On the Cover – Keith Urban

6/15/2007 – June/July 2007— Music Row Awards

Label: Capitol Records Nashville
Booking: CAA
Management: Borman Entertainment
Producers: Dann Huff, Keith Urban
Current Single: “I Told You So”
Current Album: Love, Pain, & the whole crazy thing
Current Video: “I Told You So”

Awards: 2006 CMA Male Vocalist of the Year, 2006 Grammy for Male Country Vocal Performance, 2005 CMA Male Vocalist of the Year and Entertainer of the Year, 2005 ACM Male Vocalist of the Year and Album of the Year
Hits: “I Told You So,” “Once In A Lifetime,” “Stupid Boy,” “Days Go By,” “Making Memories of Us,” “Better Life”
RIAA Certifications: Keith Urban Platinum; Golden Road Triple Platinum; Be Here Quadruple Platinum; Love, Pain, & the whole crazy thing Platinum

Music Row: Only a few country artists have headlined an international tour, what is it about your music that gives it such wide appeal?  
Keith Urban: “Love is love and freedom is freedom. If there’s an ongoing theme in my music it tends to be these two things. Love and freedom. Wanting it, finding it, having it, needing it, losing it, dreaming about it—every possible combination. It’s universal. Secondly, I love radio songs. I grew up loving and playing songs I heard on the road. I want a song to feel like it understands me.”
 
MR: The new album contains lots of complex, multilayered musical arrangements. How did this sound develop in the studio? 
KU: “I have an attention span that requires detail. Stuff for me to discover and dissect. I’m a fan of the sitcom Fawlty Towers, and no matter how many times I’ve seen it, I always find something new. I like when records do the same.”
 
MR: Which song on the new album are you most proud of? 
KU: “These days I’m less proud and more grateful and trust me—as a guy who can drag his feet and leave things for the last minute—I’m grateful for every song that got finished and made it on to this album.”
 
MR: Now that you are the reigning CMA Male Vocalist, how does it feel to be an “overnight success”?
KU: “It’s been the longest night of my life. I’ve played the worst bars, lived in vans, logged hundreds of thousands of miles around this country on my own and made just enough money to be turned down by every record company—repeatedly. I could write a book on ‘radio tours’ and looking back I think to myself, I wouldn’t change a single thing. It’s this very road that’s brought me today to the deepest gratitude I’ve ever known. I feel immensely blessed and very much watched over.”
 
MR: Any advice for new artists?  
KU: “Joseph Campbell said, ‘follow your bliss.’ I would also add be protective of your freedom to express, and remember that pain is the touchstone to spiritual progress.”
 
MR: Open mic (anything you’d like to say).
KU: : “We’re gonna take a short break, don’t forget to tip your waiters and waitresses.”