Street roots., September 02, 2016, Page 8, Image 8

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Page 8
Street Roots • Sept. 2-8, 2016
PHOTO BY RUSS HARRINGTON
The reluctant golden boy of country music has faced rejection, addiction,
high-profile celebrity without losing his eternal quest formore and better music
BY HOLLY GLEESON
CONTRIBUTING WRITER
“ W Aeople, especially women, talk about
I—being thick-skinned, and I want to
-L say, ‘I’m so sorry. What happened?,’”
Keith Urban said, discussing the
undercurrent of humanism in his songs.
“To be raw and vulnerable, that’s the
beauty of it.
“I love Joseph Campbell,” he added. “He
talks a lot about the women power
movement, how the whole thing got so
extreme - and women got very hardened
over by it. The pressure of it all made
women tough, and I want to support the
purity and beauty of women, that feminine
piece of it, so the beauty doesn’t become
hardened into something that paves over
what’s special.”
It certainly runs through songs like the
free-spirit celebrating “Cop Car,” the girl in
a smothering relationship in “Stupid Boy,”
and his recent No. 1 with Carrie
Underwood, “The Fighter.” In the latter,
especially, Urban affirms and embraces
being there for someone so hurt by love, so
closed down that it’s hard to make the kind
of connection that matters, or establish the
real trust required. With a few lines, he
distills the essence of how the Australian
with the startling musicianship looks at the
state of humanity around him.
“A lot of those really simple tough lines
in “The Fighter” are straight from early in
my relationship with Nic (wife Nicole
Kidman). I had such a learning curve in
our marriage. When she’d get scared, I’d
think she was angry - then I’d get
defensive ... and that’s when it all gets pear-
shaped. What she needs, and it’s all in the
song, is for me to stay, to be close, to hear
her.
“‘Get Closer’ - that album title alone
was from this new awareness I had with
this reality of how to react. When things
are tough or upsetting, it’s about pulling
her close. I had to learn it”
Urban has always been one of country
music’s seemingly more evolved males.
With the good hair and the kind smile, not
to mention the razor sharp guitar-playing
and the voice that glows with warmth and
sunshine, he’s almost custom-crafted to be
a rock star.
Born in New Zealand and raised in
Australia, he was well on his way to a
successful career, but Urban’s wild heart
needed more. Having released a few
albums - and charted a few singles in his
homeland - he packed up his things and
moved to Nashville where he played guitar
and formed a band called The Ranch,
though nothing quite clicked. But it was
never about clicking, it was about the
music.
“I never made a conscious decision to
make this my job,” he said. “I say it’s like a
kid crawling, and saying, ‘I think I’m going
to walk.’ It’s an instinct, a need. That’s how
music is for me.”
Not that those walls he was banging into
didn’t leave bruises. Laughing, he admits,
“There was a time early on in Nashville
where I lost a bit of passion for (the