Keith Urban Co-Hosts 5/28
Top 5: Wild Hearts
This week’s co-host is Keith Urban, back in the studio with Lon for the first time in a few years. For most of the pandemic, Keith was in Australia with his family, where his wife Nicole Kidman was filming a movie.
Keith had just returned from a tour of the UK, where he did something he hadn’t done before: “I’m not afraid to wear a kilt, cause I did that in Scotland. We played in Edenborough, and we all went out and bought kilts. It’s very liberating wearing a kilt!” Lon asked, So then you wore it the way it’s supposed to be worn? “Yeah it’s a phenomenal thing wearing a kilt.” Is there no concern about the front row? “I probably didn’t wear it that way, if that’s what you’re asking. Got to keep some surprises.”
A number of our co-hosts had talked about Keith’s performance at the Ryman in Nashville during Country Radio Seminar a few months ago. Jon Pardi said that Keith played a guitar, autographed it, and handed it to someone in the audience. Keith said, “I have a funny story about that performance. After I have that guitar away, it turned out that I needed to get it back for our tour of the UK. So my team sleuthed who I gave the guitar to. They figured it out, and I called him to ask for the guitar back. He couldn’t believe it was me! But he sent me the guitar, we took it to the UK, and then I sent it back to him.”
When Maren Morris & Ryan Hurd were Lon’s co-hosts, they talked about how Keith had recorded a version of their duet “Chasing After You.” Lon played that story for Keith, and he said, “The bass player in my band was one of the writers. The guitar lick is a particular thing. It has a flow and a pocket. The truth is, if I stayed with it, I could have owned it. I will admit, I hear their song, and it’s one that got away.”
One other thing Keith did while he was in Australia was appear as the voice in an animated movie called “Back To The Outback.” He told Lon, “They asked if I wanted to voice this toad. It was going to be a singing toad. I said ‘Why not? I’ve never done that before.’ The funny part was I went in and started doing this voice. They said, ‘What are you doing?’ I said this is how he talks. They said ‘Just talk in your normal voice.’ So Lon asked, Can you give me some of your original voice? “It was much more exaggerated, and much more animated. And they said, ‘Yeah, stop doing that.’ But I’ve been shocked at how many people have seen it.”
Keith also has great stories this week about Jimmie Allen, Jon Pardi, Ingrid Andress, Hardy, and Old Dominion
