Prequel Special: Revisiting Keith Urban's Childhood + Relationship with Father + Marriage + Rehab and Overcoming Addiction

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
We've kind of gotten out of the business of doing
a lot of In case you missed it, but we
had a great Bobby Cast with Keith Urban that I
did just a few weeks ago. If you missed it,
go back and listen to it, because Keith talked about
where he lived when he moved to town from Australia,
like where he put us clothes in some of the
guy's drawer. It's a really good episode, but there were
certain questions I did not ask him because I had

(00:28):
asked him that the last time we were here. So
it's been a few years, but this is like the
ultimate Keith Urban bio podcast.

Speaker 2 (00:35):
What do you agree? I would definitely agree.

Speaker 1 (00:37):
So we talked about his love and music, him talking
about his dad, which he almost never talks about, seeing
Johnny Cash with his dad as a kid, and that
story's wild, so rehab. We talked about that, which is
why I didn't get into it last time. Not because
I was scared to get into it, because I knew
we had already talked about a lot of this, and
then how him and his wife and Nicoll keep it

(00:58):
normal at home. This is Keith Urban from twenty twenty one.
It's kind of the prequel, the prequel. Oh yeah, it's
the prequel to the one that came out last Tuesday.
And by the way, if you missed that, you can
go listen to it, but also the full video of
it as well on the YouTube. Just go to at
Bobby Bone's channel. At Bobby Bones's channel to watch that

(01:20):
basically forty five fifty minute interview with Keith Urban. All right,
here you go, all right in with Keith Urban, which
it's Caitlin sends her best my wife. She just said,
Keith's coming over. I said, yeah, she said, tell him,
first of all, thank you for the the wedding gifty cent.
It's the nicest sheets we've ever owned in our entire life.

Speaker 2 (01:38):
Nice. You should stay in more of them, you know.

Speaker 1 (01:40):
I she got on to me a little bit because
you probably don't do this, but I still have two
At times.

Speaker 2 (01:46):
I have spray tan yeah, okay, okay.

Speaker 1 (01:48):
And I got into the sheets and spraytan once and
she reminded me how nice of sheets they were, and
then I should never do that again.

Speaker 2 (01:56):
And then you reminded her how much expensive tanning was,
and it didn't work.

Speaker 3 (02:02):
The tanning does not really hold a candle to.

Speaker 2 (02:04):
The destroyed sheet.

Speaker 1 (02:06):
Yes, 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 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 like a normal in the mail.

Speaker 2 (02:24):
Either way, both are fine. Yeah, and you could have
even not sent it, but told me that you did.
In a sauthild accounts, I.

Speaker 1 (02:31):
Said that to to people, and I said, hey, what
if I just send people a message for a wedding gift,
like a video message?

Speaker 2 (02:35):
I heart felt sure, absolutely human?

Speaker 1 (02:38):
Yeah, 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 sends me a thank you card for something
I expected thank you card for, I don't feel like
it means as much. If I get a thank you
card for something I don't expect to thank you. Absolutely,
that's awesome, I hear you.

Speaker 2 (02:58):
You know, Yeah, it's It's a complix hated etiquette, isn't it?

Speaker 1 (03:01):
Is this back home? Is it so etiquette back in
like Australia.

Speaker 2 (03:06):
New Zealand. Yeah, etiquette.

Speaker 3 (03:09):
This is a dumb American thing where we have this,
you know?

Speaker 2 (03:12):
Is this?

Speaker 1 (03:12):
Is this the thing there with after if someone gets married.
Back in New Zealand, I.

Speaker 2 (03:16):
Had to learn the whole thing about thank you gods.
And because I didn't grow up with any of that,
I think my family was not that etiquette at all.
Etiquette eternally just no, they were not at all. I
had to learn the hardway here that you write thank
you notes to people. That was that was completely foreign
to me.

Speaker 3 (03:33):
I remember once you were kind enough to invite me
over to your place.

Speaker 1 (03:36):
It was a Christmas and we were in Australia and
you said, hey, you should come over, and I was
talking to you about music in Australia and New Zealand
and country music in particular.

Speaker 3 (03:48):
I was like, what is country music like here?

Speaker 1 (03:50):
And you you had kind of expressed to me that
country music there is kind of am like, it's a
different kind of home bred folksya country in Australia. Now
some of the American version is getting over there, but
it's hard to find country music on the radio in Australia.

Speaker 2 (04:09):
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, satellite radio,
you got multiple video platforms. This is even preceding YouTube
with CMD and GAC. None of that existed in Australia.

(04:31):
So there was a lot of country artists wanting to
make more mainstream sounding country music, but there wasn't the
platforms for it. And there's some degree that's still a
struggle there.

Speaker 1 (04:39):
So how growing up there did you attach yourself to
the thought of country music and 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?

Speaker 2 (04:56):
It well, I mean Nashville was just the destination.

Speaker 3 (04:59):
Because why why was it the destination?

Speaker 2 (05:01):
It was written on the back of all the records
that my dad had, Don Williams mostly and Glenn Campbell,
Charlie Pride, Merle Haggard, all of those records all sit
on the back of them recorded in 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.

Speaker 1 (05:19):
But how did your dad get so involved in music
from Nashville because not all was from Nashville. You're talking
about country music other than Bob Dylan Nashville Skyline, you know,
there weren't a lot of I don't know if pap
would be the word or Nashville wasn't big unless it
was country Americana.

Speaker 3 (05:34):
So how did your dad get involved in that scene?

Speaker 2 (05:37):
Musically? So in the fifties he was playing in a band.
In the fifties he was a drummer and he played
and ban called the Ricochets in New Zealand and in
the fifties. Rock and roll happened in the mid fifties, right,
so it made its way down to New Zealand. My
dad got obsessed with rock and roll and consequently American movies,
American cars. We always had American cars growing up, which

(05:58):
is crazy in Australia. 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 kind of went a in a bigger,
kind of different direction than I mean, the origins of
rock and roll is really rockabilly. You know, there was

(06:18):
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
was a group called the pos O Seiko Singers, which
was a folk group in the sixties, and one of
the members of that group was a guy called Donald Williams,

(06:40):
and then he broke away from that group, dropped the
Donald became Dom Williams in went country, and my dad
just followed him. That was really it.

Speaker 3 (06:47):
And so you growing up listening to that music, that
was your music in the house.

Speaker 2 (06:51):
Yeah, yeah, Well, and my mom loved Neil Diamond Everly Brothers.
My brother was into Elo and Supertramp and Eagles and
Fleetwood Mac. So that was older fusion.

Speaker 3 (07:01):
How proficient was your dad with a guitar?

Speaker 2 (07:05):
Oh, terrible with guitar, great with drums, but terrible and guitar.

Speaker 1 (07:08):
So for you, was it drums at first or were
other people playing a guitar around you, and you're like,
think that that's.

Speaker 2 (07:15):
It for me? No, they said, Mom and dad brought
me a ukulele when I was five, and I guess
it is a toy I mean, and my dad said
I could strum it in time with songs on the radio.
I wasn't playing any cholds, but the rhythm was there.

Speaker 3 (07:28):
So rhythm, which I mean possibly from.

Speaker 2 (07:30):
Him, definitely. Yeah. And my grandfather played piano, so all
of my dad's music brothers role musical, trumpet, piano, guitar, drums,
four brothers. Uh so it was all musical, and I
just took the guitar. I guess because of the ukulele.

Speaker 1 (07:44):
Was he the dad that wanted you to follow in
his footsteps of Hey, if I'm musical, I think it's
cool that you're musical, or like so many people in
the creative worlds, 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.

Speaker 2 (07:58):
Yeah, that that was it, definitely, because I I heighted,
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 are you disciplined now?

Speaker 1 (08:12):
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 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. So, you know, even today, I've

(08:34):
never had a drink of alcohol because I feel the
addict in me with other things I do.

Speaker 3 (08:39):
So I am extremely disciplined until i'm not, and then
I'm off the end.

Speaker 1 (08:44):
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 addictions. And I don't know if
that's a safe thing to say, sure, but I need
to be addicted to something, So I have to find
the healthiest thing for me to be addicted to. Because
my now coatural gravity is to go to something and
and and invest myself all the way in. It's so
much so that it is unhealthy. So I gotta find

(09:06):
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. But I had one

(09:26):
instance when now I was I got jumped and got
a gun to my head and I had a bunch
of like trauma in that way where I got a
healthy gunpoint, I had had my 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, you should if you can't sleep

(09:47):
and you're sick, you should take sleeping pills. Took them,
had trouble with them, couldn't get off of them, and
I was like, oh my god, well are.

Speaker 2 (09:54):
You taking them and staying up side of them?

Speaker 3 (09:58):
Well, yeah, I don't remember. I don't right, I don't remember.

Speaker 1 (10:03):
And so I would take these sleeping pills and I
remember the day where I went, oh, I'm stuck.

Speaker 2 (10:08):
I'm stuck.

Speaker 3 (10:09):
And it was the only time because I remember my mom.

Speaker 4 (10:11):
Being because you couldn't sleep without them, couldn't sleep, but
couldn't sleep without them, felt like they were tethered to
me anywhere I went at any point, I had to
have them with me because if I needed a sleep,
that was the only way I could go.

Speaker 1 (10:23):
And I remember thinking, oh, I'm I can't. I can't
beat this right now, like this has got a.

Speaker 2 (10:28):
Hold of me.

Speaker 1 (10:29):
And it was the only time that I ever related
to my mom because she had been in rehabit and
now and I'd always thought, why can't you just beat it?
But I just had to mention of it.

Speaker 3 (10:38):
Yeah, and I was like, oh God, this is it.

Speaker 2 (10:41):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (10:42):
And so because of that and how I grew up,
I am extremely disciplined. So did to answer your easy
question about life and music? You know, I do have
that discipline in me from I gotta be.

Speaker 2 (10:54):
Or I'm going to go off. Yeah that makes sense
and not be completely Yeah.

Speaker 1 (10:59):
So I was disciplined as a child. You were not disciplined, No,
I wasn't.

Speaker 2 (11:05):
I think just being an artist comes with a sense
of being able to create, and so there's a sense
of just freedom and liberation. Also as the youngest, you know,
I had an older brother, and I think it's not
uncommon for the younger sibling to potentially be a little
more like, well, everyone else take care of everything. I'm fine.

(11:25):
I'm just floating along.

Speaker 1 (11:26):
So your older brother played music, how come you didn't
get stuck with the bass.

Speaker 2 (11:30):
Yeah, he didn't play. We started playing guitar at the
exact same time. I was six, he was eight, and
he started on a steel string acoustic and I started
on with nylon strings and 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 strength these I hate playing guitar, and my

(11:51):
dad goes, all right, well, then don't do it. And
I was like, ah, that's not what I wanted. I
wanted him to tell me I have to do it
and get into a fight. So it was kind of
reverse psychology that works really well.

Speaker 1 (12:01):
What was the relationship like with your dad and you
as you became twelve, fourteen, sixteen years old?

Speaker 2 (12:08):
My dad's alcoholic was he's not here anymore, but he
was alcoholic his whole life. I never just never dealt
with it, you know. So my brother and I classic
adult children of alcoholic raised and I got the same
genetic disposition as my dad and my brother didn't have that. Really,

(12:28):
it doesn't have it. No, it's wild because I feel it.
I have it right, and luckily I saw it early.
But it's crazy that you would have it and your
brother doesn't. Yeah. Yeah, but then he has no hair
and I have hair, so it's a fair trade.

Speaker 1 (12:43):
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 that
maybe wasn't there because of other circumstances.

Speaker 2 (12:55):
Probably both, you know both, And you know, I think
in the song we have wild Heart, so 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 it's subconsciously in me was I was

(13:18):
really taken by how my dad was staring at this
guy on stage and probably thinking, how do I get
my dad to look at me like that? Right? Isn't
that wild? Yeah? Yeah, so I don't. I don't know
if I saw it. It's hard to know, right, did
I recognize in that person on stage with the guitar.
Did I recognize something that I was going to do,

(13:39):
or something that I wanted to do, or something that
I should do? I don't know, it doesn't really matter
in the end.

Speaker 1 (13:44):
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?

Speaker 2 (13:55):
Tuesday? This week?

Speaker 3 (13:56):
This week?

Speaker 2 (13:58):
Yeah, it's a great moment.

Speaker 1 (13:58):
You've been missing, You've missing a lot, You've been doing
pretty good up until Tuesday.

Speaker 2 (14:02):
You've had us all fulled. Yeah?

Speaker 3 (14:03):
Was it fourteen fifteen?

Speaker 1 (14:05):
Was it earlier than that where you're like, Okay, I
can actually do this at a higher level than like
my peers are doing this.

Speaker 2 (14:11):
Uh. I don't know if I've ever felt that way really, No, 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 the cover band,
because people go who your influences? I'm like, ah, the
guy in the local cover band, Barry Kloff And then
Dallas Southam and then Redge Grant and all these guys

(14:32):
playing in cover bands. I'm twelve years old, thirteen years
old watching them going, Oh, I wish I could play
that good. And then at some point you'd play that good,
and so you're already looking to the next guy. Oh,
I wish could play as good as him, and you
just your your influences, keep moving.

Speaker 1 (14:46):
Who was it for you that was your favorite, your
first favorite artist where you really clicked and you're like,
that's my favorite, your own.

Speaker 2 (14:54):
It's a good question. Gosh, I don't know.

Speaker 3 (14:58):
For me, I'll vamp of it as you think. He
can have a good answer for me.

Speaker 1 (15:02):
You know, it was John Mayer whenever he was starting,
because I felt someone writing the things that I was thinking,
and I never had experienced that before. Wow, he's a
couple of years older than I am, but I was like, wow,
this guy one. I liked his tone, I liked his style,
but he was saying things. It was like a really
good comedian, you know how you go.

Speaker 2 (15:19):
Oh.

Speaker 3 (15:20):
I always thought that I just didn't know how to
say it like that.

Speaker 1 (15:22):
It was the first time I'd ever heard that in song,
and I thought, Wow, he's kind of speaking for me
musically is the first time that it ever happened. So
he became my first ever like, that's my favorite artist.
There have been others that that since have done that.
I'm a big Counting Crows guy to you know, but
John Mayer was it for me?

Speaker 3 (15:42):
Now that I've given you a little time, who do
you think it is for?

Speaker 2 (15:45):
Well, what I actually think about is Joe Mellencamp is
the is the guy that's coming to mind. The reason
is I grew up playing with list country music right,
going to at least talent quests and different petitions playing
country music. But then I got to be twelve, thirteen, fourteen.

(16:05):
I left school at fifteen. I was playing in a
cover band at fifteen, so we just do on Top
forty and I'm playing in all the pubs in Australia.
And the pubs are rough places, you know, just concrete floor,
hose it out the end of the night, rough crowd,
no holes barred. If you suck, they will let you
know you suck. And I grew up playing in that
very rock environment and so I loved country. I loved rock,

(16:28):
I loved Top forty. I'm like, what the hell do
I do who am I musically? And then John put
out Loansome Jubilee, which was an album that had songs
like paper and Fire check it out, Cherry Bomb, YadA
yea Dayada, and it was rock, but it had like
fiddle and it had accordion and everything. So we went
to see him in concert on that tour. I was

(16:49):
playing in a cover band. The band got tickets. We
went to see him, and we're way up in the
nosebleeds in this arena. Him and the band comes out
and they and 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 Jill

(17:12):
was doing and I went, oh, that's the answer. You
don't think about labels. Just take all the things you love,
figure it 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 gonna

(17:32):
have fiddle in my bed, you know, and just rip off.
Joe Mellencamp but what I took from it was just
do your own thing.

Speaker 1 (17:38):
Take all the things you love and the original John Mellencamp,
obviously a Middle America guy who had country and rock
roots at the same time, incorporated them all.

Speaker 3 (17:46):
How do you see that affecting your show that you
do now?

Speaker 1 (17:49):
Like, what are the surroundings that you've taken from your
life because you have a different kind of show?

Speaker 3 (17:54):
Yeah, of really anyone?

Speaker 1 (17:55):
I mean, and I say that in the most complimentary way.
And I've told you this off a microphone too, Like,
you do the best live show I've ever seen.

Speaker 2 (18:03):
You need to get out more, Bubby.

Speaker 1 (18:04):
I've seen a lot of live shows. I'm jaded at
this point too. I'm extremely jaded.

Speaker 2 (18:08):
That's a higher compliment than it is. Yeah, it is.

Speaker 1 (18:11):
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.

Speaker 3 (18:15):
But when your move, your move so hard.

Speaker 1 (18:16):
When you're jaded, and to watch you perform, I leave
and I'm like, god, dang, I just I thought i'd
seen it all. So because of that, you're 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.

Speaker 2 (18:36):
Yeah, and the different self is for me as I
play guitar, So that becomes a strong point of the
of what I do. I love guitar riffs. I love
catchy songs, you know, unapologetically energy too, and energy yeah,
and fiercely in the moment presence, absolutely and really giving
a shit, like really really like this is the last

(18:58):
gig I'll ever play. Every is the last gig ever play.

Speaker 1 (19:01):
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
doesn't feel forced energy.

Speaker 3 (19:11):
It feels like pure energy. And there's a difference.

Speaker 1 (19:15):
Sometimes you go out and you really do I'm like,
I'm gonna 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's show,
and honestly this wasn't leading up to the promo of
your tour. Yeah, your tickets are on until today, which
works in great into this and it's the it's the
greatest live show I think I've seen because and I

(19:37):
don't know why you keep going into the audience.

Speaker 3 (19:38):
You may not not do that with COVID.

Speaker 1 (19:39):
Now I've just seen you do it so many times.

Speaker 3 (19:45):
Like stop, like I'm worried for your own hell.

Speaker 1 (19:49):
Yeah, like people we were talking to Jerry Flower, Yeah,
Jerry Klower. Jerry Clower is one of my favorites too,
by the way, hear me Jerry.

Speaker 2 (20:01):
Clowers only one time and he is just a pistol.
Yeah yeah.

Speaker 1 (20:05):
So but the other Jerry who you were in the
ranch with, and who is your musical leader, band director?

Speaker 2 (20:11):
I don't know, yea bas player, yep.

Speaker 1 (20:13):
He said that you guys were doing a private function
and you ran into the crowd and they were so
high they started biting you. Oh yeah, I 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. Yeah, and you kind of give off
that or like you accept that. So we try and

(20:33):
feed people before the show. Now, they're very passionate, is
very passionate.

Speaker 2 (20:40):
Let me say this.

Speaker 1 (20:41):
The new American tour, The Speed of Now World Tour
twenty twenty two fifty three shows between June seventeenth and
November fifth of twenty twenty two. There is 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 as for your career when you're fourteen, fifteen, sixteen

(21:04):
years old?

Speaker 2 (21:04):
What's the ceiling in your mind? Yeah? How far you
can get in your career. I never thought of it.
I don't know, it's so weird. I was never one
of these kids with a plan at all, none, just
try and get better. I was playing in this cover
band that I talked about in nineteen eighty eight when
it saw Mellencamp. Yah, yeah, yeah, And I wasn't the
lead singer. I was guitar playing and we were playing.

(21:27):
It was for a cover band. We were doing a
couple of thousand people on a Sunday afternoon, which was
a lot of people to come and see this cover band.
But it was a really good band.

Speaker 3 (21:35):
What was your role in the cover band guitar and
lead singer?

Speaker 2 (21:38):
Well, we had a lead singer that wasn't you, It
wasn't me. And the only reason I joined this band
was I had a manager who was also managing this band.
It's a long story, but I had been in I'd
done duo's, I'd done bands. I'd 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,

(22:00):
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.
So I was with that band for about a year
and he was right. I learned so much from that
lead singer. But one of the things was I wanted
to do some original songs. We're doing all these covers,

(22:22):
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
list and I'd be looking at the guys in the band,
I'm like, here comes that song. He comes a song.
We were going to get to do our song and
he would bail on it. Every time. He'd be like,
n I skip that one. Let's do money money, and
I'm like yeah, And after a while of that, I

(22:45):
just went I'm not this is going nowhere. What are
you going to do with covers? I want to want
to play original music. So I left the band and
the drummer and bass player quit at the same time
and came and joined me.

Speaker 3 (23:02):
And so then what do you do? Is it a
new name band?

Speaker 2 (23:05):
Is it are you? It was just me, it was
just solo. But then of course I couldn't get any
work playing original songs, and so we resorted to be
in another cover band, but slipping in my own songs
in between the covers at least. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (23:19):
And so as you're doing your own music, are you
in Australia at this point?

Speaker 2 (23:22):
Yeah? Yeah, it's all in Australia.

Speaker 3 (23:24):
Was the plan to get to the States.

Speaker 2 (23:26):
At some point? Yeah, But I didn't know how when
nothing knew nothing about that? Then how did you? So
in nineteen eighty nine, my manager got some tickets for
us to come over to America and we came to
Nashville and spent lips played down at the Shoonees which
was on Demonbrian and pitched my crappy demo to all
the labels, met with complete silence?

Speaker 3 (23:51):
Is it now?

Speaker 1 (23:52):
It was met with complete silence because it's your big,
famous and successful or was it really met with complete silence?

Speaker 2 (23:58):
Oh? No, it was terrible. First of all, 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?

(24:22):
Because Nashville was like sixteenth and seventeenth 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.
I'm like, ah, this is this is fantastic. It's not
New York City. It's 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 get I'll

(24:44):
get here and I'll start writing songs and I'll record
and boom, We'll be off and running in no time.
And man, the years just went by and by, and.

Speaker 1 (24:50):
What were 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?

Speaker 2 (24:56):
So I signed a publishing deal with a company in
Australia that had an office in Nashville. It's very small,
little wage 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 crashes somebody at
their house, go and write songs every day with whoever

(25:17):
they put me with. You know that thing that we
do here in Nashville professional songwriters. Whenever the new kid
in town is, they throw them in with the pro
songwriters and see if something happens.

Speaker 1 (25:27):
Was that weird for you, by the way, because that
was the culture and you've been writing probably by yourself.

Speaker 2 (25:31):
Yeah, but yeah, it was really difficult. I also was
nowhere near good enough yet, and so I'm getting with
really great pro writers and I just I sucked. I
just had so much to learn that was excruciating.

Speaker 3 (25:43):
And are you learning or are you overwhelmed?

Speaker 2 (25:45):
I think and also frustrated the way in which I
would write with my drum machine and my bass or
a banjo or something, and always with a groove. Always.
I would never sit with a guitar and a legal
pad in a windowless room.

Speaker 3 (25:58):
So were you an early track guy?

Speaker 2 (26:00):
Because if yeah, definitely, because I like I like them well,
because I write from the music out. The music is
trying to tell a story, and then I extrapolate the
story from the music.

Speaker 5 (26:10):
Let's take a quick pause for a message from our
sponsor and we're back on the Bobby Cast.

Speaker 3 (26:24):
Will you write songs with melody?

Speaker 4 (26:26):
First?

Speaker 2 (26:28):
Uh?

Speaker 3 (26:29):
Just straight melody? Will you write a melody?

Speaker 2 (26:31):
Do? Do? Do?

Speaker 3 (26:33):
And that's what you have? Then you create around the melody.

Speaker 2 (26:35):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (26:36):
Are you more prone to do that when writing if
you're starting from scratch or an idea, a lyric like where.

Speaker 2 (26:43):
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,
It doesn't matter, just something that you pick up and
just respond to and then a melody comes, a melody

(27:03):
comes of some sort, and then you I think the
music has an emotion about it. It's trying to say
something I make somebody like you. You know. That song
started from flying out to La meeting this guy John Shanks.
I didn't know. I was so nervous to meet with
some LA 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 went to

(27:25):
this Irish pub and I had a pint of guinness
and it was like ten in the morning and it
was really good. So I had another one and that
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

(27:48):
had this little drum machine and it was going, that's
all it was doing. And I pulled my banjo out
of the case and go, Dan, no idea, why just
it just came out and We're like, oh, it feels good.
What do we do with that? You know? And then

(28:08):
nothing something and so does something. Gotta find some words
and that's that's it, and then you just the rest comes.

Speaker 1 (28:18):
You're creating that vocal melody to without putting the words
on it. Yeah, so blah blah blah. So that that
that and then you'll go would you record that?

Speaker 2 (28:26):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (28:26):
Go back over and go, okay, you know what's down here?

Speaker 2 (28:28):
Yeah? Well a lot of times it's gibberish. Is actually
trying to say something like you listen to the tape,
which we had a tape then, and it would be
and you're like, oh, there's a there was that a
new wind? Something write there now never never known, sounds
like it's like scared. It's all in there. I think

(28:49):
Mick Jagger calls it making vowel movements. Great.

Speaker 3 (28:52):
So as you're here and you're learning to write, when
does the ranch.

Speaker 2 (28:55):
Start to be a thing? Uh? Well, this three piece
band that I mentioned, I had drummer, bass player that
I took from this cover band. I thought, well, let's
head over to Nashville and do some shows. You know,
all I can bring is bass player and drums. I
got no money. I can't afford anything by Right around

(29:17):
that time, I actually had built out a five piece band.
I sign a record deal in Australia, did an album,
put two more guys in my band, keyboard and guitar,
so I had drums, bass, keyboard, guitar, and me and
we were touring around playing these songs off my album.
So it was starting to happen in Australia, was popping,
had a song on the radio and I was like,
here we go. It's great, you know, but all I

(29:38):
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 bass play and drummer 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
for a year or so, and then he went back

(29:59):
to Florida and we found Jerry who came in and
took over. So we were free piece. Because of no money.
It was not my preference. It just couldn't afford anymore players,
and that eventually became the Ranch.

Speaker 1 (30:11):
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 a time like that, that music,
and we were listening to some demos and some old
some old you know Ranch cuts. Right, it feels like
seven years later, right, that probably hits.

Speaker 2 (30:28):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (30:29):
Do you feel like it was a bit advanced musically
and that's why it didn't work at the time.

Speaker 2 (30:36):
Yeah, it certainly didn't sound like anything on radio. And
that's always the thing, you know, with the record we
made in nineteen ninety seven just didn't sound like anything
on the radio. When it was hell making that record
because we were signed to Warner Brothers in nineteen ninety
five and we went in with every quarter pointed producer
in town. Every one of those situations didn't work because

(31:01):
what happens is we would either sound like us, which
didn't sound like 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.

Speaker 3 (31:14):
Was there someone that was betting on you?

Speaker 1 (31:16):
Though? As Keith Urban, Like, Okay, the ranch didn't work,
but we still have faith in you. 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, wow, you didn't make it, Probably.

Speaker 2 (31:27):
Not for you. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (31:28):
Was there anyone that was like, hey, I know that
didn't work and maybe it was just you, right? 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?

Speaker 2 (31:41):
I think that was me. I mean I just had
that burning belief. I know why is because I was
I'd grown up on all this 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 band wasn't

(32:01):
in the plan. Originally. It morphed into that. So it
was originally you, It was me. It was me and
my base player drummer. We didn't have a name. It
was just my name. 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 going

(32:23):
to send you guys out, maybe 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
we're 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, Like,
what do you mean. I go, I'm not I'm not
playing with just I got a band, right, take my
band with me. And they're like, yeah, but we didn't

(32:45):
sign your band, and I go, no, I know, but
I mean they're my band. It doesn't make sense when
I play with someone else. And when we got dropped
from that label and went over to Capitol, I said,
you have to sign everybody, and I'm going to get
rid of my name too. The hell with it getting
read of my name. We're doing it, you know. And
I had so many people around me saying, don't do that,
don't drop your name and just lose yourself in the band.

(33:07):
But that's what I did. When you became Keith Urber.

Speaker 1 (33:09):
I want to roll through some number ones here two
thousand and one, your first number one.

Speaker 3 (33:13):
But for the grace of God, let's hear a little
bit of this.

Speaker 2 (33:19):
I must.

Speaker 3 (33:24):
After the years of struggle on a.

Speaker 1 (33:26):
Label to have 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?
It was it like whoa, That's what I'm talking about?

Speaker 2 (33:41):
Yeah, only above. It was surreal to have a number
one song in America was just crazy. I remember that
day like it was yesterday. Really, oh my god.

Speaker 3 (33:54):
Twenty years ago, you still remember it like that your
first Wanly?

Speaker 2 (33:56):
Yeah, 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 in country radio
in America? Truly?

Speaker 1 (34:09):
Really did your life change after that? After you had
a number one? Since you could say it.

Speaker 2 (34:16):
I felt like, Okay, now we got a chance to
get some more music going. And the next single after
that I think was Where the Blacktop Ends, which.

Speaker 1 (34:26):
Is weird because it peaked it. I was looking at numbers.
It wasn't a number one No, but that, to me
is one of the songs I think of when I
think of you and your catalog is where the Blacktop ends.
Wasn't even number one, no, which shows you not all
number ones or career songs, and not all career songs are.

Speaker 2 (34:42):
Number one song.

Speaker 1 (34:43):
So true, even in two thousand and one, two thousand
and two, did that song feel big like a number
one song where the Black Top ends.

Speaker 2 (34:52):
I can't remember that now, one you can't remember now?
I can't remember that. I mean I I remember making
that a whole album with Matt Rawlings and it 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. I don't know
what I'm going to do. It was a guy running
Capitol Records at the time called Pat Quiggley, and he

(35:14):
was the president. And I used every proper famous producer
and none of it was working. And I went in
to 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 lot,
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

(35:35):
record that sounds good. And he went, yeah, whatever. It
was very much that case of like, go do whatever
you want to do. We're not that interest. You could
tell whatever it's going. So we went and cut up
the Grace Guard and like four or five songs, and
I took him in and played for him and he goes,
that sounds good to finish the record out. It was
no big deal. And we handed in the record and

(35:57):
it had It's a Love Thing and want to Be
or everything all the singles that came out, Grace God, Blacktop,
all that stuff, and they put out Love It's a
love Thing. I think I went to number eighteen or
something like It's okay, pretty good. They put out another song,
I want to Be Everything, and I think got to
top five or close to it, and it wasn't it

(36:18):
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 change
after that.

Speaker 1 (36:27):
Whenever somebody like you comes out two thousand and two,
here's a little clip, Yeah, do you remember this one?
Is Vivid your second number one? Yeah?

Speaker 2 (36:43):
You do? Okay, everything about it, recording it first time,
I'd work with Dan Hulf working out at sound Kitchen
at Franklin and the putting, the putting the band together and
thee the whole session. I remember it's vividaly because it
got magical.

Speaker 3 (36:57):
Does a guy like Dan Huff challenge you?

Speaker 2 (37:00):
So I was going to do the next record on
my own Golden Road, and I had already done six
sides of that record, including who 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,

(37:22):
he's a guitar player. I mean, I'm so not going
to work with the guitar player who's going to tell
me what to play, you know. I don't want that.
I've been down this 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 there
was really a compliment to Dan. I met with Dan.
I said, Okay, I've got this one song. It's called

(37:43):
Somebody Like You. That'd be a good one for us
to start on. And I'd 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, this song feels great.
I think we should use this drummer. And I got
already got the drummer. Well, I think we should use
this base. But I I got the whole band, Dan,
I got the whole band. All right, Well, I like

(38:05):
to work at this studio, I said, I'm already at
the studio. We're gonna be at sound kitchen. Okay, Well,
the engineer I like to use head when I already
got the engineer's name's Justin Ebank, And he goes, what
do I do? When I go, you just show up.
That's all you're going to 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

(38:26):
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'd been with this band for two weeks. He walks
in and I literally could feel all the musicianship go
up a whole other level just with him being in
the room. He sat in the room, the band's playing

(38:46):
a bit of Somebody Like You, and he goes, hey, Chris,
just change that snare a little bit there. Okay, ye
leave that bass pot out right there, and you play
that bit of it there. And I watched him arrange
this thing and the whole track is Elevator, and I'm like, well, damn,
this guy's the real deal. He's so good.

Speaker 3 (39:04):
When did the town start to treat you differently?

Speaker 2 (39:08):
Tuesday? As I was already getting support from the town
very early on. I think because of all those writing sessions,
you know, and when you write with people where it
gets out whether you can really thing, really play, whether
you know about country music if you're legit or just
some posa really so, I think those sort of guitar

(39:31):
pool sessions of people's houses going to the Bluebird, people
knew I was. I was, for real.

Speaker 1 (39:38):
I was watching some of your performance with her. I
guess all of it. Befotina Turner for the Rock.

Speaker 2 (39:42):
And Roll Hall of Fame.

Speaker 3 (39:43):
Oh well, how do you do? How did you get
called in to do that?

Speaker 2 (39:47):
I haven't seen any of that? You haven't?

Speaker 1 (39:49):
No, what do you mean you haven't seen it? You
don't watch it? Do you watch your stuff?

Speaker 2 (39:53):
No? Well I haven't seen that. No.

Speaker 3 (39:56):
Generally, will you go and watch your stuff?

Speaker 2 (39:58):
It depends.

Speaker 3 (39:58):
Are you one of the guys that after live show
you want to go on critique it?

Speaker 2 (40:02):
I probably should do it more than I do.

Speaker 1 (40:04):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (40:05):
Yeah, it's always better when I get in there and care.

Speaker 1 (40:09):
How does a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame invite
come with tin for Tina Turner?

Speaker 2 (40:15):
Uh? Because Brian Adams couldn't make it, And they just
caught me up and they go, would you come and
fill in for Brian's day before the cod Yeah? Yeah
it was. It was Thursday and Nick and I were
going to the Bahamas and my manager calls me and
he goes, hey, can you come fill in for Brian?
And I'm like if we're going to the Bahamas on Friday?

(40:35):
He's like, you didn't hear what I said? And I
was like, no, I heard you. We're heading off to
the Bahamas and Nick's in the car and Nick's 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.

(40:57):
I'm sew in over my head. You know, I was terrified.

Speaker 1 (41:01):
You still get terrified, yeah, wild dear, Yeah, you well
that anything musically would intimidate you.

Speaker 2 (41:09):
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 McCartney and the food Fighters and
they're all you know, I pictured them all like arms crossing, Okay,
what do you do? What's your thing? And I'm like, well,
it's not this, this is not it.

Speaker 1 (41:29):
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.

Speaker 3 (41:39):
You and who collaboration marks, Yeah, you and who?

Speaker 2 (41:43):
So many? I mean John doing Crossroads with John Mayer
to this day, I just loved that whole experience with
him playing. I learned a lot from him. Really you
learned from him?

Speaker 3 (41:54):
Hell yeah, yeah, yeah, what do you learn from John
Mayer to.

Speaker 2 (41:58):
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 a pure artist and
makes a song his own. Because I remember saying to
him the rest didn't go like that. He's like, yeah,
but that's how I'm gonna sing it right on.

Speaker 6 (42:15):
Of course the Bobby cast will be right back. This
is the Bobby Cast.

Speaker 1 (42:30):
Is there a gamesmanship when you have two people that
are so again, I'll just talk about the instrument for
a second, So two people that are so proficient at
their instrument, or you, guys, do you feel each other
out at first?

Speaker 3 (42:41):
Are you like, is he really as good as I've heard?

Speaker 1 (42:43):
Or is it you know, because you've you've heard for yourself,
like on a record or on YouTube. I'm not John specifically,
but anyone. You know when you kind of cross path.

Speaker 2 (42:55):
Because I had a room for squares and we played
that record to death on that two of us. So
I was right from the beginning. 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.

Speaker 1 (43:14):
You ever meet someone, you're like, man, it's gonna be awesome,
and then you're like, that's not really right, really as
good as that's hot or as you know, I don't want.

Speaker 2 (43:21):
You to say. Some people don't have a collaborative hert.
That's what it is. They don't have a collaborative herd.
For whatever reason, they just don't collaborate. They 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 how thing. That's what I'm
here for.

Speaker 1 (43:38):
On the opposite side of that, who have you collaborated
with it? You were like, oh, I didn't expect it
to be as warm and as a just a friendly collaboration,
but holy crap, we're in it and it's rocking pink.

Speaker 2 (43:50):
I think was that when we did one too many?
Why Why do you think you guys hit it off?
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 giving with that whole project,
you know, for a song that she didn't write, to

(44:10):
be giving so much of her time and her effort too.
You know, we shot a video as well, and then
we shot footage which we can use in concerts, so
we have her projected on the screen and concert. That's
all time consuming, and she was just amazing.

Speaker 1 (44:24):
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, and when they want to put out
their own to get Pink on a song, do you go, Okay, well,
maybe we can release it as single, maybe not, depending
on what your schedule is, right, I mean.

Speaker 3 (44:38):
Is that something? Is that an issue that you deal
with other artists.

Speaker 2 (44:42):
It's something you have to consider, Yeah, for sure, because
sometimes it's just the time's not going to work. You know. Yeah,
it's great, the single sounds really great, but we're not
going to be able to release it at the right time.

Speaker 1 (44:59):
I was reading on the internet that you bowl. Are
you some of the stuff I didn't know and could
be crap.

Speaker 2 (45:03):
Are you a bowler? Yeah?

Speaker 3 (45:04):
Are you a good bowler?

Speaker 2 (45:06):
I'm Okay, how do I not know that? I don't.
We've never talked about it exactly been bowling? True?

Speaker 3 (45:12):
But where did?

Speaker 2 (45:12):
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
out of the gate. It's that I hand coordination that
guitar players have.

Speaker 3 (45:24):
You know, your highest game is what you call it
a game?

Speaker 4 (45:26):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (45:27):
No, I don't know. Uh, you know, to have an
average hundred and something? Really yeah, it's not grabbed me
at three hundreds? Perfect game, right that definitely could crack No,
but definitely could crack two hundred. Do you play pool? Yeah?
You go to that. I think this mandatory when you're
from Australia you go to play pool? Is that a thing? Yeah?
Very much like all the pub up and they all

(45:48):
had pool tables. Great sign of a misspent youth.

Speaker 1 (45:51):
Well 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 the hand eye coordination there. It's right,
it's a coincidence. All those are very hand eye coordinated.
Do you think being a good guitar player helped you
be a good bowler?

Speaker 2 (46:10):
I suck at bass at basketball. I cannot get that
thing in the hoop. So they guessed that theory.

Speaker 1 (46:15):
You true or false? You were once the road guitars
for a bit for Brooks and Done. No, never one
of the many things on Wikipedia.

Speaker 2 (46:22):
It's not true.

Speaker 1 (46:23):
I didn't think the bawling was true. I'll be honest
with the eye got to be false, right, Okay, Yeah,
so where does that story come from?

Speaker 2 (46:28):
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 people were a backup. Yeah.
I was like the guy in the band. Well, what
happened was we were going to pull a prank on them,

(46:49):
and they had a guitar player in the band, Charlieff
got in his last name Charlie, and he had his
hat down. Really, he had wore a hat wore down.
Super Low had this like leopid print shirt and everything.
And during the tour, I was thinking I could probably
masquerade us. I could probably pretend to be him and
the boys wouldn't even know. And so during one of
the shows, Charlie slipped out the back while he was playing.

(47:11):
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 and was shredding right in between kicks and running,
and it took a beat for them to realize I wasn't,
but they did realize. So I think that was where

(47:33):
this rumor got started.

Speaker 3 (47:36):
What's like a Tuesday at your house?

Speaker 2 (47:38):
Like?

Speaker 1 (47:39):
And I asked that because you and your wife exclusively
are superstars. When you're together, I feel like you're kind
of normal. Rights it's a weird situation. Yeah, Like when
I see you two if were an event or something,
I feel.

Speaker 3 (47:55):
Like as a couple you're quite approachable.

Speaker 1 (47:57):
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. But together it's almost like a normal
husband and wife. And I've not seen that vibe with
any other couple. Usually it's different. It's like they're much

(48:17):
more they're much less approachable together because there's so much
more power there.

Speaker 3 (48:23):
But it feels like you're a normal, normal married couple
at home.

Speaker 2 (48:27):
Is that true? You'd be doing a house, it's like
super normal.

Speaker 1 (48:31):
I saw her tell you once that she was gonna
stop and get some milk, and I was like, you
do that?

Speaker 2 (48:37):
What do you mean you're gonna get milk? Shouldn't someone
be flying that in and like flying the cow in
rock and roll?

Speaker 1 (48:46):
How how do you guys maintain what do you focus
on to try to have normalcy in a life that
is abnormal?

Speaker 2 (48:55):
I mean, look love, genuine love 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 Ozzie knows about this, and
it's if you get too big in the in the South,
they say when you get above you raisin right, they

(49:16):
cut you down. You get cut down.

Speaker 3 (49:19):
The poppy seed plan is another one. The tall poppy
gets got.

Speaker 2 (49:21):
There, you go, So that's it. So it's the it's
the tall poppy syndrome where 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 it down to earth,
you're out of work. It's one of the two, and
it's it's put us in a really good place to
have a good life because of it.

Speaker 1 (49:42):
What are you grateful for with her as a person?
How does she make you better? And I asked this
from a personal personal place because I've never been married.
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. No, because I think you know when
you talk about the trauma for I struggle with a
lot of that trauma until now and still am. But

(50:03):
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?

Speaker 2 (50:13):
She really loves, like genuinely loves and has real empathy, compassion,
caring and love like I've never never experienced before.

Speaker 1 (50:27):
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 expect it to be great.

Speaker 2 (50:32):
No, she's so good.

Speaker 1 (50:35):
And I don't know anything about acting. Sometimes people say
so says a bad actor. I'm like, I all looks
the same to me. However, I was watching on Hulu
nine Strangers.

Speaker 3 (50:45):
That's the whole thing. She's so good.

Speaker 1 (50:47):
In that that you then go, okay, that's good acting, Like,
and she is nailing these serieses.

Speaker 3 (50:56):
If she's in a series, I'll watch it.

Speaker 1 (50:57):
It's just to that point now where if you're wife
is in a series, even if I don't know what
it's about, the history of poop.

Speaker 2 (51:04):
Right now, I'm going toward her next series, I'm going
to watch.

Speaker 1 (51:07):
It because she has showed that she's awesome in these things.

Speaker 3 (51:10):
Do you do you talk about projects with her? Does
she talk about projects with you.

Speaker 2 (51:12):
And you know them together and like should we do this? Yeah, yeah, souse.
We have to talk about scheduling and where it is
and how's this going to work? And then of course
a lot of the times reading scripts with her, you know,
this is the being the Ricado's, which is the Lacille
Ball film that's coming out. Aaron Sulkin wrote most amazing scripts,
and just getting to read these scripts is something that
is God, it's surreal. You read with her sometimes, Yeah,

(51:37):
do you ever want to do that? No? I have
zero interest in acting, like none, zero. Does she ever
hear a.

Speaker 3 (51:43):
Song of yours and go eh, it's okay, she.

Speaker 2 (51:47):
Doesn't have to. I can tell you here's the thing
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, or how you react that song
tells me a lot about the song, But what tells
me more is how I feel playing it for you.

(52:07):
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 may go I love that, and inside
I'm thinking I did until I played it, and I'm
not feeling so good about it now. So I want
to figure out what's going on.

Speaker 1 (52:22):
What is your relationship with singles, EPs, albums, Because it's
a new land out there.

Speaker 3 (52:29):
Yeah, it's tension, spans are different. Sorry what exactly?

Speaker 1 (52:33):
But it is getting that way, right, Yeah, So how
are you feeling these days about twelve thirteen, fourteen track albums?
Why do you see you changing how you're you know,
doing Keith Urban distribution of music.

Speaker 2 (52:46):
I still like to think it comes down to quality,
the quality of something, because people go, oh, people want
shorter this, short of that, and I'm like, only because
a lot of what's out there's just not great. It's okay,
it's not great, and 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're trying to maintain a level

(53:07):
of excellence with this often unrealistic demand for the amount
of it.

Speaker 1 (53:12):
You're trying to walk a line. How can I give
you the best most exactly? That's exactly it? And I
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.

Speaker 2 (53:24):
And I think we're in this a lot in our
society right now. The speed of everything 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.

Speaker 1 (53:43):
Do you feel pressure from at the stage of your career,
label as 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.

Speaker 2 (53:53):
Yeah, I've never felt that. I've never felt I will
say my record company, Capital Records, so I've been with
a long time. I've never ever felt anything but support
for what I do. They've never given me like dragging
the record out of my hand, demanding this song with
that song. Ever, they've been amazingly supportive.

Speaker 3 (54:11):
Do you need a teleprompter?

Speaker 2 (54:13):
Ever?

Speaker 1 (54:13):
For lyrics? You've got so many number one songs? Do
you ever need a reminder of words? Do you have
to refresh or are.

Speaker 2 (54:21):
You just there? Yeah, refresh it if it's gonna be
an old song. But it's I have a sick memory
for lyrics of songs. It's crazy you bring up I
brought it up.

Speaker 1 (54:30):
But we talked about it with Ronnie Dunn, who I've
oddly become friends with and we're opposite in many ways.
But I mean 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 bull 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 his ear
the whole time, right on a microphone side stage, telling

(54:51):
him every lyrics 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
count I mean they're right in there.

Speaker 2 (55:02):
That's excellent.

Speaker 3 (55:03):
I mean voice of an angel, but holy crap, we
can't remember word.

Speaker 2 (55:06):
High pressure gig for the guy in the ear.

Speaker 1 (55:08):
It's and it's a yeah, very much though, but you
have it all there for.

Speaker 2 (55:13):
The most part. Boy, he'd want to be on good
terms with that guy, wouldn't he. It's like ron Ron Ronnie,
you could get Burgundy san Diego real quick.

Speaker 1 (55:24):
Prompted there, let's talk about the new single. Then I
do want to get back to the tour. But the
current single is Wild Hearts. Let me play a little
bit of this for you. I kind of have a

(55:50):
relationship with every songwriter on this song, which is pretty cool.

Speaker 2 (55:53):
Eric is a dear friend of.

Speaker 1 (55:54):
Mine, Jen Wayne same she's in now she's in a
group herself.

Speaker 2 (56:02):
Away June.

Speaker 1 (56:02):
There it is brad Tercy from Old Dominion. How does
this room come together? Or was it a room that
came together?

Speaker 2 (56:09):
It didn't come together. I got sent this song as
a finished song, two verses, chorus done, and I got
pitched the song from Roxy King and I heard it
and I was like, hm, it's just I like, the
chorus aren't really the rest of us not pulling me in?

(56:31):
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?
That's that wild Heart song. It's really 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

(56:51):
I said would I said it, would you mind if
I rewrote the verses just to make it more personal
because it's such a personal song. It's, you know, following
your dreams. I'm like, well, what about what? You know?
What was my dream journey from Australia to hear And
they sent me the track without anything in the verses,
and I just rewrote the verses.

Speaker 3 (57:11):
That's pretty cool one that they would go yes.

Speaker 2 (57:14):
And I said to them, I said, I'm a writer,
so I get this. First of all, I'm I'm not
one of these guys that's going to be like I
added the word the right, give me fifty percent right.
I've never been that guy. And I said, you guys
have written the top song. It's top to bottom, 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,

(57:35):
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 them they
let me do that.

Speaker 1 (57:45):
The North American Tour the Speed of Now World Tour
twenty twenty two.

Speaker 3 (57:49):
The tickets are on so now Keith Urban dot com.

Speaker 1 (57:52):
How long do you think you have another ten years
of doing these really high energy shows in you?

Speaker 2 (57:57):
I don't even think about that. I mean, just the next,
it's just the next show, good next.

Speaker 1 (58:01):
I mean, I'm injured. My whole body's still injured from my.

Speaker 2 (58:05):
That geo show, right, Sha, how beat?

Speaker 1 (58:07):
So now I think about it things in terms like
could I do another three seasons of that show?

Speaker 2 (58:11):
And I can't.

Speaker 3 (58:11):
I now understand I can't. Yeahs her wrist, her shoulder hurt.

Speaker 2 (58:15):
Everything. Tour is not that show, but your tour.

Speaker 3 (58:17):
I'm telling you.

Speaker 2 (58:18):
The thing is that you're mad man.

Speaker 3 (58:21):
Your tour is it again?

Speaker 1 (58:23):
Is the most energetic show I have ever seen from
a superstar who doesn't have to be that energetic because
he's already a superstar.

Speaker 3 (58:30):
And I mean that in the most complimentary way.

Speaker 1 (58:31):
Right, you could go out and just put on a
solid show and be 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.

Speaker 2 (58:42):
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,
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.

Speaker 3 (58:58):
Do you lose yourself in show?

Speaker 2 (59:00):
Definitely? Yeah, It's a perfect balance of being completely present
and completely lost in the moment all simultaneously.

Speaker 1 (59:08):
Do you ever Sometimes I'll drive and I'll get somewhere
and I'll be like, holy crap, I don't know how
I got here, right, Like subconscious has completely taken over,
and then I feel unsafe, and I'm like, you're telling
you people driving And then I start thinking about other
idiots who are.

Speaker 3 (59:19):
Doing what I did, not thinking and driving places.

Speaker 1 (59:21):
But does that ever happen in the show where you're
three songs later and you're like, dear god, how did
I even get here?

Speaker 2 (59:25):
No? No, I mean maybe, no, not really, not even
a moment I was thinking about a moment in a song. No,
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 extremely well on your show. You're listening

(59:46):
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, and you
totally hear as well.

Speaker 1 (59:57):
I feel like I'm completely present, but I think I'm
good at being present while while also.

Speaker 3 (01:00:03):
Delegating my mind to do other things the same.

Speaker 2 (01:00:06):
It's a good way to put it.

Speaker 5 (01:00:07):
Let's take a quick pause for a message from our sponsor,
and we're back on the Bobby Cast.

Speaker 1 (01:00:21):
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? Yeah, you have one of those?

Speaker 2 (01:00:27):
Yeah, what do you? What do you when you walk back?

Speaker 1 (01:00:29):
That's four songs in and only here guys on stage
can hear you. Because for those that don't know, some
of my friends that have them call them, uh, we'll
call it a b mic. Right, So the word rich, like,
we're talking to the rich mic. Right, if you're going
to that microphone, what are you saying in the middle
of a show, Why would it, Mike?

Speaker 2 (01:00:45):
Be cool that.

Speaker 3 (01:00:45):
I don't have no idea, but that's what that's the
only thing I know it as.

Speaker 7 (01:00:48):
Right.

Speaker 2 (01:00:49):
Oh, that's weird. I've never heard that expression. Oh you haven't. No, Oh, okay,
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. I'm like, well, that's perfect because everyone's got
in ears and you can actually talk to everyone.

Speaker 3 (01:01:04):
At you we're needing to get out over the top. No,
you're not at all, not that, Mike.

Speaker 1 (01:01:09):
What do you say, is it like, hey guys, we're
gonna switch songs or we're gonna play in a different
or on my throat hurt or like what?

Speaker 2 (01:01:15):
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.

Speaker 3 (01:01:22):
It could just be really like you see something out there.
For sure, security has ears in and they can hear that.

Speaker 2 (01:01:27):
I know that it's going to get to where it's
going to get to. If maybe not directly, someone will
relay 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, I'll make sure it
gets taken care of. Definitely.

Speaker 3 (01:01:42):
Of all the things that you do.

Speaker 1 (01:01:43):
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
one has right when you do those videos with the
police escort behind you and you're like, thank you guys.
Not great, Like I love the blue light video at
the end of the show.

Speaker 5 (01:02:01):
Right.

Speaker 1 (01:02:02):
That's funny so much so that there have been a
couple of times where you know, we did We've done
a couple of shows. We did a festival, and I
threw a festival in Texas and we had like four
or five thousand people and we had to get out
and I was like, Hey, I'm want to get that
blue light like Keith e because I gotta get that shot.

Speaker 2 (01:02:17):
Right.

Speaker 3 (01:02:17):
So you're inspiring me in ways you had no idea.

Speaker 2 (01:02:19):
Its great. It's much better having in front of you
than behind you. Let me tell you, I would agree
with you. I've spent way more years with the opposite.
So this is nice, Mike.

Speaker 3 (01:02:26):
Anything that I have missed that we need to address
with Keith before he leaves, I think that's everything.

Speaker 1 (01:02:31):
It's the daylight savings time just about so it's getting
darker now and so it feels like it's midnight. So
I'm I'm a little tired, kind of run through it here.
Anything you'd like to say, Read, you're a massive Keith fan.

Speaker 3 (01:02:40):
Read is my video guy. He's been looking for he
been looking forward to this whole life.

Speaker 1 (01:02:44):
Oh my gosh, So Read, this is your one shot
with Keith. Is there anything take a deep breath that
you'd like to ask Keith?

Speaker 2 (01:02:50):
All right, Keith, I don't know.

Speaker 7 (01:02:54):
All I'm thinking about is 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 try to
mimic and try to learn learn.

Speaker 2 (01:03:09):
The songs, and it was got awful.

Speaker 7 (01:03:11):
But I remember that moment. And then I got the
pleasure of going to your show. I 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 uh,
my girlfriend just going Keith, Keith. But that was probably

(01:03:33):
me actually, But yeah, so those are just the moments
that came up to me.

Speaker 2 (01:03:39):
But wow, I was a huge fan. Man, Thank you
so much. How's the plane coming along? Oh it's it's good. Yeah, yeah,
you're still playing? Yeah, yes, sir, I heye. I love songwriting.

Speaker 7 (01:03:50):
I don't do a lot of playing shows or anything,
but I love to produce my music as well and
write songs so yes, sir.

Speaker 1 (01:03:58):
Yeah, we have emotion 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.

Speaker 2 (01:04:07):
Your Name Wow. Man.

Speaker 3 (01:04:09):
The writers or one of the writers saw me out.

Speaker 1 (01:04:13):
I was getting some ice cream with Kaitlin and he
was like, you guys played got when God whispered your
Name is your wedding and I was like, first time
I keep singing that song.

Speaker 3 (01:04:19):
I was like, that's it.

Speaker 1 (01:04:21):
Like I felt that 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

(01:04:41):
that song. I remember thinking, man, if I ever find
this because I heard song before I knew her, But
when I met her and I was like, oh, this
is when God whispered.

Speaker 2 (01:04:50):
Your name wow.

Speaker 3 (01:04:52):
And it's one of those few moments where a song
is you're punches you in the gut, are okay?

Speaker 2 (01:05:01):
Maybe you got you got married and you love that
kind of song and yeah, yeah, Danni should played You're Winning. Yes. Cool.

Speaker 1 (01:05:09):
And the funny part about that was my wife and
Abby Smiers are really close friends. Dan and I have
been buddies for a long time, and.

Speaker 2 (01:05:19):
I was like, hey, look you.

Speaker 1 (01:05:21):
Get because they're like, whatever 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, they have the best lie but
I didn't.

Speaker 2 (01:05:31):
I picked the Beach Boys song, Oh what song did
you pick? Forever? I don't know this and everyone I
say will make you laugh at talk Forever.

Speaker 1 (01:05:41):
Dennis Wilson wrote it, I didn't know that song. Jesse
and the Rippers later did it on Full House.

Speaker 2 (01:05:45):
Dennis Wilson wrote it and the drummer.

Speaker 1 (01:05:48):
Wow, and they crushed it in for it and they
did checked that song. Yeah, they put it on a
they give us a file. They recorded it as well
as wedding gift to us and gave it to us.

Speaker 2 (01:05:56):
It was awesome, amazing, And.

Speaker 1 (01:05:57):
What was cool was even Ronnie was like, Hey, you
don't want anything for your wedding, like, I can't get
you anything?

Speaker 2 (01:06:02):
What do you mean to sing?

Speaker 3 (01:06:03):
I was like, that's the greatest gift ever. So he's saying,
neon Moon.

Speaker 2 (01:06:06):
It was awesome. Oh my goodness, it was awesome. Wow.
How did he remember all the words?

Speaker 3 (01:06:11):
I worried too, I said, do we need to get
that mic for you over on the side.

Speaker 2 (01:06:15):
We didn't.

Speaker 4 (01:06:16):
He knew the.

Speaker 2 (01:06:16):
Words though, at the cell phone up his ear the
whole time.

Speaker 1 (01:06:19):
All right, get tickets throw on sale today. Keith Urban
The Speed of Now World Tour twenty twenty two.

Speaker 2 (01:06:24):
They're up.

Speaker 3 (01:06:25):
Go see him this podcast.

Speaker 1 (01:06:26):
This show is heard in all kinds of countries, so
all obviously North America, but all over the world.

Speaker 3 (01:06:31):
I don't know how you do it. I don't know
how you do it it maintain them as you.

Speaker 2 (01:06:34):
I love what I do. I love what I get
to do. And truly it's a you know, people go, oh,
it's a gift everyday, just it really is. And I'll
finish with this because I think it's what is what
it's all about is I went. I was born with
the addictive gene. I went to three rehabs in the
span of three in the span of eight years. The

(01:06:56):
first rehab is nineteen ninety eight, my second one was
two thousand and three, almost two thousand and six, and
it took what it took for me to finally get sober,
and that journey brought the deepest, deepest level of gratitude
for what I get to do. Then. I don't know
if I ever would have gotten that gratitude level without

(01:07:17):
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.

Speaker 1 (01:07:30):
Does it make you a more 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 final time and rehab?

Speaker 2 (01:07:52):
Very much? Yeah, and yes, I separate the person from
the addiction you own.

Speaker 1 (01:08:00):
Is one of the nicer guys in town, just generally
by people like Keith urban is the nicest guy.

Speaker 3 (01:08:06):
Were you known early in your career as that guy?

Speaker 1 (01:08:08):
Were you always just completely dialed into the human aspect
of people, because now you are and you're known for that.

Speaker 2 (01:08:14):
I like people, and 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
bridge builder. I'm a bridge builder. I'm an entertaina. I
you know, I think I was the I was the
I was the peace person. You know, if you have
an identity in your home. I was the bridge builder

(01:08:37):
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.

Speaker 1 (01:08:46):
All right, Go to a show, listen to the music.
Keith Urban, thank you always good to talk you great
to talk to you too, there is.

Speaker 2 (01:08:53):
Keith, thanks for listening to a Bobby Cast production.

Speaker 4 (01:09:00):
Uh

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Host

Bobby Bones

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Prequel Special: Revisiting Keith Urban's Childhood + Relationship with Father + Marriage + Rehab and Overcoming Addiction