Keith Urban Used Two Country Icons To Defend His Refusal Not To Wear A Cowboy Hat

Keith Urban is arguably one of the biggest country music stars of the past 25 years. His success is due to his undeniable talent, but also to his tenacity. When Urban left Australia for the United States, he stood his ground on his own image. Now, Urban reveals the peer pressure he withstood, refusing to conform.

“When I moved to Nashville, and everyone was like, ‘You play country music, but you don’t wear a hat,” the “Straight Line” singer shares on the Track Star podcast. “I’m like, ‘Well, neither does Merle Haggard. Neither did Johnny Cash. George Jones didn’t wear a hat, Ronnie Milsap didn’t wear a hat. People forget, you didn’t have to wear a hat to be country.”

Urban took a big risk in moving to Music City. Looking back now, he’s amazed at how much has changed, and also how much he still stays the same.

“I moved to Nashville a long time ago, and the place that I stayed at… the first hotel I stayed at, the Shoney’s Inn down on Demombruen, is still there; it’s called the Comfort Inn now,” Urban recalls to Backstage Country. “I love that in a city that has changed so much, that building is still there, the little motel room that I stayed is still there. It’s this great connect through line for me.”

“I don’t feel that different from when I stayed in that room hoping I could get a record deal,” he continues. “Hoping I could get to record music in the studio with great players and maybe get a tour bus one day and hit the road. I still feel exactly the same. It’s an amazing feeling. It keeps it really exciting for me.”

Keith Urban’s Band

Urban has a big 2025 planned. The 57-year-old will kick off his High and Alive World Tour on May 22. Before he does that, he needs to reassemble his band, after letting two of his longtime band members go. Both Jerry Flowers and Nathan Barlowe were fired at the start of the year, ahead of Urban’s massive tour.

“I’m in between a typical band structure right now. I haven’t put together a band for the tour yet. I dismantled the band I had and I’m rebuilding a new one but I haven’t built it yet,” Keith reveals on Q with Tom Power. . “We had a club show that came before I had a chance to build me band so we had a fill-in drummer last night and my keyboard player played bass, kind of like the Doors.”

“I had to keep reminding him to go for it because we’d be playing a song,” he adds. “And I’m like ‘Where’s the low end?’ I’d realize that the keyboard player has forgotten that he’s got to play bass too.”