Keith Urban: His Advice to Lainey Wilson
Keith Urban talked with us yesterday (8/14) about his latest album, High, which will be released on September 20. On the new project, he has a duet with Lainey Wilson called “Go Home W U.”
I could not resist asking Keith about Lainey’s incredible success in country music in the last year or so and what she brings to the genre.
Urban listed what he thinks she brings, “Artistry, first and foremost, artistry and authenticity. Those things don’t always come in the same package. She’s just the real deal. It’s no surprise to me that she’s caught fire as fast as she has because she’s ready, and despite what she thinks, she’s totally ready.”
Keith recalled a moment he had with Wilson after her big ETOTY win, “She was sharing with me after the Entertainer of the Year honor backstage, and she kind of had the deer in the headlight vibe about her. I said, ‘How do you feel?’ and she goes, ‘I’m just… it’s so much so quickly, and I want to stay around.’ And I’m like, ‘Oh My God, I felt this exact same way in 2005 when I won that (ETOTY). It felt way too soon. I felt like they had given me the gold watch, ‘Thanks very much, there’s the door.’ And I was just getting started, so I couldn’t enjoy it. It just felt like too much too soon.”
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He recalled his advice to her at the time, “I said to her, ‘If you’re worthy of it, you’re worthy of it. Just own it, embrace it, and get back to work. Get back in the trenches, and if you don’t think you’re worthy of it, be worthy of it. Get back in the trenches and show everybody why you are worthy of this thing.'”
Urban told me why he wanted her to be on his new album, saying, “I feel like we’re cut from very similar clothes, and I really wanted to find something to do with her. And it turned out to be this song which wasn’t written as a duet. Lainey was the right voice and just took the song to a whole other level.”
I told Keith that I believe Wilson is in the same category as Reba McEntire or Dolly Parton and that I feel she will be around for a long time. He agreed, saying, “That’s exactly the people I put her with. Yeah, she’s authentic, original, legit, and she’s gonna be around for a long time. She’s a great songwriter; she’s particularly good.”
