CMT Blog: Keith Urban

She's married to Keith Urban. So when I see that there's a story in the British GQ magazine about Nicole Kidman opening up about "extreme love," I assume she means she is just very much into Keith Urban. She's an actress, after all. So, of course, she's going to be dramatic and say things like, "Give me risk, danger, darkness!" She's not just going to say, "Keith's great. We're in love." And, yes, the article does also dig a little deeper and gets Kidman to reveal that she's explored strange sexual fetishes. (As if the corset and thigh-high boots she's wearing on the cover didn't make that crystal clear.) But she also goes on to describe her marriage to Urban by saying, "It's a very extraordinary, adventurous place to be: incredibly raw, incredibly dangerous, and you're very much out at sea. You're exposed. You could drown." So to me, the story is one that gave Kidman the opportunity to tell it like it is. And while it's easy to hone in on the one sentence about strange sexual fetish stuff (which might have been nothing more than wearing a blindfold during sex, and who hasn't done that?), the bigger picture is that she really digs Keith Urban.

The résultats are in. And I have to agree with the country music lovers in France. Sara Evans is quite the meilleure chanteuse. At the recent 7th Annual French Country Music Awards, Evans was named Female Vocalist of the year. Alan Jackson won the best male vocalist prize. And Brad Paisley took top entertainer, musician and album awards. Zac Brown Band, Kenny Chesney and Mac McAnally, John Rich and Ricky Skaggs were also in the winner's circle. I'm half French, so it sort of makes sense that I would have the same tastes in good American country music as fans who are 100 percent French. Plus, this list of winners helps open my mind a little to accept the fact that country music has so much international appeal. And that sometimes, a country star can come from outside the U.S. Keith Urban is a daily reminder of that.

Before I received a copy of Dolly Parton's new four-disc, career-spanning collection, Dolly, I thought I knew a lot about her music. After listening to it from start to finish on a road trip back to Nashville -- 99 songs in all -- I realized I had a lot of catching up to do. She's one of my favorite singers, and definitely a songwriting force to be reckoned with, but there are plenty of tunes on Dolly that I'd never heard. One of them is "Sweet Summer Lovin'," a Top 10 hit from 1979 that sounds like just like a new Keith Urban tune -- simple lyric, easy to sing with and ready to warm you up inside.

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Looking through a photo gallery from Keith Urban's little gig Friday (Oct. 30) at a Verizon Store near Nashville, it looks like he has a permanent smile on his face. I know he has a lot to be happy about (cute baby, lovely wife, a new single racing up the charts). And I know he loves playing live, because I've seen him in countless venues and he always seems to be having a good ol' time. So maybe he's just one of those glass-is-half-full kind of guys. But now that I have seen the pictures, I want details. Did he play the parking lot? How crowded was it? What time did fans start lining up? Did people come from far away places? Was there a traffic jam on the streets leading to the store? How long did he play? What did he play -- new stuff or old stuff? And how did this mini-show compare to one of his elaborate arena shows? If you were there, give us some scoop, please.

Sorry, ladies. Brad Paisley called into a Grand Rapids, Mich., radio station and gave them a big fat "no." They had asked him what he was going to tell Playgirl magazine. "I've actually turned that down," he said. "They've asked a few times, and no. They can forget it. They ask everybody. They ask every male country singer. Trust me. No. No way. Not in a million years. That's ridiculous. That's just not what I'm about." He also says there are probably fantastic articles in the magazine that has run pictures of Keith Urban and Billy Currington in the past. Why is he so determined to keep all his clothes on? "I've got a lot of fans that are teenage girls here and there, and I don't want them buying that magazine just because I'm in it," he said.

Little honky-tonks. Gigantic arenas. Vintage theaters. I have seen Keith Urban play just about every kind of venue there is. But this is a new one. A Verizon store? If I was in Nashville tomorrow, I would so be there. Hell, I'd even switch to Verizon if I had to. (But you don't. In fact, admission is free, no purchase necessary and all that.) He's going to be at the store located at 1959 Mallory Lane in Franklin, Tenn., at 2 p.m. tomorrow (Oct. 30). He'll meet, he'll greet, he'll do a few songs, and then he will take questions from the audience. There's no word on the capacity inside the store, and there's a 40 percent chance of rain, so I doubt he'd play outside. Since I can't go, can some nice reader please go for me and report back here so we can all live vicariously through you?

Maybe he thinks one of his fans will be just the good luck charm he needs to win all the CMA Awards he is nominated for. Or maybe he's just nice. Either way, enter this contest if you want Keith Urban to foot the bill for you and a friend, spouse, sister or miscellaneous fan to come on down to Nashville for the CMA Awards on Nov. 11. You can win two really good tickets plus a gift bag with "apparel and commemorative merchandise." (There's no mention of airfare and hotel so I guess if you are out of town you'd have to pay for that yourself.) And it doesn't say this on the entry form, but if and when Urban goes onstage to accept any awards, I think you are obligated to hoot and holler the loudest.

Keith Urban left his Madison Square Garden show in a New York City taxi cab the other night. That was very cool, but all I can think of when I watch this video is, "That poor camera man." Most of the video is shot in the caverns of the Garden after he sang the last bits of "Better Life." Urban is literally running while he hands off his guitar to someone and puts his coat on and then hails himself his own cab. But the whole time, the camera man is running BACKWARDS, so the whole thing has that unintentional shaky camera vibe. (If you get motion sickness easily, this is probably not the video for you.) "The yellow taxi is synonymous with New York City, and I was trying to figure out how I could incorporate it into the show. ... I think I did it ... not to mention that I beat the rush for cabs after the concert let out," Urban said.

They are not going anywhere. The Station Inn near downtown Nashville is quickly being surrounded with fancy schmancy buildings and hot spots, but there they are -- all stubborn and vintage and timeless. In a kind of run-down tiny building, they're doing what they do best: giving bluegrass music a place to call home. Dierks Bentley got his start playing there, legends like Earl Scruggs, Emmylou Harris and Bill Monroe have played there, and stars like Ricky Skaggs, Alison Krauss and even Dolly Parton have stopped by to sing. But now that the Inn is engulfed in this trendy new 'hood called the Gulch, some folks are wondering how it will survive. The lease expires next year, but the Inn's owners have an option for two more years. That's good news for anyone who likes to go, like Keith Urban and Nicole Kidman, who recently caught a Doyle & Debbie show there.

What I love most about songwriters' awards shows is that they reveal just how brilliant the people are behind the songs. Like how one guy, Ashley Gorley, wrote Trace Adkins' "You're Gonna Miss This," Brad Paisley and Keith Urban's "Start a Band" and Darius Rucker's "It Won't Be Like This for Long." Three of THE BEST country songs in the past year. So as he should be, he was awarded the songwriter of the year award at Monday (Oct. 19) night's American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers' (ASCAP) country music awards. Writers like Gorley are the reason I love country music. He can take me from literally crying about how my kids are growing up way too fast to laughing about how easy it would be to grow out my hair and cut up my jeans and start a band. So thank you, Ashley Gorley, for helping me experience a full range of emotions five minutes at a time.

Photo credit : Ed Rode