ACOUSTIC
Can Urban be Country? It most certainly can, as this month Stuart Ryan looks at the style of Nashville’s very own Antipodean superstar.
Stuart Ryan continues his new country series with a look at the acoustic side of Keith Urban, the Kiwi who hit megastardom in Nashville.
This month’s Nashville legend has actually travelled further than most to find fame in the country world. Keith Urban grew up in New Zealand before moving to the USA in his early 20s to pursue a career in the competitive country music scene. Born on October 26, 1967 in Whangarei in the North, he took up guitar at a young age and was influenced by Mark Knopfler and Fleetwood Mac’s Lindsey Buckingham. He began his career in the Australian country music scene appearing on various TV shows and touring the country as a sideman for various acts, most notably Australian Country superstar Slim Dusty. Urban released his self-titled debut album in Australia in 1991 and found chart success straight away.
However, keen to establish himself as a writer and singer in the USA he made the move to Nashville in 1992 and formed a band, The Ranch, releasing one album and charting several singles. The band didn’t last though and in 1999 Urban properly established himself as a solo artist with a solo album, also called Keith Urban. He soon found success on the country music charts and strong sales led to a busy touring schedule that has grown over the years. Urban is now one of modern country’s superstars and regularly fills arenas across the US. He often performs alongside his good friend, fellow superstar and last month’s subject of this column, Brad Paisley. He has also found fame as a judge on reality TV shows The Voice and American Idol and also found time to marry fellow Antipodean megastar, actress Nicole Kidman.
Urban is typical of the modern country rock-pop sound that has in no small part been shaped by ex Giant and LA studio legend Dan Huff, with whom Urban has also collaborated.
By now you are probably jealous, but it goes without saying that Urban, like many of his contemporaries, has put bags of work in to gain his great country chops on both electric and acoustic guitar. On the latter you’ll often find him playing in drop D tuning with some subtly embellished chords that add sweetness to his self-accompaniment. Consequently I’ve written this month’s study in drop D and included some typical Urban-esque chord voicings with 9ths added for good measure.
While Urban’s songwriting and vocals are always at the fore, there’s also tons of tasty guitar. To hear his authentic chops check out Rollercoaster, an early instrumental that proves Urban is as country as they come!
NEXT MONTH Stuart looks at the influential acoustic style of the great Woodie Guthrie
keith urban often performs alongside his friend and fellow country superstar brad Paisley