Keith Urban

Keith Urban

Keith Lionel Urban (born 26 October 1967 in Whangarei, New Zealand) is an Australian Grammy- and ARIA-winning country music singer, songwriter and guitarist whose commercial success has been mainly in the United States. Urban began his career in Brisbane, Australia participating in Tamworth Country Music Festival, having moved to Caboolture, Australia at an early age. In 1991, he released a self-titled debut album, and charted four singles in Australia before moving to the United States in 1992. Eventually, Urban found work as a session guitarist before starting a band known as The Ranch, which recorded one studio album on Capitol Records and charted two singles on the Billboard country charts.

Still signed to Capitol, he made his solo American debut in 1999 with the album Keith Urban. Certified platinum in the U.S., it also produced his first American Number One in "But for the Grace of God". His breakthrough hit was the Number One "Somebody Like You", from his second Capitol album Golden Road (2002). This album also earned Urban his first Grammy Award win for "You'll Think of Me", its fourth single and the third Billboard Number One of his career. 2004's Be Here, his third American album, produced three more Number Ones, and became his highest-selling album, earning 4× Multi-Platinum certification. Love, Pain & the Whole Crazy Thing was released in 2006, producing the record-setting #17 country chart debut of "Once in a Lifetime", as well as Urban's second Grammy for the song "Stupid Boy", while a Greatest Hits package entitled Greatest Hits: 18 Kids followed in late 2007. This album was re-released a year later as Greatest Hits: 19 Kids with one track added: the number one "You Look Good in My Shirt", which he had previously recorded on Golden Road.

Urban has released a total of seven studio albums (one of which was released only in the United Kingdom), as well as one album in The Ranch. He has charted more than fifteen singles on the U.S. country charts, including nine Number Ones. Urban plays acoustic and electric guitar, as well as ganjo,bass guitar, mandolin, piano, and bouzouki.

Urban is married to actress Nicole Kidman. The couple had their first child together in July 2008 named Sunday Rose Kidman Urban. She was named Sunday after Sunday Reed, an Australian noted for her influence on her country's arts and culture for several decades beginning in the 1930's. The middle name Rose is after Keith's grandmother.

Keith Lionel Urban was born in Whangarei, New Zealand, though later moved with his parents to Caboolture, Queensland, Australia. His grandparents emigrated from Poland to Australia. By age seven, Urban was already thinking about getting into the music business. He began learning the techniques at age six and began winning young singing contests by age eight. In 1990, Urban signed with EMI in Australia and recorded his first solo album, which charted four No. 1 country hits in Australia. In 1992, he moved to Nashville, Tennessee, where he found work as a guitarist for Brooks & Dunn and can be seen backing Alan Jackson in his music video for "Mercury Blues". Later, Urban formed The Ranch, a three-piece group that released one album in 1997. Originally the front man for The Ranch, Urban disbanded the group to pursue a solo career in 1998. In 1999, Urban found "Vocal Coach to the Stars" Brett Manning, and worked with him up until 2001.

In Nashville, Urban became a frequent user of cocaine. After reaching a personal nadir in 1998, he became determined to give up the habit and checked into Cumberland Heights, a treatment center in Nashville. After cleaning up, Urban released his self-titled American debut in 1999, which produced three top 5 hits and secured for him the Top New Male Vocalist Award at the 2001 Academy of Country Music Awards and the 2001 Country Music Association's Horizon Award. Widely regarded for his guitar skills, he has performed as a session musician on albums such as Charlie Daniels, Emerson Drive, Garth Brooks' Double Live, Dixie Chicks' Fly, and Paul Brandt's This Time Around.

Urban released Golden Road in 2002, and the success of the single "Somebody Like You" sent his career into high gear. Touring as a supporting act for renowned country acts Brooks & Dunn, Martina McBride and Kenny Chesney honed Urban's skills and stage-craft. Country video channel CMT signed on as the title sponsor of Urban's first headlining arena tour titled Keith Urban Be Here '04 with opening act Katrina Elam. Urban continued his meteoric rise to fame in 2005 with a very successful tour with Elam called Alive in '05. He performed in the Live 8 Philadelphia concert on 2 July 2005 and had been chosen by The Gap to appear alongside seven other musical stars in their "Favorites" campaign. He was named the 2005 CMA's Entertainer of the Year. He released a DVD in late September 2005 entitled Livin' Right Now, recorded in at the Wiltern Theater in California in December 2004.

In 2005 Urban played in front of European audiences for the first time. In May Urban supported Bryan Adams on his UK and Ireland tour, which included dates in Earls Court, London, SECC, Glasgow and The Point, Dublin. On 6 June a UK only album, Days Go By was released, this album contained songs from both Be Here and Golden Road .

In October Urban returned for a headlining tour with Nerina Pallot and Richard Winsland as support acts.

On Monday 21 August 2006, Urban made history when his new single "Once in a Lifetime" debuted at #17, setting a new record for the highest-debuting country single in the 62-year history of Billboard's country charts. The record was formerly held by Garth Brooks' "Good Ride Cowboy" and Eddie Rabbitt's "Every Which Way But Loose", both of which debuted at #18. "Good Ride Cowboy" was the highest in the BDS era (1990-present).

Urban is also a winner of numerous "Golden Guitars", which are presented annually during the Tamworth Country Music Festival at "The Country Music Association of Australia's Annual Awards" in Tamworth, Australia. He is also a former winner of the Toyota Starmaker Contest, which is held each year in conjunction with the CMAA Awards and the Tamworth Country Music Festival.

Keith was named artist of the month for July 2007 on the television network GAC (Great American Country). He answered a question of the day every day that month, and did multiple interviews about love, life, his new album and his stay in rehab.

On 7 July 2007 (Keith performed with Alicia Keys at one of Al Gore's Live Earth concerts held around the world. The concerts were held to raise awareness of global warming. Keith performed at the concert held in New York City and said in an interview that global warming is not a political issue, and what he is doing to help the environment is running all bio-diesel buses in his Love, Pain and The Whole Crazy World Tour.

In January 2008, Urban embarked on the Love, Pain and the Whole Crazy Carnival Ride Tour with fellow country singer Carrie Underwood. In early May 2008, Urban debuted a new song at the Grand Ole Opry titled "A New Sunshine". It is not known whether or not the song will appear on his upcoming album slated for an early 2009 release. And in late May 2008, Urban re-recorded a song from his sophomore CD, "You Look Good in My Shirt". The song was released on the radio at the end of May. "Over the years it ("You Look Good In My Shirt") has always played like a hit song," said Keith. "That, combined with numerous requests from both fans and radio about why it was never a single, inspired us to get back into the studio and re-record the song."(keithurban.net) The single was a pre-cursor to the "Love, Pain & the Whole Crazy World Tour" concert DVD release in the Fall of '08. Urban is currently writing for a new CD to hit sometime in early 2009.

Urban recently announced that the lead single for his forthcoming 5th studio album will be titled "Sweet Thing". The song was co-written with Monty Powell, who wrote some of Urban's past hits, and co-produced with his longtime producer Dann Huff.

The album, Defying Gravity, is scheduled to be released on 31 March 2009, through Capitol Records.

Starting in 1992, Urban dated veterinary technician Laura Sigler for eight years. Urban proposed to Sigler in 2001 but the pair eventually split in 2002.

Urban also was rumored to have been dating supermodel Niki Taylor on and off from 2002 to 2004.

Urban met Australian actress Nicole Kidman at G'Day LA, a Hollywood event honoring Australians, in January 2005 but they didn't begin dating until 6 months later. They were emailing each other back and forth, addressing each other as Hank (Keith) and Evie (Nicole). Kidman and Urban were married on Sunday the 25th of June 2006, at the Cardinal Cerretti Memorial Chapel in the grounds of St Patrick's Estate, Manly in Sydney. Hank & Evie is now on the tag on the back of the shirts Urban sells at his concerts.

On Oct. 19, 2006, Urban checked himself into the Betty Ford Center in California. On Oct. 20, Urban issued a statement saying: "I deeply regret the hurt this has caused Nicole and the ones who love and support me. One can never let one's guard down on recovery, and I'm afraid that I have." On Jan. 18, 2007, Urban announced his completion of rehab and his plans to go on tour to promote his new album, Love, Pain & the Whole Crazy Thing..

On 1 October 2007, while headed to an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, Urban skid off of his motorbike when a paparazzo followed him near his home in Sydney; Urban was not hurt. In a statement released by his publicists, Urban says the incident was "the result of one person's desire to do his job and my desire to maintain my privacy." Urban says he tried to avoid an oncoming car and dropped his bike. He says the photographer came to his assistance without taking photos.

Sunday Rose's pictures were not spread over the cover of magazines after she was born. It was a long 4 months before anyone saw a photo of Sunday. Her picture debut was when Nicole was on Oprah, and she brought out a picture that Keith took on his iPhone.

As for religion, Keith and Nicole have stated that they are Roman Catholic.

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Country music

Country music (or Country and Western) is a blend of popular musical forms originally found in the Southern United States and the Appalachian Mountains. It has roots in traditional folk music, Celtic music, gospel music, and old-time music and evolved rapidly in the 1920s. The term country music began to be used in the 1940s when the earlier term hillbilly music was deemed to be degrading, and the term was widely embraced in the 1970s, while country and Western has declined in use since that time, except in the United Kingdom and Ireland, where it is still commonly used in the United States.

In the Southwestern United States a different mix of ethnic groups created the music that became the Western music of the term country and Western.

Country music has produced two of the top selling solo artists of all time. Elvis Presley, who was known early on as “The Hillbilly Cat” and was a regular on the radio program Louisiana Hayride, went on to become a defining figure in the emerging genre of rock 'n roll. Contemporary musician Garth Brooks, with 128 million albums sold, is the top-selling solo artist in U.S. history.

While album sales of most musical genres have declined, country music experienced one of its best years in 2006, when, during the first six months, U.S. sales of country albums increased by 17.7 percent to 36 million. Moreover, country music listening nationwide has remained steady for almost a decade, reaching 77.3 million adults every week, according to the radio-ratings agency Arbitron, Inc.

The term "country music" is used to describe many styles and subgenres, such as alternative country, made famous by Gram Parsons.

One infrequent, but consistent theme in modern country music is that of proud, stubborn independence. "Country Boy Can Survive" and "Copperhead Road" are two of the more serious songs along those lines; while "Some Girls Do" and "Redneck Woman" are more light-hearted variations on the theme.

Immigrants to the Southern Appalachian Mountains of North America brought the music and instruments of the Old World along with them for nearly 300 years. The Irish fiddle, the German derived dulcimer, the Italian mandolin, the Spanish guitar, and the African banjo were the most common musical instruments. The interactions among musicians from different ethnic groups produced music unique to this region of North America. Appalachian string bands of the early twentieth century primarliy consisted of the fiddle, guitar, and banjo. This early country music along with early recorded country music is often referred to as Old-time music.

Throughout the nineteenth century, several immigrant groups from Europe, most notably from Ireland, The United Kingdom, Germany, Spain, and Italy moved to Texas. These groups interacted with the Spanish, Mexican, Native American, and U.S. communities that were already established in Texas. As a result of this cohabitation and extended contact, Texas has developed unique cultural traits that are rooted in the culture of all of its founding communities. The settlers from the areas now known as Germany and the Czech Republic established large dance halls in Texas where farmers and townspeople from neighboring communities could gather, dance, and spend a night enjoying each other’s company. The music at these halls, brought from Europe, included the waltz and the polka, played on an accordion, an instrument invented in Italy, which was loud enough to fill the entire dance hall.

The first commercial recording of what can be considered country music was "Sallie Gooden" by fiddlist A.C. (Eck) Robertson in 1922 for Victor Records. Columbia Records began issuing records with "hillbilly" music (series 15000D "Old Familiar Tunes") as early as 1924.

A year earlier on June 14, 1923 Fiddlin' John Carson recorded "Little Log Cabin in the Lane" for Okeh Records. Vernon Dalhart was the first country singer to have a nationwide hit in May 1924 with "Wreck of the Old '97". The flip side of this record was "Lonesome Road Blues", which also became very popular. In April, 1924, "Aunt" Samantha Bumgarner and Eva Davis became the first female musicians to record and release country songs.

Many "hillbilly" musicians recorded blues songs throughout the decade, and into the thirties as with Cliff Carlisle. Other important early recording artists were Riley Puckett, Don Richardson, Fiddlin' John Carson, Al Hopkins, Ernest V. Stoneman, Charlie Poole and the North Carolina Ramblers and The Skillet Lickers. The steel guitar entered country music as early as 1922, when Jimmie Tarlton met famed Hawaiian guitarist Frank Ferera on the West Coast.

Jimmie Rodgers and the Carter Family are widely considered to be important early country musicians. Their songs were first captured at a historic recording session in Bristol on August 1, 1927, where Ralph Peer was the talent scout and sound recordist.

Rodgers fused hillbilly country, gospel, jazz, blues, pop, cowboy, and folk; and many of his best songs were his compositions, including “Blue Yodel” , which sold over a million records and established Rodgers as the premier singer of early country music.

Beginning in 1927, and for the next 17 years the Carters recorded some 300 old-time ballads, traditional tunes, country songs, and Gospel hymns, all representative of America's southeastern folklore and heritage.

One effect of the Great Depression was to reduce the number of records that could be sold. Radio, and broadcasting, became a popular source of entertainment, and "barn dance" shows featuring country music were started all over the South, as far north as Chicago, and as far west as California.

The most important of these shows was the Grand Ole Opry aired by WSM-AM in Nashville. Some of the early stars on the Opry were Uncle Dave Macon, Roy Acuff and African American harmonica player DeFord Bailey. WSM's 50,000 watt signal (1934) could often be heard across the country.

Many musicians performed and recorded songs in any number of styles. Moon Mullican, for example, played Western Swing, but also recorded songs that can be called rockabilly. Bill Haley sang cowboy songs, and was at one time a cowboy yodeler. Haley became most famous as an early player of rock n roll. Jimmie Rodgers-stylings to his environment, thus creating a sound that was very much his own. Between 1947 and 1949, country crooner Eddy Arnold placed a total of 8 songs in the top 10.

During the 1930s and 1940s Cowboy songs, or "Western music," which had been recorded since the 1920s, were popularized by films made in Hollywood. Some of the popular singing cowboys from the era were Gene Autry, the Sons of the Pioneers, and Roy Rogers.

Another "country" musician from the Lower Great Plains who had become very popular as the leader of a “hot string band,” and who also appeared in Hollywood Westerns, was Bob Wills. His mix of "country" and jazz, which started out as dance hall music, would become known as Western Swing. Spade Cooley and Tex Williams also had very popular bands and appeared in films. At the height of its popularity, Western Swing rivaled the popularity of other big band jazz.

Drums were scorned by early country musicians as being "too loud" and "not pure", but by 1935 Western Swing big band leader Bob Wills had added drums to the Texas Playboys. In the mid 1940s, The Grand Ole Opry did not want the Playboys’ drummer to appear on stage. Although drums were commonly used by rockabilly groups by 1955, the less-conservative-than-the-Grand Ole Opry Louisiana Hayride kept their infrequently-used drummer back stage as late as 1956. By the early 1960s, however, it was rare that a country band didn't have a drummer.

Bob Wills was one of the first country musicians known to have added an electric guitar to his band, in 1938.. A decade later (1948) Arthur Smith achieved Top 10 US country chart success with his MGM Records recording of "Guitar Boogie", which crossed over to the US pop chart, introducing many people to the potential of the electric guitar. For several decades Nashville session players preferred the warm tones of the Gibson and Gretsch archtop electrics, but a “hot” Fender style, utilizing guitars which became available beginning in the early 1950s, eventually prevailed as the signature guitar sound of country.

Country musicians began recording boogie in 1939, shortly after it had been played at Carnegie Hall, when Johnny Barfield recorded "Boogie Woogie". The trickle of what was initially called Hillbilly Boogie, or Okie Boogie (later to be renamed Country Boogie), became a flood beginning around late 1945. One notable country boogie from this period was the Delmore Brothers' "Freight Train Boogie", considered to be part of the combined evolution of country music and blues towards rockabilly. In 1948 Arthur "Guitar Boogie" Smith achieved Top 10 US country chart success with his MGM Records recordings of "Guitar Boogie" and "Banjo Boogie", with the former crossing over to the US pop charts. Other country boogie artists included Merrill Moore and Tennessee Ernie Ford. The Hillbilly Boogie period lasted into the 1950s, and remains as one of many subgenres of country into the twenty first century.

By the end of World War II, "mountaineer" string band music known as bluegrass had emerged when Bill Monroe joined with Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs, led by Roy Acuff at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tennessee.

Gospel music, too, remained a popular component of country music, with Red Foley, the biggest country star following World War II, a top gospel crossover artist who also sang boogie. In the post-war period, "country" music was called "folk" in the trades, and "hillbilly" within the industry.

In 1944, Billboard replaced the term "hillbilly" with "folk songs and blues," and switched to "country" or "country and western" in 1949.

Another type of stripped down and raw music with a variety of moods and a basic ensemble of guitar, bass, dobro or steel guitar (and later) drums became popular, especially among poor white southerners. It became known as honky tonk and had its roots in Texas. This music has been described as "a little bit of this, and a little bit of that, a little bit of black and a little bit of white...just loud enough to keep you from thinking too much and to go right on ordering the whiskey". East Texan Al Dexter had a hit with "Honky Tonk Blues", and seven years later "Pistol Packin' Mama". These "honky tonk" songs associated barrooms, were performed by the likes of Ernest Tubb, Ted Daffin, Floyd Tillman, and the Maddox Brothers and Rose, Lefty Frizzell and Hank Williams, would later be called "traditional" country. Honkey tonk artist Webb Pierce was the number-one country artist of the 1950s with 13 of his singles spending 113 weeks at number one during the decade, when he charted 48 singles. Thirty-nine reached the top ten and 26 reached the top four.

What is now most commonly referred to as rockabilly was most popular with country music fans in the 1950s, and was recorded and performed by country musicians. Within a few years many rockabilly musicians returned to a more mainstream style, or had defined their own unique style.

Country music gained widespread television exposure through Ozark Jubilee, a live ABC-TV (and radio) network program broadcast from 1955–1960 from Springfield, Missouri. The program showcased top stars of the day including many rockabilly artists, some from the Ozarks.

By the end of the decade, backlash as well as traditional artists such as Ray Price, Marty Robbins, and Johnny Horton began to shift the industry away from the Rock n' Roll influences of the mid-50s.

Beginning in the mid 1950s, and reaching its peak during the early 1960s, the Nashville Sound turned country music into a multimillion-dollar industry centered in Nashville, Tennessee. Under the direction of producers such as Chet Atkins, Owen Bradley, and later Billy Sherrill, the sound brought country music to a diverse audience and helped revive country as it emerged from a commercially fallow period..

This subgenre was notable for borrowing from 1950s pop stylings: a prominent and "smooth" vocal, backed by a string section and vocal chorus. Instrumental soloing was de-emphasized in favor of trademark "licks." Leading artists in this genre included Patsy Cline, Jim Reeves and Eddy Arnold. The "slip note" piano style of session musician Floyd Cramer was an important component of this style.

Nashville's pop song structure became more pronounced and it morphed into what was called "Countrypolitan". Countrypolitan was aimed straight at mainstream markets and it sold well throughout the later 1960s into the early 1970s. Top artists included Tammy Wynette and Charlie Rich.

In 1962, Ray Charles surprised the pop world by turning his attention to country & western music, topping the charts and rating # 3 for the year on BillBoard’s pop chart with the "I Can't Stop Loving You" single, and recording the landmark album Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music.

Another genre of country music grew out of hardcore honky tonk with elements of Western swing and originated 112 miles (180 km) north-north west of Los Angeles in Bakersfield, California. Influenced by one-time West Coast residents Bob Wills and Lefty Frizzell, by 1966 it was known as the Bakersfield Sound. It relied on electric instruments and amplification, in particular the Telecaster electric guitar, more than other subgenres of country of the era, and can be described as having a sharp, hard, driving, no-frills, edgy flavor. Leading practitioners of this style were Buck Owens, Merle Haggard, Tommy Collins, and Wynn Stewart, each of whom had his own style.

The late 1960s in American music produced a unique blend as a result of traditionalist backlash within separate genres. In the aftermath of the British Invasion, many desired a return to the "old values" of Rock n' Roll. At the same time there was a lack of enthusiasm in the Country sector for Nashville-produced music. What resulted was a crossbred genre known as Country rock.

Early innovators in this new style of music in the 60s and 70s included Rock n' Roll icon band The Byrds (beginning while Gram Parsons was a member) and its spin-off The Flying Burrito Brothers, guitarist Clarence White, Michael Nesmith & The First National Band, Commander Cody, Allman Brothers, The Marshall Tucker Band, Poco, Buffalo Springfield, and The Eagles among many. Even The Rolling Stones got into the act with songs like "Honky Tonk Women" which resulted in many others recording country rock type songs including Neil Young and the Grateful Dead.

Subsequent to the initial blending of the two polar opposite genres, other offspring soon resulted, including Southern rock, Heartland Rock and in more recent years Alternative country, a genre led by popular bands like Uncle Tupelo, Son Volt, My Morning Jacket and Drive-By Truckers.

In the decades that followed, artists such as Juice Newton, Alabama, Hank Williams, Jr., Keith Urban, Shania Twain, Brooks & Dunn, Faith Hill, Garth Brooks, Dwight Yoakam, Steve Earle, Dolly Parton, Rosanne Cash and Linda Ronstadt moved country further towards rock influence.

Derived from the traditional and honky tonk sounds of the late 50's and 60's, including Ray Price (whose band, the "Cherokee Cowboys", included Willie Nelson and Roger Miller) and mixed with the anger of an alienated subculture of the nation during the period, outlaw country revolutionized the genre of Country music.

The term "Outlaw Country" is traditionally associated with David Allan Coe, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Jessi Colter, and Billy Joe Shaver, and was encapsulated in the 1976 record Wanted! The Outlaws.

Country pop or soft pop, with roots in both the countrypolitan sound and in soft rock, is a subgenre that first emerged in the 1970s. Although the term first referred to country music songs and artists that crossed over to top 40 radio, country pop acts are now more likely to cross over to adult contemporary. It started with pop music singers like The Bellamy Brothers, Glen Campbell, John Denver, The Eagles, Olivia Newton-John, Marie Osmond, B.J. Thomas and Anne Murray having hits on the Country charts. Campbell's "Rhinestone Cowboy" was among one of the biggest crossover hits in Country music history.

In 1974 Olivia Newton-John, an Australian pop singer, won the "Best Female Country Vocal Performance" as well as the Country Music Association's most coveted award for females, "Female Vocalist of the Year". In the same year, a group of artists, troubled by this trend, formed the short-lived Association of Country Entertainers. The debate raged into 1975, and reached its apex at that year's Country Music Association Awards when reigning Entertainer of the Year, Charlie Rich (who himself had a series of crossover hits), presented the award to his successor, John Denver. As he read Denver's name, Rich set fire to the envelope with a cigarette lighter. The action was taken as a protest against the increasing pop style in country music.

During the 1980s, country artists saw their records perform well on the pop charts. Willie Nelson and Juice Newton each had two songs in the Billboard Top 5 in the early eighties: Nelson charted "Always On My Mind" (#5, 1982) and "To All The Girls I've Loved Before" (#5, 1984), and Newton achieved success with "Queen of Hearts" (#2, 1981) and "Angel of the Morning" (#4, 1981). Four country songs topped the Billboard Hot 100 in the 1980s: "Lady" by Kenny Rogers, which was the #3 song for the entire year in 1981, "9 to 5" by Dolly Parton, "I Love a Rainy Night" by Eddie Rabbitt (these two back to back at the Top in 1981), and "Islands in the Stream", a duet by Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers in 1983, a pop-country crossover hit written by Barry, Robin, and Maurice Gibb, of the Bee Gees. Newton's "Queen of Hearts" almost reached #1, but was kept out of the spot by the pop ballad juggernaut "Endless Love" by Diana Ross and Lionel Richie.

In 1980 a style of "neocountry disco music" was popularized by the film Urban Cowboy, which also included more traditional songs such as "The Devil Went Down to Georgia" by the Charlie Daniels Band.

Sales in record stores rocketed to $250 million in 1981; by 1984, 900 radio stations began programming country or neocountry pop full time. As with most sudden trends, however, by 1984 sales had dropped below 1979 figures.

During the 1990s, country artist Garth Brooks enjoyed one of the most successful careers in popular music history, breaking records for both sales and concert attendance throughout the decade. The RIAA has certified his recordings at a combined (128× platinum), denoting roughly 113 million U.S. shipments.

In the mid 1990s, country western music was influenced by the popularity of line dancing. This influence was so great that Chet Atkins was quoted as saying "The music has gotten pretty bad, I think. It's all that damn line dancing." By the end of the decade, however, at least one line dance choreographer complained that good country line dance music was no longer being released.

Several rock and pop stars have ventured a little into country music. In 2000, Richard Marx made a brief cross-over with his Days In Avalon album, which features five country songs and several singers and musicians. Alison Krauss sang background vocals to Marx's single Straight From My Heart. Also, Bon Jovi had a hit single, Who Says You Can't Go Home, with Jennifer Nettles of Sugarland. Other rock stars who featured a county song on their albums were Don Henley and Poison.

In 2005, country singer Carrie Underwood rose to fame as the winner of the fourth season of American Idol and became a multi-platinum selling recording artist and a multiple Grammy Award winner.

In the 1990s, alternative country came to refer to a diverse group of musicians and singers operating outside the traditions and industry of mainstream country music. In general, they eschewed the high production values and pop outlook of the Nashville-dominated industry, to produce music with a lo-fi sound, frequently infused with a strong punk and rock & roll aesthetic, bending the traditional rules of country music. Lyrics were often bleak, gothic or socially aware.

There are at least four U.S. cable networks at least partly devoted to the genre: CMT and CMT Pure Country (both owned by Viacom), Rural Free Delivery TV (owned by Rural Media Group) and GAC (owned by The E. W. Scripps Company). The first American country music video cable channel was TNN (The Nashville Network), launched in the early 1980s. In 2000, the channel was renamed and reformatted as The National Network, a general-interest network, and eventually became Spike TV.

Outside of the US, Canada has perhaps the largest country music fan and artist base. Canadian country music originated in Atlantic Canada in the form of Celtic folk music popular amongst Irish and Scottish immigrants to Canada's Maritime Provinces. Despite this however, many traditional country artists are present in Eastern and Western Canada and make common use of fiddle and pedal steel guitar styles. Some notable Canadian country artists include: Shania Twain, Blue Rodeo, Hank Snow, Wilf Carter, Michelle Wright, Stompin' Tom Connors, The Road Hammers, and Anne Murray.

Country music in Australia has always been popular, especially given the rural nature of the country. Starting in the 1800s with bush balladeers writing songs of their tales of the bush, as well as songs of protest against the tyranny of the government. In the 1940s the legendary Slim Dusty embarked on a country music career that spanned over fifty years and over 100 albums. Smoky Dawson was also a country music pioneer in Australia, modelling himself very much in the traditional cowboy style, even starring in his own comic books and radio serials. In more recent years, artists like Keith Urban and Sherrie Austin have been keeping the tradition of country music alive.

Focusing its feel on lyrics, Australian country music developed it own unique style, mirrored by such artists as Lee Kernaghan, Slim Dusty and Adam Brand.

Country HQ showcases new talent on the rise in the country music scene downunder. Grabine State Park in New South Wales promotes Australian country music through the Grabine Music Muster Festival. Australia has a 24 hour music channel dedicated to non-stop country music in Australia. CMC (the Country Music Channel) can be viewed on Foxtel and Austar and features once a year the Golden Guitar Awards, CMAs and CCMAs alongside international shows such as The Wilkinsons, The Road Hammers, and Country Music Across America.

One of the first Americans to perform country music abroad was George Hamilton IV. He was the first country musician to perform in the Soviet Union; he also toured in Australia and the Middle East. He was deemed the "International Ambassador of Country Music" for his contributions to the globalization of country music. Johnny Cash, Emmylou Harris, Keith Urban, and Dwight Yoakam have also made numerous international tours.

The Country Music Association undertakes various initiatives to promote country music internationally.

In South America, on the last weekend of September, the yearly "San Pedro Country Music Festival" takes places in the town of San Pedro, Argentina. The festival features bands from different places of Argentina, as well as international artist from Brazil, Uruguay, Chile, Peru and the United States.

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Keith Urban (album)

Keith Urban is the second solo album by Australian but who was born in New Zealand country singer Keith Urban , released on October 19, 1999. At the time of its release, Urban spelled his name in lowercase.

Certified platinum in the United States, the album was Urban's breakthrough album in that country. Prior to this album, he had recorded a self-titled album in Australia in 1991, and another in the U.S. as a member of the short-lived band The Ranch. Keith Urban produced four singles for Urban on the Billboard country charts. In order of release, these were: "It's a Love Thing" (#18), "Your Everything" (#4), "But for the Grace of God" (#1), and "Where the Blacktop Ends" (#3). "A Little Luck of Our Own" was originally recorded by Dale Daniel on her 1994 album Luck of Our Own.

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Days Go By (Keith Urban song)

Starting with an acoustic guitar phrase and then built in D major around Urban's typical up-tempo banjo/mandolin-driven riffs with exuberant vocal yelps and electric guitar fills, the song's message is a variation on the carpe diem theme, as played off the song's title phrase: Days go by/I can feel 'em flying like a hand out the window/In the wind, as the cars go by/It's all we've been given, so you better start livin' right now/Cause days go by.

A portion of the song's music video shows Urban appearing to walk forwards, while everyone else about him is walking backwards; this segment was actually filmed in reverse, with Urban walking backwards. The video won a CMT Award for Best Video of 2005.

In another part of the video, Urban makes a hand gesture, holding it parallel to the ground while raising and lowering it in an undulating motion, illustrating the "out the window in the wind" lyric. This inspired a colloborative project in which Urban fans videoed themselves imitating the motion while doing purposeful things, most often by visiting recognizable landmarks such as the Washington Monument, Yellowstone National Park, The Parthenon, or even more modest places such as Paducah, Kentucky; a compilation of these videos was shown on the large image wall backdrop as the song was performed on Urban's 2007 Love, Pain & the whole crazy world Tour.

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The Ranch (band)

The Ranch was a three-member country music band, formed by New Zealand-born country artist Keith Urban in 1997. Urban served as the band's lead vocalist, in addition to playing guitar, ganjo, and keyboards. Jerry Flowers sang harmony vocals and played bass guitar, and Peter Clarke played drums.

The band recorded only one album and charted two singles on the country charts before disbanding in 1998. Besides its two singles, The Ranch included a song entitled "Some Days You Gotta Dance", which was later released as a single by the Dixie Chicks from their 1999 album Fly, and which also featured Urban on guitar. Urban later started a solo career on Capitol Records. The Ranch's album was re-issued in 2004 on Capitol/EMI as Keith Urban in The Ranch.

All songs written by Keith Urban and Vernon Rust, except where noted.

1Bonus tracks, featured only on 2004 re-release.

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