He’s released numerous chart-topping records, and worked with some of the world’s biggest names, but what is it really like inside the curious mind of Keith Urban, one of the world’s biggest music stars?
, on billboards for his national tour, and all over the radio with singles like “Out The Cage” and “One Too Many” from his ARIA number one albumWhen he enters the room at his label’s headquarters in Sydney, he’s looking relaxed, well-slept, and comfortable. He’s sporting a Sleaford Mods T-shirt, new tattoo ink on his right hand, and a dusting of highlighter makeup in the corners of his eyes—clear blue and alert. Urban suits being back in Australia.
Urban is smiling now. It’s clear he looks back on that phone call fondly. “I was like, ‘Well that sounds really good. That sounds very empowering, I’m going to do that’.” 1992. So-called Hat Acts reigned supreme and Urban was left circling the fringes for a long time, slogging it out as a songwriter in windowless rooms for five years—except this time it wasn’t his imagination keeping him there.
This approach filled the belly of two beasts: the listeners of country radio and Keith Urban’s curiosity. It worked too. His records feel capacious in the way they make room for myriad genres and sounds. His music feels universal and his growing fanbase is proof. Having been largely based in Australia since COVID-19 hit, Urban has had the luxury of spending more time with his mum and older brother Shane. He explains how, over the Easter long weekend, the three of them were discussing his late father’s struggle with alcoholism and how his style of discipline was often quite… heavy-handed.
Urban says he himself got lucky. Fifteen years sober, he has clarity about his past drug and alcohol abuse. Some of it shows up on record—on “Say Something” he sings,—but mostly it’s given him freedom. No more secrets, no more lies. ““It took me a long time to get sober,” he says. “Took me a long time to recognise my alcoholism. A long time because I didn’t drink like my dad, so I compared everything to him. So it just took a long time for me.
“I love that the book starts out by saying, ‘We realise we know only a little’,” he pauses, eyes wide. “Wow, what an amazing statement, the opposite of so many other structures.” It’d be a really limited palette if I only sang about my life right now. I don’t think Dolly Parton worked 9-5,” he laughs. “Also, it can be metaphoric too. You know, it doesn’t have to be taken literally.” Urban has no qualms with anyone else who chooses to drink or use drugs. He’s also happy to be around alcohol too—he keeps it in the house in case his guests want it—but he likes to refer to himself as “allergic”.
When Keith Urban talks about one of his more recent collaborators—the Atlanta-based Breland—you can hear echoes of what it must be like to be in the studio with him. Urban tells me about how he read an interview with Breland online, one where he discussed liberated creativity when it comes to genre. As he relays it, he’s inching forward in his seat and his hands are flying in all directions. He explains how a simple text on a Friday in May 2020 .
Keith Urban and Nile Rodgers, 2016. “Keith and I could just sit in a studio and just play, all day long.” Rodgers says Keith Urban is fearless. He recalls his FOLD Festival show with Chic in 2015. It was a sell-out event, and Rodgers’ band became Urban’s for the night. Just as the performance was heating up and Rodgers and Chic were feeding off Urban’s energy, but also following sheet music, Urban went off-script. He launched into an impromptu jam session that became a 13-minute guitar battle with Nile Rodgers.
“For the longest time I would say to myself, I’m not really a songwriter. I’m a guitar player blah blah blah,” he says. “[…] In the last year or two I’ve pivoted to saying, ‘Well I love writing songs’,” he pretends to give himself a good talking to, “just start there Keith.”As a faultless guitarist, Keith Urban has the skill to guide you on a musical journey through what can sometimes be confronting lyrical terrain.
“I thought it was a great way of leaning into the insanity of it all,” says Mayer. “I still have the case. It’s a great keepsake.”Time seems to slow down when you’re around Keith Urban. He has an impressive ability to stay in the moment. He has a saying: “No whining on the yacht”, and walking the length of the arena he’ll fill in December, it’s clear he doesn’t take all this for granted.
Keith Urban doesn’t have the ability to phone in a gig. Right now, it’s been a year-and-a-half since he last played a live show. His last gig was in Las Vegas for his residency before the pandemic put it on hold. He gave it everything he had. No regrets, no self-reproach. His next show will be at a festival in Ohio in August, followed by the resuming of his Las Vegas residency for five shows.
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