting
them putting a band together and the set the whole session.
I remember it so vividly because it got magical. Does
a guy like Dan Half challenge you? So? Uh? I
was going to do the next record on my own
UM Golden Road, and I had already done six six

(36:04):
sides of that record, including who who were wanted me.
I put the band together, I chose the studio, I
chose the engineer. I put it all together. And then
someone said, you know, you should try and work with
Dan Half, and I went, no, I don't want to
work with him because and they went, well, he's a
guitar player, and I'm so not going to work with
a guitar player who's gonna tell me what to play,
you know. I don't want that. I've been down this

(36:25):
road before. And they're like, we'll just give it a shot,
you know. And I met with Dan and this is
a true story, and I was really a compliment to Dan.
I met with Dan. I said, Okay, I've got this
one song it's called Somebody Like You, that that'd be
a good one for us to start on. And I've
already been in the studio for two weeks with this band.
We'd cut half the record. It's already done, and Dan says, Okay,

(36:49):
this song feels great. Um, I think we should use
this drummer, and I got already got the drummer. Well,
I think we should use this space. But I got
I got the whole band, Dan, I got the whole band,
all right. Well, I liked work at this studio, I said,
I'm already at the studio. We're gonna be at sand kitchen. Okay, Well,
the engineer I like to use is already got. The
engineer's name is Justin Ebank. And he goes, what do
I do? When I go, you just show up. That's

(37:10):
all you're gonna do. Show up, because I want to
see what you do. I'm sick of these producers that
say they're a producer, but really they have great engineer,
great players, they don't do anything. I saw it again
and again and again. I'm like, just show up. What
the hell can you possibly bring to this session? I
want to see? And he walked into that session. I've

(37:31):
been with this band for two weeks. He walks in,
and I literally could feel all the musicianship go up
a whole of the level just with him being in
the room. He sat in the room, the band's playing
a bit of Somebody Like You, and he goes, hey, Chris,
just change that snare a little bit there. Okay, YEA
leave that base part out right there, and you play
that bit over there. And he I watched him arrange

(37:52):
this thing and the whole track is to elevate, and
I like, well, damn, this guy is the real deal.
He's so good. When did the town start to treat
you differently? Tuesday? Um? I was already getting support from
the town very early on. I think because of all

(38:12):
those writing sessions, you know, and when you write with people,
where it gets out whether you can really sing, really play,
whether you know about country music, if you're legit or
just some poser. Really so, I think those sort of
guitar pool sessions of people's houses going to the Bluebird,
people knew I was for real. I was watching some

(38:33):
of your performance with her. I guess all of it
for Tina Turner, for the Rock and Roll of Fame. Um,
how did how do you do? How did you get
called in to do that? I haven't seen any of
that yet? You haven't, Um, what do you mean you
haven't seen it? You don't watch? Do you watch your stuff? Well?
I haven't seen that. Generally, will you go and watch
your stuff? It depends. Are you one of the guys

(38:54):
that after a live show you want to go on criticket?
I probably should do it more than I do. Yeah,
it's always better when I get in there and care.
How How does a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
invite come with Tina for Tina Turner? Uh? Because Brian
Adams couldn't make it, and they just called me out

(39:15):
and they go, would you come and fill in for Brian?
It's like day before the Yeah, it was. It was
Thursday and Nick and I will go into the Bahamas
and my manager calls me and he goes, hey, can
you come fill in for Brian? And blah blah blahla,
And I'm like, you were going into the Bahamas on Friday.
He's like, you didn't hear what I said? And I
was like, no, I heard you. We're heading off to

(39:35):
the Bahamas and Nix in the car and Nicks like, oh,
I think we should do that. That sounds fun. But
in my think in my head, I'm like this sounds overwhelming.
I've got to learn a song in record time, a
song I've never played. It's not really my kind of song.
It's not my vocal range, it's not in my key.
I'm so in over my head, you know, I was terrified.

(39:56):
You still get terrified, yeah, wil Dear, Yeah, we did
anything musically would intimidate you. Yeah, to be thrown into
something that's not really my zone, especially in that place.
I'm like, maybe standing up on stage in front of
my cartney and the food fighters and they're all you know,
I pictured them are like arms crossed, like okay, what

(40:17):
do you do? What's your thing? And I'm like, well,
it's not this, It's not this is not it. That's
so I could picture in my head when it comes
to collaborations as far as your career is concerned, what
do you look back at and go, Man, that one
right there, we nailed it. You and who collaboration and

(40:38):
so many I mean John doing Crossroads with John Maya
To this day, I just loved that whole experience with
him playing. I learned a lot from him, really learn
from him. Yeah, yeah, yeah, what do you learn from
John Mayre um to make the song your own? You know,
you gotta remember I still came from cover band land,
which John did not. And so John approaches it as

(41:01):
a pure artist and makes this song on his own
because I remember saying to him the first didn't go
like that, and he's like, yeah, but that's how I'm
gonna sing it right on? Of course. Yeah. Is there
a gamesmanship when you have two people that are so again,
I'll just talk about the instrument for a second, so
to be old. They're so proficient at their instrument. Are
you guys? Do you feel each other out at first?

(41:22):
Are you like, is he really as good as I've heard?
Or is it you know, because you've you've heard for yourself,
like on a record or on YouTube, and not John specifically,
but anyone you know when you kind of cross paddle
because I had room for squares and we played that
record to death on that too, ab us um so
as I was a fan right from the beginning. Um.

(41:43):
I love the conversation, the musical conversation that happens, and
the most important thing for me is spontaneity. It's just
you know, you can rehearse, yeah yeah, yeah, but being
in the moment and having that musical conversation with each
other is everything. You ever meet someone, You're like, man,
it's gonna be awesome, and you're like, man, that's not
really right really as good as that's a hot or
as as you know, I don't want you to say.

(42:03):
Some people don't have a collaborative heart. That's what it is.
They don't have a collaborative heart for whatever reason. They
just don't um collaborate that kind of They have that
thing of well, this is what I do, so you
do your thing. I'll do my thing, and I'm like, well,
let's do our thing. That's what I'm here for. On
the opposite side of that, whoever you collaborated with it,
you're like, oh, I didn't expect it to be as

(42:24):
warm and as a just a friendly collaboration, but holy crap,
we're in We're in it and it's rocking Pink. I
think was that when we did one too many? Why?
Why do you think you guys hit it off? Um?
I think our voices go together really well, and I
hope they would, but you never know until you hear it.
But she was just unbelievably um giving with that whole project,

(42:50):
you know, for a song that she didn't write, to
be giving so much of her time and her effort
to the two. You know, we shot a video as well,
and then we shot footage which we can use in concerts,
so we have projected on the screening concert. That's old,
time consuming and she was just amazing. Is it an
issue whenever you're with an artist like that, because they
also have their own music and their own singles and calendars,

(43:12):
and when they want to put out their own to
get pink on a song, do you go, okay, Well,
maybe we can relate to the single, maybe not, depending
on what your schedule is, right, I mean, is that something?
Is that an issue that you deal with other artists?
Is something you have to consider? Yeah, for sure, because
sometimes it's at the time he's not gonna work, you know. Yeah,
it's great. The single sounds really great, but we're not
going to release it at the right time. I was

(43:40):
reading on the internet that you bowl? Are you? Some
of the stuff I didn't know and could be crap.
Are you a bowler? Yeah? Are you a good bowler?
I'm okay? How do I not know that? We've never
talked about it or been bowling? True? But where do
where do you? Where do you bowl? I haven't bowled
in a long time. It's just one of those things
that I happened to be not bad at sort of

(44:01):
out of the gate. Is that I hand coordination that
guitar players have. You know your highest game? Is that
what you call it a game? Yeah? No, I don't know.
Um uh, you know to have an average, it's not
grabbed me at three hundreds of perfect game right, definitely
could crack no, but definitely could crack two. You play pool, yeah,

(44:23):
you go to that. I think this mandatory when you're
from Australia, you've got to play pool? Is that a thing?
Very much like all the pubs all had pool tables,
a sign of a misspent youth. We'll think about that.
Though you're you're good at bowling, you're good at pool.
I mean, is that you're obviously good at guitar? Which
one made you good at which? Because you do have

(44:43):
the hand eye coordination there, It's right, it's like coincidence.
All those are very hand eye coordinated. Do you think
being a good guitar player helps you be a good bowler?
I suck at base at basketball, I cannot get that
thing in the hoop. So there goes that theory. You
true or false? You were once a would guitarist for
a bit for Brooks and Dune. No, never one of
the many things on Wikipedia. It's not true. I didn't

(45:05):
think the bowling was true. I'll be honest with you.
I expected to be false. So where did that story
come from? Do you know? Yeah, we toured with Brooks
and Done in two thousand and one and I came
out and played one song with them as a guitarist,
and I think that then from then on, yeah, I
was like the guy in the band. Well, what happened

(45:27):
was we were going to pull a prank on them,
and they had a guitar player in the band, Charlie
if forgotten his last name, Charlie, and he had his
hat down, really had wore hat worked down super low,
had this like leopard print shirt and everything. And during
the tourist thinking I could probably masqueraders. I could probably
pretend to be him and the boys wouldn't even know.

(45:48):
And so during one of the shows, Charlie slipped out
the back while he was playing. I already had the
same clothes on, slipped right out and reclaimed his spot
on the stage and played an entire song, and then
in the middle of the when the solo happened, kicks
goes Charlie and I ran down the front was shredding
right in between kicks and running, and it took a

(46:10):
bait for them to realize I wasn't, but they realize.
So I think that was where this room and got started.
It's like a Tuesday at your house, like and I
asked that because you and your wife exclusively are superstars.
When you're together, I feel like you're kind of normal.

(46:31):
It's it's it's a weird situation. Like when I see
you two, if we're an event or something. I felt
like as a couple, you're quite approachable. Individually, it's different
because I feel like I know you and I could
just come up to you, But individually I would say
you're superstar Keith Urban and she is superstar Nicole Kidman.

(46:52):
But together it's almost like a normal husband and wife.
And I have not seen that vibe with any other couple.
Usually it's different. It's like they're much more uh there,
much less approachable together because there's so much more power there.
But it feels like you're a normal, normal married couple
at home. Is that true? You'd be doing a house
it's like super normal. I saw her tell you once

(47:14):
that she was gonna stop and get some milk. And
I was like, you do that? What do you mean
you're gonna get milk? Should it? Someone? You flying that
in and like flying the cow in the rock and roll?
And how how how do you guys maintain what do
you focus on to try to have normalcy in a
life that is abnormal? I mean, look love, genuine love

(47:39):
and genuine gratitude for what we get to do. Nick
has it. I have it, and I think it's we
were both raised in a similar thing to Australia's. Really,
Australia has a thing called a tall poppy syndrome. Every
as he knows about this, and it's if you get
too big in the in the South, I'd say, when
you get above your raisin, right, they cut you down.

(47:59):
You get cut down. The poppy seed plan is another
one the tall poppy gets. So that's it. So it's
the it's the tall poppy syndrome where you you don't
last very long. If you're strutting around with this crazy
ego in Australia, you could cut down so fast, so
you just are always down to earth. You read the
down to Earth, you're out of work. It's one of
the two and it's it's put us in a really

(48:21):
good place to have a good life because of it.
What are you grateful for with her as a person?
How does she make you better? I'm sure? And I
asked this from a personal, just personal place, because I've
never been married. I've never I've never even told anyone
I hadn't either, right like, I never there was no
I didn't know how to love until now because I
think you know when you're talking about the trauma from

(48:41):
your I struggle with a lot of that trauma until
now and still am. But have found someone. But what
is it about her as a human that you appreciate
so much that brings a different side of you out
that hadn't been exposed yet? Um? She really loves, genuinely
loves and as real empathy, compassion, caring and love like

(49:05):
I've never never experienced before. Do you ever watch her
act and go, holy crap, that's so good or do
you see it all the time where you just expected
to be great? She's so good And I don't know
anything about acting. Sometimes people say a bad actor, I'm like,
I'll all look the same to me. However, I was
watching on Hulu nine strangers, what the whole thing she's

(49:28):
She's so good in that that you then go, okay,
that's good acting, like and she is nailing these series.
Is if she's in a series, I'll watch it. It's
just to that point now where if your wife is
in a series, even if I don't know what it's about,
the history of poop, I'm going to I'm going to

(49:48):
watch it because she has showed that she's awesome in
these things. Do you do you talk about projects with her?
Did she talk about projects with you and them together
and like should we do this? Yeah? Yeah, because we
have to talk about scheduling and where it is and
as this going to work? And then of course a
lot of the times reading scripts with her, you know,
this is the being the Riccardo's which is the Lucille
Ball film that's coming out. Aaron Sulkin wrote most amazing scripts,

(50:11):
and just getting to read these scripts is something that
is it's surreal you read with her sometimes, Yeah, do
you ever want to do that? Especially? No, I have
zero interest in acting, like none zero. Does she ever
hear a song of yours and go, yeah, she doesn't
have to, I can tell you can. Here's the thing

(50:33):
that's more important, and you may be able to relate
to this. I realized that whoever I play a song for,
and I've had you at the house and i've played
you things before, what how you react that song? Tells
me a lot about the song, But what tells me
more is how I feel planet for you. I've learned
so much about how I feel about playing somebody a song,
whether it's you, whether it's Nick. Because you know, she

(50:55):
may go I love that, and inside I'm thinking I
did until I hate it, and I'm not feeling so
good about it now. So I want to figure out
what's going on? What is your relationship with singles, EPs, albums,
Because it's a new land out there, it's at tension,
spans are different. Sorry what exactly, but it is getting
that way right? Yeah? So how are you feeling these

(51:18):
days about twelve fourteen track albums? Why are do you
see you changing? How you're just you know, doing Keith
Urban distribution of music. I I still like to think
it comes down to quality, the quality of something because
people go, oh, people want shorter, the shorter that, And
I'm like, only because a lot of what's out there
it's just not great, It's okay, it's not great, and

(51:39):
it's not great because it's having to be churned out
at such a fast right now, because it's content content
content content quick. You have it with your show, and
you you're trying to maintain a level of excellence with
this often unrealistic demand for the amount of it. You're
trying to walk a line. How can I give you
the best most exactly? That's exactly it. And I'm I

(52:00):
miss a lot because sometimes I do most and sometimes
I do best, but I often don't get it right
at the same time. And I think we're in this
a lot in our society right now. The speed of
everything and the and the demand for more and more
and more and more quality takes time. Not always, but
most of the time it takes it takes a beat.

(52:25):
Do you feel pressure from at this stage of your career,
labels managers like hey, let's go, we need another something
from you, or are you now like guys, you'll get
it when you get it. Yeah, I've never felt that.
I've never felt I will say my record company Capital Record,
so I've been with a long time. I've never ever
felt anything but support for for what I do. They've

(52:46):
never given me like dragging the record out of my hand,
demanding this song with that song. Ever, that've been amazingly supportive.
Do you need a teleprompter ever? For lyrics? You've had
so many number one songs? Do you ever need a
reminder of words? Do you have to refresh or are
you just there? Yeah, refresh it if it's gonna be
an old song. But it's I have a sick memory

(53:07):
for lyrics of songs. It's crazy you bring up I
I brought it up. But we talked about it with
Ronnie Donn, who I've oddly become friends with and we're
opposite in many ways, but we were texting last night
like that's he's there's a big picture when you walked
into this guest house. He sent over to the house
of like a bowl or something that was laying on
the counter. But Ronnie has and I don't think he
would care if I shared this. He has someone in

(53:29):
his ear the whole time on a microphone side stage
telling him every lyric to every song. He's had it
for a long time. He's just like, I don't want
to forget and I don't have I don't have a
good memory so they're like out in the country, out
in the country. I mean they're right in there. That's excellent.
I mean voice of an angel, but holy crap, we
can't remember word for the guy in the ear and

(53:50):
it's and it's a yeah, very much though. But you
have it all there for the most part. Boy, he'd
want to be on good terms of that guy, wouldn't he.
It's like, Ronnie, don't you run roun Burgundy? It could
get Burgundy, san Diego real quick prompted there, let's talk
about the new single that I do want to get
back to the tour. But the current single is Wild Hearts.

(54:13):
Let me play a little bit of this for you.
I kind of have a relationship with every songwriter on
this song, which is pretty cool. Eric Passley is a

(54:35):
dear friend of mine. Um Jen Wayne Same, she's in now,
she's in a group herself away June there it is
brad Tercy from Old Dominion. How does this room come together?
Or was it a room that came together? It didn't
come together. I got sent this song as a finished song,
two verses, chorus done, and uh, I got pitched the

(55:01):
song from Roxy King and I heard it and I
was like, mmmmm, I don't know, it's just I like
the chorus. I don't really the rest of us not
pulling me in. And so I passed on the song.
And then about two weeks later, I woke up one
morning singing this chorus in my head and I'm like,
what is that? What's that wild Heart song? It's really

(55:24):
special chorus. I listened to the song again and I went, man,
that chorus is so freaking good. But the verses don't
say anything to me. And so I called the writers
and I said would I said it, would you mind
if I rewrote the verses just to make them more personal,
because it's such a personal song. It's, you know, following
your dreams, and like, well what about what? You know?
What was my dream journey from Australia to hear And

(55:48):
they sent me the track without anything in the verses,
and I just rewrote the verses. That's pretty cool one
that they will go yes, And I said to them,
I said, I'm a writer, so I get this first
of all, and I'm not one of these guys. It's
going to be like I added the word the give
me right. I've never been that guy. Um, And I said,
you guys have written a top song. It's top to bottom.

(56:09):
It's finished, right. If you can pitch it and someone
wants to cut it as is, please do that. I'm
not asking to dismantle your song if someone else wants
to record it. But if you are okay and I
can rewrite these verses and they come up the way
I think they will, I'm definitely recording this song, and
God bless him, they let me do that. The North
American Tour The Speed of Now World War Two. Uh,

(56:30):
the tickets are on still now Keith Urban dot com.
How long do you think you have another ten years
of doing these really high energy shows in you? I
don't even think about that. I mean just the next year,
the next show. I mean, I'm injured, my my whole
body is still injured from my nat g O show. Yeah.
Bet so. Now I think about things in terms like

(56:51):
could I do another three seasons of that show? And
I can't. I now understand, I can't mash her rist
her shoulder heard Everything. Tour is not that show, but
your tour. I'm telling you things that you're mad man.
Your tour is again is the most energetic show I've
ever seen from a superstar who doesn't have to be
that energetic because he's already a superstar. And I mean

(57:12):
that the most complimentary way. You could go out and
just put on a solid show and Keith Urban and
people will be blown away, but you don't. Your hair
is on fire for no other reason than you live
that your art is your hair being on fire during
a show. Yeah, yeah, well I only know one volume
to get out there and play at there is I mean,
if it's real passion and the audience knows it, They're like,

(57:33):
that's legit. That's a guy surfing on the wave, not
thinking about it, but it's really happening and I can
feel it. It's it's true, it's in the moment. Do
you lose yourself in shows? Definitely? Yeah, It's it's a
perfect balance of being completely present and completely lost in
the moment all simultaneously. Do you ever, Sometimes I'll drive
and I'll get somewhere and I'd be like, holy crap,

(57:53):
I don't know how I got here, Like subconscious has
completely taken over. And then I feel unsafe and I'm like,
you're telling me people are driving, And then I start
thinking about other idiots who are doing what I did
not thinking and driving places. But does that ever happen
in the show where you're three songs later and you're like,
dear god, how does that even get here? No? No,
I mean maybe no, not really, not even a moment.
I was thinking about a moment and a song. Um no,

(58:14):
because I don't know. I'm just super present, but I'm
also thinking. I'm taking a multi multiprocessing, right, which I
think you do it extremely well on your show. You're
listening to me, you're checking that out, you're thinking about
other things. You're probably thinking about some other things you
gotta do, and it's all multi processing all at once,

(58:36):
and you totally here as well. I feel like I'm
completely present, But I think I'm good at being present
while also delegating my mind to do other things the same,
good way to put it, Yeah, what do you say
on that microphone when you walk over that nobody hears
you know the microphone? We're talking to it all right,
do you have one of those? What do you? What
do you when you walk back, it's four songs in

(58:58):
and only your guys on stage you can hear, are you?
Because for those that don't know, some of my friends
that have them call them, Uh, we'll call it a
b mike with the word rich, like we're talking to
the rich mike. If you're going to that microphone, what
are you saying in the middle of a show? Why
would it might be called that? But I don't have
no idea, but that's what That's the only thing I
know it has. Right, Oh, that's weird. I've never heard

(59:18):
that expression. Oh you haven't. No, I never heard that.
Well I don't say it, but that's crazy. So we
stole it from Kenny Chesney when I was on two
with him and I saw he had one, and I'm like, well,
that's perfect because everyone's got in ears and you can
actually talk to everyone to get out over the top.
You're not at all not that mike. What do you say?

(59:38):
Is it like, hey guys, we're gonna switch songs or
we're gonna play in a different or on my throat her?
Like what? It could be something to my guitar, tech,
could be something to the monitor guy, could be something
to the band. It could be something to security. It
could just be really like you see something out there.
For sure, security has ears in and they can hear that.
I know that it's gonna get to where it's going
to get to. If maybe not directly, someone will relay

(01:00:00):
the message. But yeah, if I feel like there's just
heavy handed security at a place, not letting people have
fun or anything like that, make sure it gets taken
care of. Definitely. Of all the things that you do.
As we wrap this up, one of my favorites is
when you and I haven't seen it in a while
because you haven't been on the road as normal no

(01:00:21):
one has. Right when you do those videos with the
police escort behind you and you're like, thank you guys, great,
Like I love the blue light video at the end
of the show, right, that's funny. So much so that
there have been a couple of times where you know,
we did a we've done a couple of shows. We
did a festival and I throw a festival in Texas
and we had like four or five thousand people and

(01:00:41):
we had to get out, and I was like, Hey,
I'm wanna get that blue light like either, I gotta
get that shot. So you're inspiring me in ways you
had no idea. Just right, it's much better having in
front of you than behind you. Let me tell you,
I would agree with I've spent white more years with
the opposite, So this is nice, Mike. Anything that I
have missed that we need to address with Keith before
he leaves, I think that's everything. It's a day savings
time just about. So it's getting darker now and so

(01:01:02):
it feels like it's midnight. I'm a little tired, kind
of run through it here. Anything you'd like to say, Read,
you're a massive Keith fan. Read is my video guy.
He's been looking for people looking forward to this whole life,
so read. This is your one shot with Keith. Is
there anything take a deep breath, all right that you'd
like to ask Keith? Alright, Keith, I don't know. All

(01:01:23):
I'm thinking about is uh. When I first started learning guitar,
my dad got me your Golden Road DVD that had
all the music videos on it, and I would stand
in front of the TV and I would trying to
mimic and try to learn learn the songs. And it
was god awful. But I remember that moment. And then
I got the pleasure of going to your show. I

(01:01:43):
think it was in Dallas like three no, maybe like
two years ago, and my girlfriend got me the tickets
and and of course you're out in the crowd running
around and you came up to us and I can
just remember my my girlfriend just going kid Keith, but
that was probably me actually, but yeah, so those are

(01:02:06):
just the moments that came up to me. But I
was a huge fan. Man, Thank you so much. How's
the plane coming along? Oh it's it's good. Yeah you
still playing? Yeah, yes, sir, M Yeah, I love songwriting. Uh.
I don't do a lot of playing shows or anything,
but um I love to produce my own music as
well and and and write songs. So right, yes, sir, Yeah,

(01:02:27):
there we haven't any emotional an emotional moment here. I'll
mention this before you go to I as we were
walking out of our wedding, we played God Whispered Your Name. Wow.
The writers or one of the writers saw me out.
I was getting some ice cream with Caitlin and he
was like, you guys played when God Whispered you Name
at your wedding and I was like, first time I

(01:02:47):
keeps singing that song. I was like, that's it, Like
I felt that's that's one of those rare songs in
my life where I was like because when I heard
it the first time, I thought, if I can ever
have this in my life, that's it. And then when
I met my wife, now, I went, this is that
song like it was the songwriting, it was the delivery,
it was the texture, all of those things together in

(01:03:09):
that song. I remember thinking, man, if I ever find
this because I heard a song before I knew her,
But when I met her and I was like, oh,
this is when God whispered your name. Wow, And it's
one of those few moments where a song that you're
super romantic punches you in the gut. Yeah, okay, maybe

(01:03:30):
you got you got married and you love that kind
of song and yeah yeah. Dan and Shid played winning
Yes and they The funny part about that was my
wife and Abby Smires are really close friends. Dan and
I have been buddies for a long time, and I
was like, hey, look you get because they're like, whatever

(01:03:51):
you want, we'll play. Like Dan was like, well you
didn't even ask us, Like we'll play whatever you want.
And I think they expected us to pick one of
their songs because they have a hundred love songs the best,
but I didn't. I picked the Beach Boys song. What
song did you pick? Forever? I don't know this and everyone.
I said, make you laugh, I talk forever um. Dennis
Wilson wrote it. I didn't know that song. Jesse and

(01:04:11):
the Rippers later did it on Full House. Dennis Wilson
wrote it and the drummer well, and they crushed it
and for and they did, so they put it on.
They give us the file. They recorded it as well
as a wedding gift to us and gave it to us.
It was awesome, amazing, And what was cool was even
Ronnie was like, hey, you don't want anything for your wedding,
Like I can't get you anything. What do you mean
to sing? And I was like, that's the greatest gift ever.

(01:04:33):
So he's saying, Neon Moon. It was awesome. Goodness is awesome.
How did he remember the words? I worried too. I said,
do we need to get that mike for you over
on the side. We didn't He knew the words though,
had the still phone up here the whole time. All right,
get tickets throw on sale today. Keith Urban the Speed
of Now World toward two. They're up. Go see him.

(01:04:54):
This podcast. This show has heard in all kinds of countries,
so obviously North America, but all over the world. Um,
I don't know how you do it. I don't know
how you do it is you. I love what I do.
I love what I get to do. And truly it's
a game. You know. People go, oh, it's a gift
every day. It really is. And I'll finish with this
because I think it's what is what it's all about.

(01:05:16):
Is I went like born with the addictive gene. I
went to three rehabs in the span of three years,
in the span of eight years, the first three, second
one was two thousand and three, and my third one
was two thousand and six, and it took what it
took for me to finally get sober um and that

(01:05:36):
journey brought the deepest, deepest level of gratitude for what
I get to do that I don't know if I
ever would have gotten that gratitude level without that journey.
I think when you come close to losing all of
that and then it gets given back to you through
grace in my case getting back to me, I was like,
I'm never going to take this for granted ever again.

(01:05:59):
Does it make you a more a giving person going
through because for me, I have found that growing up
a poverty kid and someone who's been through those struggles
with addiction. Secondary that affects me and how I treat
other people. Do you think you were two different people
before and after your final run, your your final time

(01:06:19):
and rehab. Very much? Yeah, and yes, I separate the
person from the addiction. You are known as one of
the nicer guys in town, just generally by people like
Keith urban Is the nicest guy. Were you known early
in your career? Is that guy? Were you always just
completely dialed into the human aspect of people, because now

(01:06:41):
you are and you're known for that. I like people,
and then I like collaborating. I love Yeah, I love people.
I've always loved people. You've always been a nice guy.
I've always I think I've always been um bridge builder.
I'm a bridge builder. I'm in entertaina. You know. I
think I was the that was the it was the
the peace person. You know, if you have an identity

(01:07:03):
in your home. I was the bridge building between my
brother and my father, always trying to kill each other.
I was like, interesting, I'm gonna I'm gonna be the
one that keeps the peace here. And I think I've
carried that into my life. All right, go to a show,
Listen to the music. Keith Urban. Thank you. It's always
good to talk. Good to talk to you too. There
he is, Keith Urban