Keith Urban: The Album That Didn’t Happen

Keith Urban has already released a few songs from his fourthcoming album, which will be released later this year, but before he started that album, he had another album done. Then something happened.

Keith told us in an interview, "The previous album, I felt like I was 98 percent in when I was listening to it, and that may sound like that's good enough, but not for me. I have to believe in them from top to bottom."

He added, "There can't be one that I'm like, 'Not sure about that one.'"

Of the album he is releasing, Urban said. "The album got shorter, forty minutes, top to bottom. The sequencing was important, as to how the album starts and how it ends. The stories, the tempos, the energies, and everything that happened in between are like an eleven-song set list for me. It all made perfect sense to me."

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In the same interview, Urban explained to us his motivation to make music. He says that motivation hasn't changed since he was a teenager in Australia, wanting to come to Nashville to make it big in country music. Keith told us, "If anything, I think I've just gotten more clarity on why I love what I get to do. I don't think it's changed. My understanding of why I love it has become clearer."

He continued, "I left school at fifteen, playing in cover bands five nights a week, four hours a night in the clubs, and only playing covers for years well into my early 20s."

Urban had a plan from day one. He said, "I just wanted to be able to play my own music. I was hoping one day, I could write some songs that the audience would know, so I could be playing my own music, and the audience would sing along like they were singing along with Reba or like they were singing along with [Jimmy Buffett's] 'Margaritaville.' I was hoping that I would do one of my songs, and they would do that."

Now that he is a huge music star, the fact that he got just what he wanted is not lost on him even today. He said, "To be able to put together a lengthy set list with all originals, and they sing along with almost all of it, just made going out there and what I want to do and have everyone become one. That's all I've ever tried to do."

Five country music couples we adore: when making this list, we have to begin with the fact that country music sings so much about love. We have country couples we all love to watch. They sing about their love and bring their life into the music they share with fans.

George Jones and Tammy Wynette were country music royalty. They sang together in the late 1960s and 1970s, and their marriage was one all fans could talk about. Then, their divorce in the 1970s really gave country fans something to talk about.

No one talks about it much anymore because the two have gone on to marry others, but when Blake Shelton and Miranda Lambert got married, it was big news and fun for country fans. A few years later, their divorce shocked everyone, but during their marriage, they were country royalty we admired; now, we just adore them separately and watch their happiness with other spouses on social media.

Blake Shelton and Miranda Lambert at the 2014 Grammy Awards in Los Angeles.
Christopher Polk/ Getty Images 

Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood are also true country royalty. Trisha told me about their relationship and how it works so well. The couple has been married for 18 years. She told me it isn't always just roses, "Well, when people go, 'Marriage goals' and 'Relationship goals,' I want to go, 'You know, have your own goals; we're regular people who don't always get along.'"

Yearwood adds, "If people see that we make each other the priority and we really respect and love each other, then I think if people take that from our marriage, then great."

Garth gushed as he looked at Trisha, standing about five feet away and out of earshot, "I think her and anybody's a great combo, I really do. So, I just feel lucky to be there with her."

He continued, "What I love about it is what I try to teach my girls: be yourself, be independent, but also be as strong as you are. Some of the most strength you're gonna have to show is the ability to bend. The ability to flex, the ability to take that pause and think, 'What is this guy really saying,' instead of just jumping, and we do that to each other. So, I think the respect is there."

Brooks told me the relationship was years in the making, "One of the big things was, cause we've known each other since '87, we were friends for thirteen years before we even dated. We toured together, which means you're way too comfortable with each other, so we told ourselves s--- on each other that no married couple would ever say. So, we know everything about each other."

He concluded, "With that, I think you just realize, walls and all, that they're gonna love you, and that's very sweet and hard for me to accept."

Garth and Trisha are performing at the Grammys in 2022.
Kevin Winter/Getty Images 

These two lovebirds are also absolutely country music royalty. The couple also inspires others with their 27-year-old marriage. In the early 2000s, Tim and Faith were all anyone was talking about. The couple even got their own Barbie dolls, which Brad Paisley made fun of later in their career on a CMA Awards show.

Their duets and music videos to go along with them were epic. Their song "It's Your Love" in 1997 became the first duet by a married couple to top the country chart. No such single would top the chart again until almost 26 years later, when Kane and Katelyn Brown's "Thank God" topped the chart in February 2023.

Other country music couples may come and go, but these two will always remain the ones people think of when country music couples are ever mentioned.

Kane and Katelyn scored a huge hit with "Thank God," and ever since, the couple has become who everyone wants to see arm in arm on a red carpet. The "Thank God" music video was filmed in Hawaii and named the CMT Video of the Year in 2023.

When the couple won the award, an emotional Katelyn told the CMT and TV crowd, standing next to her husband Kane, "This is all so new to me, and when we recorded this song a year ago, I never, ever in my life would think that this would ever happen." She then thanked her "amazing husband," saying how special it was that the couple could share this together.

Blake and Gwen became country music royalty when they started recording hit song duets like "Happy Anywhere" and "Nobody But You." Gwen joined Blake for a performance on the Grand Ole Opry and their royal status in country music was complete.

In an interview with People, Gwen said of her husband, "He's changed my life. When I started dating Blake, that's when I felt home, like, 'Oh, this is where I'm supposed to be, with this guy."

Blake often gushes about Gwen. He told People in 2021, "To me, she's my best friend and everything that I need and lean on."

Keith and Nicole are among the most famous couples in the world. The Oscar-winning Nicole often appears on the country music award show Red Carpets. Keith also joins his wife at movie premieres and red carpets, including the Academy Awards and many other acting awards shows.

They often post about each other and share love moments on social media when one of them has a birthday or on Valentine's Day.

In November, after the CMA Awards, Nicole posted photos of him and her hubby on her Instagram; she wrote, "Thank you, # CMA's, for a great night of country music celebration."

In 2017, when Urban released the song, The Fighter," the couple sang it together in their car. The YouTube video has ten millions views.

These guys are precious together. Nicole is always standing beside her Entertainer of the Year-winning man on red carpets and at award shows, cheering him on. Nicole gives little family inside moments and often answers fan questions online, giving us a look inside this country music two-bedroom home.

Luke and Nicole now have two baby boys at home, and Nicole often joins her husband on the tour bus with the family as he travels to sold-out stadium shows all over the country.

We have a feeling we will see a lot more red carpet moments from this couple as Luke continues to dominate country music.