Q&A: KEITH URBAN
Australian for "Country"
by Jim Allen
Keith Urban is the quintessential modern Nashville star: He's got a badass image, a sizable debt to '80s rock, and a knack for writing pure pop hooks with a down-home twang. His career was kicked into hyperdrive in 2004 when his third album Be Here hit #1 on the Billboard Country Album charts and scraped the upper reaches of the Hot 200, making him the only Australian artist besides Olivia Newton-John three decades ago to achieve such lofty heights. And when in mid-2006 Urban married Oscar-wining actress (and fellow Aussie) Nicole Kidman, the photogenic singer/songwriter/guitarist completed his transformation into an American household name.
But it's not easy being a superstar in the modern world. Four months after the wedding kicked off a media feeding frenzy and just two weeks before the hotly anticipated November '06 release of Love, Pain & the Whole Crazy Thing, Urban checked himself into a rehab program, where he cleaned up whatever habits drove him there. The new, improved Keith has come back stronger than ever, launching a successful tour in support of an album that's shone even brighter than its predecessors, and stepping onto the world stage as part of the international Live Earth event, where he broke even more musical boundaries by lending his voice and guitar to a duet version of The Rolling Stones' "Gimme Shelter" with Alicia Keys. In the midst of his triumphant return to the spotlight, Urban gave URGE the lowdown on what makes him tick and how he handles the demands of stardom.
URGE: How is the music you're making now different from what you've done in the past?
Keith Urban: The songs are just an evolution from the previous record. I think the two albums before this had a lot more in common with each other, a certain sound, a spirit about them that, to me, made them sound fairly bookend-ish. If there is one thing that we did with this record, it was take into account how some of these songs might be extended live, and consequently, we put those on the record just like they are. So there are a couple of seven-minute songs on the record which normally would be little three-and-a-half-minute songs on the album and we'd extend them live. In that respect, we're trying to blur the boundaries a little more between what you would see live and what you're hearing on record.
URGE: The kind of extension you're talking about has a lot do with your guitar solos. As a guitarist, who are some of the players that lit your fire when you were getting your chops together?
Urban: Early on, it was probably just the session players, the Reggie Youngs and the Brent Masons. I was copying their licks without really knowing who they were. But when I turned 15n, a friend turned me onto Dire Straits. It was really Mark Knopfler and his tone and his melodic sensibility that I just absolutely loved. From there, [Fleetwood Mac's] Lindsey Buckingham. I loved the rhythm pocket of [AC/DC's] Malcolm Young; I think he's one of the greatest rhythm guitarists ever.
URGE: How does an Australian kid wind up getting interested in American country music?
Urban: That was through my parents' record collection. My dad had all these American country records like Charley Pride, and Merle Haggard and lots of Don Williams. When I started playing guitar, those were the songs that I gravitated towards.
URGE: How did your passions for rock and country develop alongside each other?
Urban: In the pubs in Australia. I started touring when I was about 13, and playing in the pubs, man, you've just got to play what they want to hear. I did my fair share of "Free Bird" and those sorts of songs. When I went to see John Mellencamp in 1988 on the Lonesome Jubilee tour, it was a real defining moment for me. I'd grown up playing all this country up until I was in my late teens, and then all of a sudden I'm playing in these bands that are doing a lot of rock. I spent about two months playing in this heavy-metal band before I got fired, doing Whitesnake, Scorpions and Judas Priest [songs]. But at the time I was into Ricky Skaggs, so I was doing all these chicken-pickin' guitar licks in heavy-metal songs. I just couldn't figure out where the hell I was supposed to go. And I went and saw Mellencamp, and it had a profound effect on me because I saw this guy with this badass rock band, and there was a fiddle in it, there was an accordion. It was just the best mix of everything I loved. I didn't so much set out to emulate what John was doing, but he really inspired me to find my own thing and meld all the styles that I loved into my own thing. In that way John was a big influence.
URGE: Some people have said that 20 years ago someone doing what you do might have been considered a rock artist rather than a country artist. How do you feel about that?
Urban: I think it works the opposite way too ó if Bob Seger would have put out songs like "Against the Wind" right now, they'd probably be [considered] country songs. It just evolves. It's natural that country artists have grown up listening to just as much rock ó particularly Southern rock ó and that's going to come through in the music. At the same time, country has always crossed boundaries too. I look to the country artists I grew up listening to ó say, Glen Campbell or Johnny Cash ó and you're talking about pop-mainstream artists as well, [and about] songs that defied genre. So, I don't really see much difference today than there was back then. It's just relative to the time.
URGE: How did it feel to play at Live Earth, and to sing with Alicia Keys?
Urban: We certainly had a great time. Playing with Alicia, especially, was a blast. I couldn't imagine doing that song without that voice. My manager suggested doing "Gimme Shelter," which I thought lyrically was just fantastic. And then we were looking for who could sing the part, and Alicia's name came up. So we just contacted her and she was totally up for it; she was performing on the show anyway. We got to soundcheck [the song] in the morning, and just go for it.
URGE: Is the message of Live Earth something that's close to your heart?
Urban: We've got 12 trucks on this tour and they're all biodiesel. We weren't able to get the buses fitted out in time. I was happy with at least getting that done in time for the tours. It's certainly something that's becoming more and more the way that I look at my life, for sure. I'm not the perfect green guy by any means, but I think what I'm becoming aware of is places in my life that I can start to change some of the things I'm doing.
URGE: Did the huge scale of the Live Earth show affect your perspective on live performance?
Urban: No, not really. I've been fortunate to play a few of those stadium shows with Kenny Chesney. We did Live 8 in Philadelphia, as well. They're their own sort of thing, when you get to play to massive numbers like that. You can only play to so many and then it's just a bit of a CGI blur anyway. The day was more powerful for me for the significance [rather] than the amount of people involved.
URGE: The last year or so has been a whirlwind for you: getting married, following up a hugely successful record ... did you feel like a wrench was thrown into the works when you went into rehab in the midst of it all?
Urban: I took time away from my career to go and work on myself. And it was really, you know, it was a needed opportunity for me.
URGE: Now it seems like you've come through that time to even more success: a big new single and video, and a major tour. Do you feel like you've turned a corner?
Urban:Oh, no doubt. It's definitely a new life. It's just a much healthier, more balanced life than I've had previously.
URGE: How has your marriage changed things for you?
Urban: It gives more balance in my life. It makes me not so obsessed with the touring, like I used to be. I guess touring used to fill more of a hole in me than it does now, which is just part of finding balance. That's just evolving based on all kinds of things; marriage would be one of them. Obviously marriage will have some effect on [my music]. That answer is probably more about when I make the next record.
