painting colours

Keith Urban’s self-titled debut earned him three Top 5 hits, the 2001 Country Music Association’s Horizon Award and the 2001 Academy of Country Music Award for “Top New Male Vocalist.” His sophomore effort, Golden Road, is poised to bring him an equal amount of success. Already being called a country star, the critics are praising Urban’s songwriting and musicianship which fuses rock sounds with country sensibilities.

“Country is where I came from and then playing in clubs around Australia, you sort of start toughening it up, because they're really rough places,” Urban said. “A lot of the clubs are rock clubs so you have to play with a certain attitude and I think you start doing a country song in those venues and these two things start to come together and I think that's where my music's ended up.”

Urban is quickly becoming known for his guitar playing abilities and his energetic live shows.

“Playing live especially I think is my first love because I've been doing it so long,” he said. “And it's really the best outlet for every emotion. You know, the guitar is like a blank canvas every night and you get up and you just play and you don't know what's going to come out. ... I love guitar so much because it does everything you tell it to do and it can't paint colors that you've never seen before.”