Used with permission of CMA Closeup News Service
By Richard Skanse
If a battle of the sexes broke out at a Keith Urban concert, the men wouldn't stand a chance. Outnumbered at least three to one, they'd be crushed in minutes, every last boyfriend and husband.
But the women aren't generally in a fighting mood at a concert by Urban. Recently at the outdoor amphitheater at Stubb's in Austin, Texas, the fifth stop on the Nashville-based Australian's "CMT On Tour: Keith Urban Be Here '04," the men wisely kept a lid on any feelings of jealousy, even when their better halves roared their approval at a KASE 101 FM disc jockey's notion that "Keith Urban is the sexiest man alive."
It helps that Urban is clearly the kind of guy most of them would be happy to hang with - say, for an afternoon of motorcycle riding, which is how Urban tells the crowd he spent his day.
"We pull in today, and I get a call from Gov. [Rick] Perry," Urban said in an affable, "can-you-believe-that?" tone. "He said, 'I hear you like bike riding - how about a tour around Austin?'"
And above all else, music aficionados of both sexes know that the guy can play.
From the opening "Days Go By" - Urban's fifth and latest No. 1 single - and all through the hit-laden set in which even the most heart-on-sleeve ballads pack the punch of Urban's unfailingly melodic and anthem-worthy lead guitar solos, it's clear he's no mere pin-up boy. Urban is still getting used to being an honest-to-goodness Country Music star. It was his dream more than a decade ago when he moved to Nashville from Australia. The lean years are still close enough to keep him humble, even as he enjoys the No. 1 success of his new album Be Here, which went Platinum in it's sixth week on the charts.
"It's good to be back at Stubb's," he told the sold-out Austin audience three songs into his set. "Seven years ago, I played that little indoor stage here with a band called The Ranch, and about four people came out. So tonight is a good blessing."
Overnight success, Urban reckons, is overrated.
The New Zealand-born, Australian-raised singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist may well be the hottest "new" male artist in Country Music and is the 2004 CMA Male Vocalist of the Year, but success took its sweet time catching up with his talent. Since 1997, Urban has stayed at Capitol Records Nashville through three presidents, "a very unusual" feat which speaks volumes about the label's long-haul commitment to Urban, said Bill Kennedy, Vice President of Sales at the label.
"For every project he's released, he's had to kind of prove himself from the beginning," Kennedy said.
Urban says he has no complaints.
"I really am grateful for the way it's all happened, no question about it," Urban said. "When you're in the midst of that slow steady climb, you can feel a little impatient, but I'm grateful for the slow build that it's been. Really, if I could do it all over again, I would do it exactly the same."
There are a couple of exceptions. Given another chance, he'd likely choose to bypass that little stretch of not-so-golden road between the last days of his old band The Ranch and the launch of his solo career. That's when he endured a period of depression and slipped briefly into alcohol and drug addiction.
"I was just musically lost," Urban said. "I felt like I'd done my best musically, and was still not getting anywhere. When you do your best and it's just not working, it can be challenging to know what to do next. I guess it was just a loss of faith that I had ... but not fully, because it was faith that helped me through the dark."