Keith Urban: Heading To The Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame
Keith Urban and Brooks & Dunn’s Kix Brooks are among the five newest hitmakers set to be inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. Urban and Brooks will join…
Keith Urban and Brooks & Dunn's Kix Brooks are among the five newest hitmakers set to be inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. Urban and Brooks will join the hall alongside fellow inductees Casey Beathard, David Lee Murphy, and Rafe Van Hoy.
Keith will be inducted as the contemporary songwriter-artist, while Kix will be inducted as the veteran songwriter-artist.
Urban recalled his early days in Nashville during a press conference yesterday (8/3). He said in part of his fellow inductee, "Kix was one of the first that came along, who sat at [Nashville venue] Jack's Guitar Bar to hear me play, and later took me on tour. He's been a champion ever since. I'm honored to be here with you."
Keith penned many of his own hits, including "But For the Grace of God," "Somebody Like You," "Wasted Time," and the CMA Award-nominated songs "Tonight I Wanna Cry" and "Better Life." His 2012 song "For You" was featured in the film Act of Valor and earned him a Golden Globe nomination for Best Original Song.
Since its founding in 1970, the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame has honored and inducted 235 songwriters, including Garth Brooks, Don and Phil Everly, Harlan Howard, Loretta Lynn, Kris Kristofferson, Willie Nelson, Dolly Parton, Hank Williams, and more.
The honorees will be formally inducted into the prestigious organization during the 53rd Anniversary Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame Gala on Wednesday, October 11, to be held at Nashville's Music City Center.
RELATED: Keith Urban: 'So Proud' Of Route 91 Survivor At His Vegas Show
Keith recently told me how he introduced country music to his now-wife, Nicole Kidman. He revealed, "The very first song I played her was 'Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way' by Waylon Jennings. I didn't tell her anything, she just got in the car one day, and I hit play, and that kick drum started, and the guitar started."
Urban adds, "She starts bopping her head and says, 'Aw, I like this! What's this?' So she was hooked from then on."
In the same interview, Keith told me about the music that his family listened to when he was a kid in Australia. He offered, "There was such a healthy mix of contemporary country music from my dad's record collection. But also, I was just spoon-fed radio, Top 40 radio as a little kid; even in Dad's car, we always listened to the radio. Even in the house, we seemed to listen to the radio more than we watched TV."
Keith Urban is a superstar in country music and a gem of a man who plays the guitar like no one else before him or since. His concerts are epic, and he changes them for each city he is in to fit that city.
Recently in Nashville, he bought up-and-coming country singer, who sang in the bar across the street from the Bridgestone Arena, to sing with him giving her two songs and one heck of a push in the music industry.
In the same show, he brought out superstar Luke Combs to sing a couple of songs and even brought his wife, Oscar winner Nicole Kidman to the stage just to say hi to his fans.
It's hard to find just 20 songs that encompass the mega-career of Urban, but we ranked what we believe are his very best for his 55th birthday today (10/26).
20. "You're My Better Half" 2004
UMGSo good! The song was released in October 2004 as the second single from his album ‘Be Here.’ The song peaked at number 2 on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs charts.
19. "You Look Good in My Shirt" 2008
UMGIt’s hard not to picture Nicole Kidman wearing his shirt in this song. The couple was married two years earlier. The song’s lyrics tell of a male and female who had previously broken up but reunited the night before. The chorus takes place the morning after their reunion.
18. "Kiss a Girl" 2009
UMGThe official video for the song consists of Keith and the band performing in an animated city. Also included are two people who eventually find each other and fall in love. In the end, the Ferris wheel they ride displays "KISS" on each car, a reference to the song's title.
17. "John Cougar, John Deere, John 3:16" 2015
UMGFrom Urban's Ripcord album. The song uses several name-drops to illustrate the narrator's influences in life, culminating in "I learned everything I needed to know from John Cougar, John Deere, John 3:16."
16. "Wasted Time" 2016
UMGRight before the release of the song, as his final performance on American Idol, the show on which Urban was a judge at the time, he sang "Wasted Time," playing the "ganjocaster," a combination between a banjo and electric guitar built by his former bandmate Brian Nutter.
15. "You'll Think of Me" 2004
UMGThere is some debate as to the correct line "take your cat and leave my sweater" which has been misheard as "take your cap and leave my sweater." In 2018, Keith confirmed in an interview that the lyric is in fact "cat.”
14. "Better Life" 2005
UMGThe song became Urban's seventh number one hit on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs chart and spent six weeks at that position. The song's video shows Keith and his band performing the song in a Los Angeles culvert, intercut with scenes of a struggling young pair of lovers having their ups and downs. The video won the CMT Music Awards Video of the Year in 2006.
13. "Blue Ain't Your Color" 2016
UMGWhat an amazing love song. "Blue Ain't Your Color" received two Grammy nominations at the 59th Grammy Awards – Best Country Solo Performance for Urban and Best Country Song for its songwriters. It also won both the CMA Award for Single of the Year and the American Music Award for Favorite Country Song in 2017.
12. "Sweet Thing" 2008
UMGAlthough a love song, the lyrics were inspired by Keith's relationship with his Ford Mustang, which is seen in this song's music video.
11. "Raise 'Em Up" (featuring Eric Church) 2015
UMGAccording to Urban, when he sent a demo to Church with the intent of having him serve as a duet partner on it, Church asked, "How do you write a song as good as that?" and Keith replied that he did not write the song, but when he heard the demo, he was "floored."
10. "Somebody Like You" 2002
UMGThe banjo at the beginning of this song wins me over from the very first note. In December 2009, Billboard ranked "Somebody Like You" as the number one country song for the first decade of the 21st century.
9. "We Were" 2019
UMGI remember Keith performing this song with just a guitar at Country Radio Seminar in March of 2019. We all knew right then that it was going to be a big ole hit. Eric Church co-wrote the song. The song charted top five in Billboard.
8. "Days Go By" 2004
UMGThe song became Urban's fifth number-one single on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs chart in late-2004, spending a four-week stay at that position. The video won the CMT Award for Best Video of 2005.
7. "We Were Us" (with Miranda Lambert) 2013
UMGThis is a wonderful pairing of Keith and Miranda Lambert. The song is the narrators' reminiscence of lost love. Lambert sings the first verse, Urban sings the second verse, and both sing the choruses and bridge together.
6. "But for the Grace of God" 2000
UMGAn early single and his first number one song, Keith wrote it with Jane Wiedlin of the Go-Go’s and held it for two years thinking it didn’t fit him just right. He recorded it, and it fit him like a glove. Great song!
5. "One Too Many" (with P!nk) 2020
UMGWho knew these two would sound so good together? The song debuted at the 55th Academy of Country Music Awards on September 16, 2020 and was released that day as the third single from The Speed of Now Part 1. Urban said, "I've always loved Pink's voice, but her artistry and her multi-faceted ability to create, and her God-given talent, truly makes her one of the greatest voices of our time."
4. "God Whispered Your Name," 2020
UMGKeith said of the song, " It absolutely spoke to me and tells my journey in such a profound way going through a season in a life of being very lost and lonely and confused and not knowing how to get out of that."
3. "Who Wouldn't Wanna Be Me" 2003
UMGClassic Urban, and who *wouldn’t* want to be him? The music video premiered in mid-2003. It features footage from Keith's 2003 summer tour, as well as shots of Keith riding a motorcycle.
2. "Where the Blacktop Ends" 2001
UMGThe guitar riff in this song has become legendary. This classic was released in April 2001 as the fourth and final single from Keith’s first American self-titled album. The song became his third (consecutive) Top 5 hit on the US Billboard Hot Country Singles and Tracks chart after reaching number 3.
1."The Fighter" (featuring Carrie Underwood) 2017
UMGPossibly one of my favorite songs of all time. It’s so simple yet so good, and he and Carrie’s vocals together are amazing! Love the lyrics and the melody. Keith said he wrote the song after having a conversation with his wife Nicole when they first got together. It was his way of reassuring her he would always be there for her.
