Country artist Keith Urban on the verge of superstardom
Lili2
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - He hears the talk on Music Row about being the next big
thing.
He tries not to listen. "To me, I'm still this 15-year-old guy in his first
garage band. That's how I feel every night when I play," says Keith Urban, who
launched his tour Friday in Muncie, Ind., to support his new album, Be Here.
Urban's 2002 breakthrough Golden Road sold two million copies and yielded four
hits, including Somebody Like You and Who Wouldn't Wanna Be Me.
The first single, Days Go By, is already No. 1 on the country charts, and Urban
is up for male vocalist of the year at next month's Country Music Association
awards, alongside superstars Kenny Chesney, Alan Jackson, Toby Keith and George
Strait.
"There's been a very tangible buzz over the past year or year and a half that
Keith Urban is a star ready to break out," said Neil Pond, editor of Country
Weekly magazine. "He's a great poster boy for where country music can go and
wants to go, and that is into a much broader demographic of musical integrity,
sexiness and commercial success."
Earlier this week, in an empty, dimly lit arena, Urban and his band rehearsed
into the evening. The guitar riffs had to be loud, but not too loud. The dobro
had to come in at the right moment. The harmonies had to be just so.
On stage, Urban looked like a rock star - slight build, shoulder length hair,
scruffy jeans, black T-shirt, earring and tattoos. His electric guitar was
amped up and a little distorted (he's widely considered a virtuoso on the
instrument and counts Mark Knopfler (news) of Dire Straits and Angus Young of
AC/DC as influences ). The drums and bass thumped at a fast, heavy clip. And
when he spoke, his Australian accent made him seem like a character from the
British invasion.
But while other pop and rock-edged country acts often avoid or downplay the
banjos, mandolins and fiddles, Urban embraces them. Not only does he use them
in most of his songs, he puts them right up front.
His musical epiphany came during a John Mellencamp (news) concert in 1988.
"I finally saw a guy who had blended fiddle and acoustic guitar and rock drums
and rural lyrics into this amazing package. Because I was thinking, 'Am I rock?
Am I country?' - I don't know what the hell I am. Every time I pick up an
acoustic it comes out country. Then when I pick up an electric guitar it's a
little bit of the other. I think John showed that you can just find your voice,
whatever that is."
Fans who liked Urban's last album will like this one. The big, full
arrangements are there, the smooth vocals and stinging guitar. Urban wrote one
of the 13 tracks and co-wrote eight others. He covers Rodney Crowell's Making
Memories of Us and Elton John (news)'s vintage 1970s Country Comfort. There's
also the song Better Life co-written with '80s pop star Richard Marx (news).
"I can easily hear three or four pretty good singles," said Scott Michaels,
music director at WKKG FM in Indianapolis.
Urban played Making Memories of Us for Crowell before putting it on the album.
Crowell had written the song as a Valentine's gift to his wife, Claudia, and
included it on his new album, The Notorious Cherry Bombs. Urban wanted
Crowell's blessing.
"It was pretty nerve-racking having him sit beside me when I was playing him
the finished product," Urban said. "If he had cringed on any singular thing,
I'm sure I would have fixed it."
Urban's guitar playing sets him apart from other country hunks like Chesney and
Tim McGraw.
"The guys who dig him dig him for the guitar playing, and women love to look at
him," Michaels said.
Urban has been picking a guitar since he was 7. Raised on a small farm near
Brisbane, he delved into his parents' Don Williams, Glen Campbell and Charlie
Pride records and decided early on that he would one day come to Nashville.
By eight, he was winning country music talent shows and by 12 playing in clubs.
He quit school at 15 to hit the road, signed with EMI in Australia in 1990 and
recorded a solo album that did well there. A year later he moved to Nashville
and released one album with a three-piece group called The Ranch.
His U.S. solo debut album came in 2000 and produced three hits, including the
No. 1 But for The Grace of God. The follow up, Golden Road, was an even bigger
success. The song Somebody Like You spent eight consecutive weeks at the top of
the charts.
Urban wrote a tune about his life for the new album. It's called God's Been
Good to Me.
"Oh the sun is shinin' on down in Tennessee / And right now I'm right where I
wanna be / I've never felt so loved, so peaceful and so free/ Hey there ain't
no doubt that God's been good to me."
vaffunculo troll
I thought he was a rapper at first, but that was Keith Sweat.
gooserider
"Lili2" <li...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20041008134232...@mb-m23.aol.com...
> JOHN GEROME
>
> NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - He hears the talk on Music Row about being the
next big
> thing.
>
Keith Urban is a hell of a talented guitarist. That being said, if he
doesn't get some control over his image and start being an ARTIST and not a
pretty boy, he's going to burn out and fade away. His music is lightweight
and formulaic, like most country music. Where is the next Willie Nelson or
Johnny Cash?