Bert newton interviews Keith urban

BERT: They have done it again! Put two sex symbols, right at the top of the show. Can you handle it Keith? I can.

KEITH: When is the other one showing up? (everyone cracks up laughing)

BERT: Great to have you here!… I saw you were admiring our staffs promotional t-shirt: Australian Idol.

KEITH: Yeah, they have American Idol in the States. It would be good to have that one with Australian Idol.

BERT: That was huge wasn’t it? American idol?

KEITH: Enormous.

BERT: What did it do for the person that won? Was there a follow through?

KEITH: They got a movie coming out, with the two winners, Justin and whatever the other girl's name is. I didn’t watch it, unfortunately...or fortunately, depending which angle ya wanna go with.

BERT: The British Pop Idol, which they called it over...their's did huge figures, and its doing the same thing here in Australia. But more importantly, speaking of Australia: welcome home.

KEITH: Thank you, man.

BERT: So, it's on the promotional tour. Then, you're actually doing shows as of October, aren’t you?

KEITH: Ah, I come back with Leann in October.

BERT: Just saying off air the new album is terrific. I thought someone had knocked it off already. That’s what happens when they're good albums. (Bert holds up cd) This is the one to look for...and you're doing one of the songs for us today?

KEITH: Not today, not unless you want me to sing it for you right here?

BERT: Ahh well, if it's not on the show, we will just come down to the dressing room and you can have a couple of drinks and away ya go. Are you still enjoying it? When did you first leave Australia?

KEITH: Umm, about 10 years ago to go to Nashville. It a tough town, you know, and it takes a while.

BERT: And it's sort of in reverse to most people you made the name over there, before you made the name here in Australia, is that a fair comment?

KEITH: That’s a fair comment. I just looked at what some other artists had done, going to the States, and saw how long it took...and in a lot of cases, whatever you do here you can’t sort of take it there, and build on it. You gotta start all over again.

BERT: You haven’t lost the accent.

KEITH: Thank you. You know, we tour with ahh… my sound man out front is from Bunderberg, so that helps.

BERT: Is he into the rum?

KEITH: Ahh yes.

BERT: Are you drinking at all now? You're not drinking at all, are ya?

KEITH: I'm into the coffee.

BERT: Because the Bunderberg rum that is...

KEITH: That’s pretty lethal, right?

BERT: I have had it only once. I was drinking it like beer, stupidly, and all of a sudden, BANG! You're there! "What happened to Wednesday and Thursday?" It's quite a time. So you're totally clean now, as they say in the trade?

KEITH: Yeah, when you're touring as much as we are, you have to keep your mind on the business.

BERT: Difficult?

KEITH: Ahh...you know, I love what I do, so that’s a big part of it. I think when it starts to become a drag, it's probably difficult.

BERT: I think that the reason most of us, the people that are sitting around in the chair like me this morning, that we want to talk about the addiction, how you got through it...I don’t think it's just because we want the gossip. I think also for other young people, or people generally watching, it can be quite inspirational because you got to the lowest of the lows, didn’t you? In terms of how you felt, about yourself and life in general?

KEITH: I don’t know if I got any lower than a lot of people that have gone the same road, ya know. Especially going oversea’s is difficult when you're away from your family and people that you know, people that you have grown up with. It can get really lonely, for sure.

BERT: Keith, this album...I'm intrigued. I have heard all but one track, and that is all but the last track. I just didn’t have time to get to that. It’s a great piece. How long in the making, how long in the manufacture?

KEITH: Of the album?

BERT: Yeah.

KEITH: Ah, a couple of months. It wasn’t too long.

BERT: Ah. Most people say, "A couple of years...and five years ago I had this idea..."

KEITH: There are some songs on there that were written for the first record, but they didn’t fit. The song I think you are talking about is “You're Not My God”, and contrary to the title, it's not a blastphemous song in any way. On the contrary, it is just the opposite. Though, we had a song on the first album called "But For The Grace Of God" and I just felt it was a little conflicting song titles for the one record.

BERT: Keith, with an album like this that obviously, as all the stuff that you have done in America, it will go beautifully there, and here in Australia too. I mentioned before how hard was it before going over there and starting afresh and you said 10 years is a long time. But you and your family were always very much into the American culture.

KEITH: Well, my dad was a drummer in New Zealand in the 50’s and 60’s and growing up as a kid in the 50’s, he just got hooked on rock and roll, like a lot of kids around the world did. So, consequently, the whole American culture, the cars and that sort of thing. My dad loved it and I inherited all that kind of thing from him. The American dream, so to speak.

BERT: And your folks are still back here?

KEITH: Yeah, in Queensland.

BERT: So, you go back and come back in October. I have just been given the news too, that when you come back in October, you're going to sing for us.

KEITH: Yeah. Absolutely.

BERT: Do awards mean much to you? Because you have won so many internationally. Are they important to you at all?

KEITH: Ah, they don’t now because I have won a bunch of them. (giggling)

BERT: Well, you aspire to them, I suppose?

KEITH: They are good in the sense that everyone likes to be acknowledged as doing a great job. You got your awards. You know how it feels. It’s a good thing.

BERT: They are yours forever. That’s one of the important things.

KEITH: Hopefully. I should try and auction them off. Evidently, Christie's will come along. I was reading about that recently. I think it was Orson Wells' granddaughter tried to auction off the Academy Award and they pulled it. And they have got control. So, evidently they are not yours forever.

BERT: Well, in the case of Oscars, it's amazing what they are auctioning off these days. They auctioned quite recently...they auctioned a pair of underpants from Elvis Presley. Next, they will be getting to hair pieces and things. It's quite ridiculous, isn’t it? what they do once you're gone?

KEITH: Yeah, fanaticism.

BERT: Leanne Rimes is going to be your support artist, on the tour?

KEITH: No, she is actually letting us open for her, thank God. I think it's just a great match!

(they put a pic of Leann Rimes on the screen)

KEITH: Wow! Look at that picture. Good Lord!

BERT: She is a beautiful girl. isn’t she?

KEITH: I know. I will just be here for a minute. (giggling and looking at the picture)

BERT: Have you not worked with her before?

KEITH: No. I have just sort of said "Hello" to her in passing at award shows, but I have never met her.

BERT: Are you still in Nashville? Is that where you have been working out of? Is that where you have got to be or where you want to be?

KEITH: It’s a good town. It's definitely where you got to be, as far as being in everybody's face, so to speak. All the records are made there. All the business is still done there.

BERT: To promote yourself in America, what sort of stuff would you do there? Television shows obviously. I think radio would be more important than what it would be here?

KEITH: I think that’s the unfortunate part about Australian radio, with country music right now. There just isn’t any urban areas. Well, there's no sort of FM stations for country in the major cities, which is a real shame, because of the acts that are contempary driven, like myself, just don’t get a shot at getting to these audiences. Hopefully, this tour with Leann will help.

BERT: I worked for a country station and, ya know, they got terrific figures for it. Why they changed it, I will never know. I think if you go into a country station, you have got to be patient and wait for a while, until the word of mouth happens, and all of a sudden people know where to go to.

KEITH: Well, hopefully, these tours....you know, the Chicks are coming down to tour and of course, me and Leann and I think Faith is coming down at some point to tour. So, hopefully all that will help people in their perception of country music to change a bit.

BERT: What sort of shows will you get to do? Television shows? Will you get any of the big night time shows?

KEITH: In the States, are you talking about?

BERT: Yeah.

KEITH: We have done Leno a couple of times, which is terrific.

BERT: Whats that like?

KEITH: It's great! Yeah...

BERT: He seems like a nice guy.

KEITH: He is. He is very interesting.

BERT: Have you done Letterman? That's a pretty important one.

KEITH: We haven’t done that one yet. I'd like to do that one. Kasey did. Kasey Chambers did it. She did a great job.

BERT: We have something for you, Keith. It will be here in a minute.

KEITH: Right... It's ominous. (sounding worried)

BERT: Nah, it will be okay. It's my other hair piece. I'd like you to keep it.

(all laughing)

(Bert goes through the dates of the concerts.)

BERT: so just cast your eyes over that. You're chance to see Keith in concert and, as promised, he is going to come on our show then and sing for us. It's been great catching up. When it was announced that you were coming on the show, it was interesting that the people that work on the show, and all sorts of age groups, everyone got a buz. That must please you?

KEITH: It cost me a fortune! I gotta send checks out to everyone! Yeah. I have just been really overwhelmed with the amount of people that have kept on supporting us, being overseas as long as we have. So, it’s a good thing.

BERT: This is only the third solo album, so you have sort of waited around a lot, haven’t you?

KEITH: Yeah...and a long time between some of them, too. One in Australia and this is the second from the States.

BERT: Do you have total choice of the music?

KEITH: Pretty much. The record company...

(They start flashing childhood photos of Keith on the screen.)

KEITH: Ah, that’s a good picture. Where did you dig these things up from? (laughing) Wow!

BERT: How old were you when you started with that huge guitar?

KEITH: Um, six when I started playing guitar...six, yeah.

BERT: Have you always loved playing music?

KEITH: Ah yes. It's absolutely in me. It's like breathing.

BERT: Who are your idols? I saw you photographed there with Smokey Dawson?

KEITH: Yeah, we have some terrific guys in Australia, like Slim and some of the older guys that are still around to show us how its suppose to be done.

BERT: It was a very early love of mine...country music...because I reckon that a lot of people that are snobbish about country music. Really haven’t tuned in close enough to understand that the range is so much broader. What you can write about and sing about...

KEITH: Yeah, it would be nice for us to say “Well, I play country,” and for someone to say, "Well, what kind of country?"

BERT LOOKING AT THE FLOORMAN HOLDING A SIGN……

BERT: What's that little sign say? “Can’t get it now.” Join the club! Oh, you mean the t-shirt? Well, we will get one and send it onto to Keith. That was gonna be the surprise.

KEITH: (laughing) Oh, I see. Okay. No worries.

BERT: So, when you're out here in October, we will get you a couple and give them to you. It's been great to catch up with you, Keith.

KEITH: Likewise, Bert.

BERT: I wish you well. That’s Keith Urban, great singer, composer, and he is back with us in Australia in October.