BREAKING DOWN THE BARRIERS
Shelly Harris goes
"Walkin' the Country" with Aussie Guitar God
Keith Urban
"It's not an
indulgent type of performance when I play live, but there is a lot of
passionate guitar playing involved, and it's as equally predominant as the
singing and performing - if not just a little bit more so. It's definitely
a focus of the show ... and we do have a tendency to play longer than we're
supposed to! Once we get into the groove, we're kind of like long-distance
runners - that adrenalin kicks in for me and I just keep running - and I
don't stop!"
- Keith Urban (Grammy nominee, 2001, for the instrumental "Rollercoaster")
Okay, I know the
"country" part of the headline above may already have been enough
for the blinders to snap shut and the antennae to wax over on some of you
"Rough-Edgers" out there. Unfortunately, sometimes the word still carries
a kind of antiquated stigma in certain circles, despite the blurring of all
the genres over the last 30 years. But true connoisseurs of great music,
I've always found, aren't put off by prepackaged labels, especially when
many of the best artists often defy strict categorization.
And Keith Urban is definitely one of those artists. Unlike his rollicking,
strutting guitar-driven album with his former band, The Ranch, many of the
cuts on Urban's current solo debut album ("keith urban") are more restrained
and subtle, largely reflecting his introspective mood at the time he
recorded it. However, for you guys out there who "wanna rock!" - don't
let that fool you. Unshackled and live, Urban's virtuosity and intensity is undeniable;
it's a true guitar connoisseur's manna from Heaven.
Frankly, although I've primarily covered rock-related (whatever that means)
artists for the past 20 years (well, I was only 10 when I started), the
first song I ever became absolutely mesmerized with - at age three - was the
Johnny Cash classic, "Ring of Fire." I loved the imagery,
authenticity, emotion and melancholy of that song. And I have no biases
about the so-called "country" genre to this day, even though I
haven't always been compelled to write home about it in its strictest
forms. But, despite some mass-market, commercial "image" problems
over the years, country has definitely had many an extraordinary moment.
Indeed, for those inclined to tune in, it is, in its best incarnations, the
ultimate in moving "blue-eyed" soul.
But, before I get to the interview with Keith Urban, certainly the first country
male artist who has been an heir apparent to the "crossover" throne in
many long years, I want to rewind for the Doubting Thomases. Way back in '85
when I was still too naive to know I was shooting the breeze with a bona fide
legend, the late, lamented Stevie Ray Vaughan, who was himself in the
process of tearing down the walls for the blues genre at the time, made some
comments which also relate to the topic at hand. During an interview backstage
at Chicago's notoriously decadent sweatbox, the Aragon "Brawlroom," Stevie,
a true King of Hearts, was like the proverbial kid in the candy store when
discussing his own diverse musical tastes.
In part, Stevie exclaimed, "I'm a George Jones nut! Shoot yeah! I love country
music; I like all kinds of people! The emotion, the feeling - the soul - is
the most important thing. That's what it all boils down to. If you feel it,
and you make sure it gets across, I don't care what kind of music you play
- that's IT!" Later in the conversation, Stevie also admitted that his
insatiable drive to go play all night jams at local Austin clubs, even on the
breaks from his then-grueling tour schedule, was part of his "problem" on
the homefront. "I don't know when to quit," Stevie sighed, "but
you know, I don't just do this for 'a job!' It's part of me."
So how does that all relate to Keith Urban? To begin with, hopefully at least
a few of you will follow Stevie's eclectic musical philosophy to look past
any "country" label biases enough to be turned on to the first bona fide "guitar God" Nashville has spawned since who knows when.
(Some of you may already know of him from his recent #1 country single
"But for the Grace of God" - co-written with Go-Gos Wiedlin and
Caffrey - off his debut solo album, "keith urban," or from his
recent Grammy nomination for Best Country Instrumental Performance.)
Second, Urban, in his guitar playing (which is certainly a larger part of
"what he does" than is typical for any country artist) as well as
in his singing and his songwriting style, embodies the kind of
"emotion, the feeling - the soul" that Stevie was so ardently referring
to.
And, finally, it was actually a remark Urban himself made during a recent
conversation that gave me enough of a déjà vu moment to go back and dig
up/dust off that old Vaughan interview tape in the first place. With the kind
of unmistakable earnestness that earmarks truly gifted artists, Urban, too,
enthused that performing/playing guitar, is "not so much of 'a job' as it
is a passion - and something you don't have any say over! It's part of you;
it's what gets you up in the morning; it's what drives you!"
No, even with his plaintive tenor croon and a fondness for the traditional
country instrumentation of the slide guitar, banjo, and fiddle, Urban is
not your existing blueprint for a country artist by any stretch of the
imagination. After all, this is a guy who was born in New Zealand, raised
in Australia, and who cites amongst his primary guitar influences Mark Knopfler,
Lindsey Buckingham, and the Rhythm and Riff Master himself, AC/DC's venerable
Malcolm Young.
This is also the guy that was rumored to be the primary inspiration for Garth
Brooks' rockstar alter ego, Chris Gaines, and the guy who has been blowing
away the Nashville establishment for the past several years with his fleet-fingered
guitar prowess to the extent that he was recruited to lend both his guitar
and gango (six string banjo) skills on projects by "names" like
Dixie Chicks, Garth Brooks, Alan Jackson, and others. (This despite the fact
that he never had studio musician aspirations.) In a nutshell, unlike many
country artists to this day, Urban not only plays his own instruments on his
records (GASP!), he plays phenomenally well.
Still with me? See interview below for more.
It's 9:30 AM, but Keith Urban is chipper,
old friend familiar, and already in a joking mood when I ask him,
tongue-in-cheek, if he's a morning person. "W-e-e-e-l-l ... I can
sometimes get up early without having to have a REEEASON, " he laughs,
alluding to his typical musician's night-owl hours, "but it certainly
helps if there's some interviews to do!"
And Urban definitely has enough of that kind of "business" going down these
days to burn the candle at both ends. There have been the appearances on
the "Tonight Show," a week-long host spot on VH1's Country channel,
and a feature profile segment on CMT's On The Verge - amongst other things.
Plus Urban is also smack in the middle of writing appointments with other
esteemed Nashville tunesmiths like Rodney Crowell and Darrell Scott, in
contemplation of a second solo album, not to mention preparing for a
spring/summer tour schedule that includes solo dates sandwiched between
gigs with Brooks & Dunn's 40+ date "Neon Circus and Wild West
Show."
Not that Urban is complaining about the pace - far from it. Indeed, if there
was ever a time in an artist's career when you might expect off-putting primadonna
behavior, it would be now for Urban, with all the heady first rushes from
the success and media attention he has been experiencing since the release
of "keith urban" late in '99. (Last I checked, the album was still in
Billboard's Country Top 20.) Yet Urban is still authentically stunned and quaintly
humble. In fact, though he's an exceptionally colorful and articulate
conversationalist, one of his most frequently used words (in addition to
"passion" and "balance") is "surreal." That's
because nearly everything in his life right now seems like a pseudo-reality
to Urban.
For
a start, he flat out admits that his current world, which has obviously been
full of touring, promoting, songwriting and recording for the past two years, is
the very definition of "surreal." Yet he is also highly aware
that it's crucial to take time out for a "real life," even just to
generate viable songwriting material. In fact, he states an important
truth when he comments, "I think a lot of time artists who go out and make
a second album too quickly haven't got out and done anything, and
everything they've been immersed in is kind of a surreal existence. And I
think a lot of times that's why the second records suffer ... so I'm trying not
to get caught up in that."
But Urban may be in a bit of a quandary on that point; it's a
classic Catch 22. The multidimensional demands on high profile solo
artists, as we all know, are immense nowadays, especially when Urban, unlike
most country artists, writes the lion's share of his own material, co-produces
his albums, and, of course, always plays multiple instruments on his own
recordings. (Plus, there's no delegating the interviews, appearances,
video shoots, or "bandleader" functions, either.) Lord only
knows how he plans to actually find time for much of that "real life"
he speaks of, even though he says that for him that simply entails hanging out
with friends and "reading quite a bit, going to movies, or watching a bit
of TV ... just the normal things most people do to relax."
Moreover,
he also concedes (albeit amiably), "The only 'down time' I really get is
when I get home at night. If it's ten o'clock, then I've got probably an
hour or two to do my laundry, and whatever else I've got to do ... I'm fortunate
in that I'm not married, and I don't have any kids, so I can obviously devote a
lot of time to what I do without people telling me that I'm not taking care of
business at home."
And Urban also admits that many of the life-changing events of
the past year (including an AMA nomination for Best New County Artist and
an ACM nomination for Best New Male Vocalist), but especially the Grammy
nomination, "are still sinking in." He adds, "Even though
I've been recording for 11 years now - I recorded my first record in Australia
in 1990 - I still wasn't ready for it at all ... It's just like certain
milestones you work for in your life; when they actually come, you're caught off
guard because you've spent most of your life working towards them."
So, Urban, at age 33, is doubtless too primed and pumped on
keeping his career momentum going right now to slow down too much; after all,
despite the ongoing buzz surrounding him, it has taken nearly ten long years of
false starts and dues paying on the Nashville scene for his career to take off
nationally. While he doesn't come out and say so directly, it's clear that
he has experienced his fair share of both the "agony" attributable to
his musical "gift" and the "ecstasy" counterpoint he is
immersed in now has been long overdue.
It all began with ukulele strumming at three and "a love
thing" for the guitar that reared its head at age six. Initially, he
was fascinated with country music in particular (having grown up listening to
his parent's catalogue of classic country albums), but he also studied (and was
influenced by) some of the rock guitarists named previously, along with other
people like Mellencamp, Jackson Browne, Freddie Mercury, and others. (During
a short stint in his teens, he also "rebelled " for a short period as
the lead guitarist for a Scorpions/Judas Priest/Whitesnake-type band.) Eventually,
while developing his own unique, hybrid playing style, and after winning
numerous awards for both vocals and instrumentals on the surprisingly vital
Australian country music scene, he knew it was Nashville time - or bust.
Urban
first worked as a songwriter via a publishing deal when he came to Nashville (on
the heels of four #1 Australian singles), but he also went the route of playing
out at every opportunity, either solo or while fronting his three piece, the
Ranch. And it was actually those live performances that put the Nashville
establishment on red-alert notice, not only because of Urban's strength as a
singer/songwriter/frontman, but especially because of the rarity and power of
the high velocity/voltage of his disciplined instrumental virtuosity.
Which all sounds like a pristine, upbeat script in retrospect,
but with the growing Nashville recognition, there were struggles and setbacks
too: the unspoken resistance to a country "outsider," in
addition to the other rejections of a kind that perhaps only other musicians who
have been through it themselves can fully envision. For quite a few years - it
might be well speculated - there was also the lingering frustration and fear
associated with a great promise still left unfulfilled. All of which weighed
heaviest on Urban after The Ranch (a country-rock-funk-ish band in the vein of
Little Feat/Mellencamp/Eagles) released a guitar-driven and swaggeringly
brilliant collection of diverse material on their self-titled album in '97.
Shamefully, though critically beloved, that record went largely ignored
by the trend-oriented country radio Gods. (That's a book in itself.) Dark
days subsequently followed for Urban, who, while not in a position to drive home
to regroup or to reground himself, had vocal problems, a dependency problem (now
in the past), and personal problems converge all at once during and after the
demise of The Ranch. Ultimately, after soul searching and numerous other
pathfinding remedies kicked in, his true saving grace was that he retained a
solo contract with Capitol, resulting in his rise-from-the-ashes solo debut (now
Gold - and still going) that could just as easily been called The Phoenix, since
these days Urban sincerely admits, "I couldn't be happier."
In fact, Urban virtually oozes with enthusiasm, positivism,
and overall good guy/winner-type vibes as he speaks. Consequently, he
merely finds it ironically amusing that many of his newly enlarged fan base,
generated in large part by his recent hit videos (designed to put the focus on
the singing/songs, as well as his videogenic charisma) are totally unaware
of his guitar prowess. As he explains it, "It's interesting
because I've spent all my life playing live, and having people comment on my
guitar playing, but I've always wanted to put more focus on the songs and the
singing. So now, it's kind of funny, because I'm in a position with
'Your Everything' and 'Grace of God,' where people don't know I even play the
guitar! It's just this wonderful thing ... because I've spent so much
of my life struggling to make the other thing known, and then the reverse has
happened with the nomination for the Grammy for the instrumental. But,
with these songs charting, it's just a beautiful balance."
Urban also admits, with a bashful chuckle, that
(methinks partly due to the videos, the label's marketing strategy to capitalize
on his visual appeal, certain romantic ballads on the CD, and the fact that he
was recently featured in People magazine's "Sexiest Man Alive"
issue) his audiences of late have been "definitely heavy on the female
front." But, hey, that's okay by Urban: "Oh, I love it! I
mean, what guy wouldn't? But not just for the obvious reasons. And I think when
women like your music - as much as anything else - then it's a great
compliment." Especially when those women drag their sometimes
reluctant boyfriends/spouses to the shows - and then the guys invariably
wind up being the most rabid converts! (Keep in mind that country CD sales
throughout the '90s were, unlike many other genres, very heavily driven and
controlled by the female demographic; even records by male-melters like Twain,
Hill, and Dixie Chicks were primarily bought by women.)
And I wouldn't let that female furor surrounding him mislead any of you "men's men" out there either; remember, some of the best - and most successful - harder-edged bands of the ages (i.e.: Zeppelin, Queen, Scorpions, Leppard, Bon Jovi, Pearl Jam, Chili Peppers, Nirvana, etc.) knew/know well how to balance the elements that massively appeal to both genders.
Certainly,
you guys out there who can appreciate dynamics, control, and feeling in addition
to speed, technique, and all the other exalted intangibles a gifted musician
possesses, along with tight melodies and grooves, will find Urban's performances
exotically thrilling. Moreover, Urban himself says this much: "It's
not an indulgent type of performance when I play live, but there is a lot
of passionate guitar playing involved, and it's as equally predominant as the
singing and performing - if not just a little bit more so. It's
definitely a focus of the show ... and we do have a tendency to play longer than
we're supposed to; once we get into the groove, we're kind of like long-distance
runners - that adrenalin kicks in for me and I just keep running and I don't
stop!"
But, make no mistake, Urban is not a
guy who is interested in abandoning his country roots for the sake of
crossover/commercial appeal. What he aims to do is redefine some of the
preconceived notions of what country is - or can be - and to also aid the
genre in achieving a kind of image metamorphosis. In a nutshell, he says
he has a need to have country "perceived as a cool genre and a broad
genre."
All
of which is certainly part of why Ronnie Dunn (of Brooks & Dunn) stated on
CMT's On The Verge program that "Keith has it all. He’s a rockstar
in disguise. He opens the floodgates for country music, and it’s not just
regionalized - it’s a worldwide thing. He brings something to the table
that’s fresh and innovative and he’s gonna be BIG."
But if you really want to get to the core of Urban's
innermost career dreams and aspirations, you need only listen to him enthuse
about the artist he seems to admire most overall, Glen Campbell:
"What I love about Glen," Urban stresses, "is the balance
he found. Behind the scenes, for those more involved in the industry, he
was revered as a phenomenal guitar player, yet it wasn't what made his career.
He really made his career on knowing a great song and just being
able to sing the hell out of it! But, when you went to see him live, you
found this complete other ace up his sleeve ... and that's exactly the
kind of career I'm looking for."
For more on Keith Urban, visit his website at www.keithurban.net,
or artist search at www.musicrow.com
or www.country.com.
Also see: www.midwestbeat.com (click on April issue, then "Sports & Music" and/or "Shelly Harris" on sidebar)
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Copyright © 2001 by R. Scott Bolton. All rights
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Revised: 06 Oct 2019 11:48:50 -0400.
