Keith Urban: Without Music, He Would ‘Be In Jail’

Keith Urban sat in with Criss Angel in Las Vegas on Angel's podcast and talked about a number of topics, including what he and his wife Nicole Kidman did during lockdown and where he would be in life without his music.

Keith said when asked, "I'd be in jail, probably." He laughed, talked about how he wanted to be rock and country, and found a way to do both genres in John Mellencamp. He said he "loved" Mellencamp, citing his classic 1987 album, The Lonesome Jubilee. Urban recounted that before that, he'd had "Hurts So Good," more straight rock, and then through "Scarecrow," he brought in "some fiddles and a few little organic things." Then Keith said he did Lonesome Jubilee, and "he's got accordion, fiddle, acoustic guitars," but he still had "this rock rhythm section."

Urban said it was the "collision of all these things" that, before he went to a concert that night, he had been wondering if he was country or rock, not knowing what he was supposed to be doing. Keith said that Mellencamp walked out on stage, and he heard the fusion of rock and country he was doing, and it was "literally like a light went off." Urban told himself, "I get it. Don't think about genre or anything. Just pull all the things you love, your soup, man, your gumbo, and make your gumbo.'"

Next week (12/5), Keith and Country Music Hall of Fame member Vince Gill will return to Nashville's Bridgestone Arena for Urban's "All for the Hall" concert.

The concert benefits the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. It will include performances by musical directors Urban and Gill, as well as Kelsea Ballerini, Dierks Bentley, Brooks & Dunn, Jordan Davis, HARDY, Patty Loveless, Trisha Yearwood, and other special guests.

Keith said in a statement, "Getting to curate, create, and collaborate on our All for the Hall shows has always been mad fun for me. There's so much love and respect for all the work the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum does, not only from the artists and the industry but the audience too."

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).