The Bobby Bones Show - Happy Birthday Keith Urban! + #327 - Keith On His Childhood, Relationship with Father, Marriage, Rehab and Overcoming Addiction

Episode Date: October 26, 2023

Keith Urban turns 55 years old today! In honor of his birthday, we wanted to share when Bobby and Keith sat down and dove into where his love of music started and how he discovered country music in Australia. Keith explains how his dad got him into country music and how their relationship led to him wanting to pursue it as a career. Keith talks about his early days starting out, his biggest inspiration as an artist, why he strives to make his live show so BIG and he also breaks down the day he wrote “Somebody Like You”. Bobby talks to Keith about how he and his wife Nicole Kidman seem like a normal despite each being huge stars. Keith confirms and debunks facts that you may have read about him online. Keith also talks about going to rehab for his struggles with addiction.  Follow the podcast: @TheBobbyCast Watch this Episode on YoutubeSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human. When a group of women discover they've all dated the same prolific con artist, they take matters into their own hands. I vowed. I will be his last target. He is not going to get away with this. He's going to get what he deserves. We always say that trust your girlfriends.

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Clifford Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, my basketball and college football journey, or my career in sports media. Well, now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Cliver Show. This is a place for raw, unfills of conversations with athletes,

creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. So let's get to it. Listen to the Clivert Show on the I-Henberg. hard radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. This week on the Sports Slice podcast, it's all about the NFL draft. And we've got a special guest.

The director of the NFL's East West Shrine Bowl, Eric Galco, joins the Sports Slice podcast to break down what really matters when evaluating draft prospects. From hidden traits teams look for to the biggest mistakes franchises make to the players flying under the radar. This is the insight you won't hear anywhere else. If you want to understand the draft like an insider, you don't want to miss this episode. Listen to the Sports Slice Podcasts

on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, for wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slica Life 12 and TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Big happy birthday to Keith Urban, who is 56. Keith Urban's awesome. It's a really great dude. Spent a lot of time with him.

We even say he's a friend. We did this interview together. It was over an hour long. And it's a birthday, and I thought this interview was so good. You know, it's so much a glimpse into Keith Urban's early life and why he is who he is. So I wanted to play it for you guys now. It's an old Bobbycast episode. But happy birthday, Keith Urban, 56 years old.

Enjoy this interview right here. All right. And with Keith Urban, which is Caitlin sends her best, my wife. She just said, Keith's coming over? I said, yeah. She said, tell him. First of all, thank you for the wedding gift. He sent us the nicest sheets we've ever owned in our entire life.

Nice. You should stay in more often. You know, she, got on to me a little bit because you probably don't do this, but I still have to at times. I have to spray tan. Yeah. Okay. Okay. And I got into the sheets in spray tan once.

Oh, right. And she reminded me how nice of sheets they were. Right. And that I should never do that again. And then you reminded her how much expensive tanning was and it didn't work. The tanning does not really hold a candle to the nice sheets. To the destroyed sheet. Yes, but they weren't destroyed and they all

came out wonderfully, but she said, tell him, thank you. And she had even asked, And you tell me, because we had written you and your lovely wife a thank you card, but we thought we would just mail it instead of handing it to you, which would have been more awkward, to hand it to you in person or just to get it like a normal in the mail. Either way. Both are fine? Yeah.

And you could have even not sent it but told me that you didn't. That's the thought that counts. I said that to people and I said, hey, what if I just send people a message for a wedding gift? Like a video message, a heartfelt message. Sure, absolutely. Human. Yeah. And said, hey.

I'm good with that. And I said, but everybody did. roasted me. Like it was the dumbest thing they'd ever heard. Oh, wow. Because they just love the tradition of the hand. If someone sends me a thank you card for something I expect a thank you card for, I don't feel like it means as much. If I get a thank you card for something I don't expect a thank you. Absolutely. That's awesome. I hear you. You know? Yeah, it's a complicated etiquette, isn't it? Is this back home? Is it so etiquettey? Back in like Australia, New Zealand? It's etiquette-y or word.

This is this a dumb American thing where we have this, you know, is this a thing there with, if someone gets married back in New Zealand? I had to learn the whole thing about thank you cards, because I didn't grow up with any of that. I think my family was not that etiquette at all. Etiquity, a term we've just done? No, they were not at all.

I had to learn the hard way here that you write thank you notes to people. That was completely foreign to me. I remember once you were kind enough to invite me over to your place. It was a Christmas and we were in Australia. You said, hey, you should come over. And I was talking to you about music in Australia, New Zealand, and country music in particular. And I was like, what is country music like here?

And you had kind of expressed to me that country music there is kind of A.M. Like it's a different kind of homebred, folksy country in Australia. that some of the American version is getting over there, but it's hard to find country music on the radio in Australia. Well, the struggle for Australian country artists is there isn't the big mainstream infrastructure that there is here in America. You know, here we have FM country stations everywhere.

You get satellite radio, you've got multiple video platforms. This is even preceding YouTube with CMD and GAC. None of that existed in Australia. So there was a lot of country artists wanting to make, make more mainstream sounding country music, but there wasn't the platforms for it. And to some degree, that's still a struggle there. So how growing up there did you attach yourself to the thought of country music and that that's the kind of music you wanted to make? Or were you naturally just making it and it was the

most organic place for you to fit musically here? It was, I mean, Nashville was just the destination. Why? Why was it the destination? It was written on the back of all the records that my dad was. had, Don Williams mostly, and Glenn Campbell, Charlie Pride, Merrill Haggard, all of those records all set on the back of them, recorded in Nashville, Tennessee. So as a kid, I'm like, oh, that's where you go to make records, period. I just thought that's where you go if you want to make a record. But how did your dad get so involved in music from Nashville? Because not all was from Nashville.

You're talking about country music, other than Bob Dylan, Nashville Skyline. You know, there weren't a lot of, I don't know if pop would be the word, or Nashville wasn't big unless it was country Americana. How did your dad get involved in that scene musically? So in the 50s he was playing in a band in the 50s he was a drummer and he played a band called the ricochets in New Zealand and in the 50s rock and roll happened in the mid 50s right so made its way down to New Zealand my dad got obsessed with rock and roll and consequently American movies American cars we always had American cars

growing up which is crazy in Australia and he was just in love with America and he loved rock and roll in the 50s all through the 60s and then in the late 60s when rock and roll kind of went in a bigger kind of different direction than I mean the origins of rock and roll is really rockabilly you know there was there was a country element in early rock and roll so when rock then became more rock as we knew it through the 60s 70s my dad went oh that's kind of a little too hard for me

and here's the connection there was a group called a Pozo Seiko singers, which was a folk group in the 60s. And one of the members of that group was a guy called Donald Williams. And then he broke away from that group, dropped the Donald, became Don Williams,

and went country. And my dad just followed him. That was really it. And so you growing up listening to that music, that was your music in the house? Yeah. Yeah, well, and my mom loved Neil Diamond, Everly brothers.

My brother was into ELO and Super Tramp and Eagles and Fleet with Mac. So that was all the fusion. How proficient was your dad with a guitar? Oh, terrible with guitar. Great with drums, but terrible on guitar. So for you, was it drums at first? Or were other people playing a guitar around you?

And you were like, that's it for me? No, they said, Mom and Dad bought me a ukulele when I was five. And I guess it's a toy. And my dad said I could strum it in time with songs on the radio. I wasn't playing any chords, but the rhythm was there. rhythm which i mean possibly from him definitely yeah yeah and my grandfather played piano so all of my dad's brothers were all musical trumpet piano guitar drums four brothers uh so it was all musical and and i just took to guitar i guess because of the ukulele was he the dad that wanted you to follow in his

footsteps of hey if i'm musical i think it's cool that you're musical or like so many people in the creative world it's i've seen what a beast this can be right like i would like to push you away from it unless you push so hard back that you want to get in it. Yeah, that. That was it, definitely. Because I, I hated, I wasn't very disciplined as a kid. I don't know if you can relate to that, Bobby. But were you disciplined as a kid?

Are you disciplined now, Bobby? Yes, because of the addiction that my mom had and my dad left, you know, because I was by myself. With my dad bailing out when I was six. Right. My mom being a drug addict of her entire life, I was so disciplined. that I couldn't go down that path or I was going to just go down the path and live in that path.

So, you know, even today I've never had a drink of alcohol because I feel the addict in me with other things I do. So I'm extremely disciplined until I'm not and then I'm off the end. And I have to find, and I don't know if you have to do this at times. Well, I have to find my healthy addiction. And I don't know if that's a safe thing to say.

Sure. But I need to be addicted to something, so I have to find the healthiest thing for me to be addicted to, because my natural gravity is to go to something and invest myself all the way in it so much so that it is unhealthy, so I got to find the healthiest version of that. Because it's just in me. Intrinsically, like I, yes, I am so disciplined to a fault. Right. Because I know. I had one instance where I really felt it. And I do want to get back to, you know, talking about your parents, but at one instance when I was, I got jumped and got a gun to my head

and I had a bunch of, like, trauma in that way where I got held at gunpoint, I had my house broken into. It was like a lot of things happening when my career was just starting to take off, and I didn't take it seriously yet, and I was having some threats from the outside. And I couldn't sleep.

And so my doctor was like, hey, you can't sleep, you're sick, you should take sleeping pills. Took them, had trouble with them. Couldn't get off of them. and I was like, oh my God. Well, you're taking them and staying up. Yes.

Enjoying that side of them. Well, yeah, I don't remember. I don't remember. I don't remember. Right. And so I would take these sleeping pills and I remember the day where I went, oh, I'm stuck.

I'm stuck. Wow. And it was the only time because I remember my mom being so bad. Because you couldn't sleep without them? Couldn't sleep without them. Right. Felt like they were tethered to me

anywhere I went at any point I had to have them with me because if I needed a sleep, that was the only way I could go. And I remember thinking, oh, I can't beat this right now. Like, this has got a hold of me. And it was the only time that I ever related to my mom. Because she had been in rehab, in and out.

And I'd always thought, why can't you just beat it? But I just had a smidgen of it. And I was like, oh, God, this is it. Yeah. And so because of that and how I grew up, I'm extremely disciplined. Right. So to answer your easy question about life and music, you know, I do have that discipline in.

me from I got to be or I'm going to go off. Yeah, that makes sense. And not be completely. Yeah. So I was disciplined as a child. You were not disciplined. No, I wasn't. I think just being an artist comes with a sense of being able to create. And so there's a sense of just freedom and liberation. Also, as the youngest, you know, I had an older brother and I think it's not uncommon for the younger a sibling to potentially be a little more like, well, everyone else take care of everything. I'm fine, I'm just floating along.

If your older brother played music, how come you didn't get stuck with the bass? Yeah, he didn't play. We started playing guitar at the exact same time. I was six, he was eight. And he started on a steel string acoustic, and I started on one with nylon strings. And he just couldn't hack it and gave up pretty quick. And to your point about my dad, I went into my dad one time

and said, I hate playing guitar. And my dad goes, all right, well, then don't do it. And I was like, eh, it's not what I wanted. I wanted him to tell me I have to do it and get into a fight. So it was kind of reverse psychology that worked really well. What was the relationship like with your dad and you as you became 12, 14, 16 years old? My dad's alcoholic was.

He's not here anymore. But he was alcoholic his whole life. I just never dealt with it, you know? So my brother and I, classic. adult children of alcoholic raised and I got the same genetic disposition as my dad and my brother didn't have that really? It doesn't have it no

it's wild because I feel it I have it and luckily I saw it early but it's crazy that you would have it and your brother doesn't yeah yeah but then he has no hair and I have hair so it's a fair trade did you feel like as you tried to achieve musically you were doing it for you or you were doing it somewhat to create a bond to your dad maybe wasn't there because

of other circumstances. Probably both, both and, you know, I think in the song we have Wildheart, so, you know, there's a song about, it opens with Johnny Cash, you know, saw the man in black because when I was five, dad, mom and dad took us to see Johnny Cash. And I remember so much about that concert, but the thing I think that is subconsciously in me was I was really taken by how my dad was staring at this guy on stage and probably thinking, how do I get my dad to look at me like that, right? Isn't that wild?

Yeah. Yeah. So I don't know if I saw it. It's hard to know, right? Was that, did I recognize in that person on stage with a guitar, did I recognize something that I was going to do or something that I wanted to do or something that I should do? I don't know. It doesn't really matter in the end.

When did it start to be, and I'm not going to say the word easy, I don't think that's fair to you, but when did it start to be that you had an understanding that you could actually create and manipulate with that instrument? Tuesday this week. This week, it just hit you? Yeah, it's a great moment. You've been missing a lot. You've been doing pretty good up until Tuesday.

You've had us all fooled. Was it, was it 14, 15? Was it earlier than that where you're like, okay, I can actually do this at a higher level than like my peers who are doing this? I don't know if I've ever felt that way. Really, even now? No, because, you know, in Australia, yeah, because I've always been around people way better than me, always. And in Australia, there's like the local guy playing in the cover band, because people go, who are your influences?

I'm like, oh, the guy in the local cover band, Barry Clough, and then Dallas Saldom and then Reg Grant, and all these guys playing in cover bands. I'm 12 years old, 13 years old, watching them going, oh, I wish you could play that good. And then at some point, you play that good. And so you're already looking to the next guy. Oh, I wish you could play as good as him. and your influences keep moving. Who was it for you that was your first favorite artist where you really clicked and you're like,

that's my favorite? Your own. That's a good question. Gosh, I don't know. For me, I'll vamp a bit, as you think about that so you can have a good answer. For me, you know, it was John Mayer whenever he was starting because I felt someone writing

the things that I was thinking and I never had experienced that before. Wow. He's a couple years older than I am, but I was like, wow, this guy, One, I liked his tone, I liked his style, but he was saying things. It was like a really good comedian, you know how you go, oh, I always thought that. I just didn't know how to say it like that.

It was the first time I'd ever heard that in song. Right. And I thought, wow, he's kind of speaking for me. Musically is the first time that it ever happened. So he became my first ever, like, that's my favorite artist. There have been others that since I've done that. I'm a big counting crows guy too, you know. But John Mayer was it for me now that I've given you a little time.

Who do you think it is for you? Well, what I actually think about is John Mellencamp is the guy that's coming to mind. The reason is I grew up playing all this country music, right? Going to all these talent quests and different competitions playing country music. But then I got to be 12, 13, 14.

I left school at 15. I was playing in a cover band at 15. So we're just doing top 40. And I'm planning all the pubs in Australia, and the pubs are rough. places, you know, just concrete floor, hose it out at the end of the night, rough crowd, no holes barred, if you suck, that will let you know you suck. And I grew up playing in that very rock environment. And so I loved country, I loved rock, I loved top 40. I'm like,

what the hell do I do? Who am I musically? And then John put out loans from Jubilee, which was an album that had songs like Paper and Fire, Check It Out, Cherry Bomb, yada, yada, and it was rock but it had like fiddle and it had accordion and everything so we went to see him in concert on that tour i was playing in a cover band the band got tickets we went to see him and we way up in the nosebleeds in this arena he him and the band comes out and they play and it was it was so insanely great and it was rock country something whatever the hell was going on it was literally an epiphany. And I saw what John was doing and I went,

oh, that's the answer. You don't think about labels. Just take all the things you love, figure it out to put them together and make it be like this. And I was very lucky to meet John many, many years later and telling him that story. And he said, it's so great that that that's what you took away from that concert.

Because most people leave the concert and go, I'm going to do that. I'm going to have fiddle in my bed and just rip off John Merlin camp. But what I took from it was just do your own thing. Take all the things you love from the original. John Mellencamp, obviously a middle America guy who had country and rock roots at the same time incorporated the mall. How do you see that affecting your show that you do now? What are the surroundings that you've taken from your life? Because you have

a different kind of show. Yeah. Of really anyone. I mean, and I say that in the most complimentary way, and I've told you this off a microphone too, like you do the best live show I've ever seen. You need to get out more, Bobby. I've seen a lot of live shows. I'm jaded at this point too. I'm extremely jaded. That's a higher compliment then. Thank you. It is. Yeah, it is. I've seen it all and I don't care to see anymore because it's just part of the life we live, right? But when you're moved, you're moved so hard when you're jaded.

And to watch you perform, I leave and I'm like, God dang. I just, I thought I'd seen it all. So because of that, it is so, so what do you take? What are your influences that have created what is your project in the same way that he had taken fiddle? And he had taken, you know, a different kind of percussion. Yeah, and the different selfish for me is I play guitar. So that becomes a strong point of what I do.

I love guitar riffs. I love catchy songs, you know, unapologetically. Energy too. And energy, yeah. And fiercely in the moment, presence, absolutely. And really giving a shit. Like, really, really, like, this is the last gig I'll ever play. Every gig is the last gig you'll ever play.

That's what I think I want to talk about your shows is not only is it musically wonderful and sonically just the greatest, but there's so much energy there that doesn't feel forced energy, it feels like pure energy. And there's a difference. Sometimes you go out and you really, I'm like, I'm like, I want to really work for this show,

but it doesn't feel like work. It feels like that's who you are as an artist. Like, that's the most genuine version of you. And again, if you haven't seen Keith's show, and honestly, this wasn't leading up to the promo of your tour, yet your tickets are until today, which works in grade into this. And it's the greatest live show I think I've seen,

because, and I don't know why you keep going into the audience. You may not do that with COVID now. It's been a bit. It's been a pivot. I've just seen you do it so many times. I'm like, what? Like, stop. Like, I'm worried for your own health.

Yeah. Like, people, we were talking to Jerry Flowers. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Not Jerry Clower. No, Jerry Clowers. One of my favorites, too, by the way. Ooh! You ever meet Jerry Clowers?

Only one time, and he is just a pistol. Yeah. Yeah. So the other Jerry, who you were in the ranch with and who is your musical leader, band director, I don't know what you call it. He said that you guys were doing a private function and you ran into the crowd and they were so high,

they started biting you. Like, yeah? Yes. I was like, wait, what? Like, I knew that was going to happen, but it's already happened. Like, they pulled your shirt off and they were biting you. Yeah.

And you kind of give off that aura, like you accept that. So we try and feed people before, show now. They're very passionate. Our audience is very passionate. Let me say this. The New American Tour, the Speed of Now World Tour,

2022, 53 shows between June 17th and November 5th of 2022. There is a full list of dates and tickets right now at keithurban.com. Let's go back. Whenever you're playing in these cover bands,

what was the ceiling for you as far as for your career? When you're 14, 15, 16 years old, what's the ceiling? in your mind how far you can get in your career i never thought of i don't know it's so weird i i was never one of these kids with a plan at all none just try and get better i was playing in this cover band that i talked about in 1988 when saw me mallocamp yeah yeah yeah and i wasn't the lead singer

i was guitar playing and uh we were we were it was for a cover band we were doing a couple of thousand people on it on a sunday afternoon which was a lot of people to come and see this cover band, but it was a really good band. What was your role in the cover band? Guitar and lead singer? Well, we had a lead singer. That wasn't you? Wasn't me. And the only reason I joined this band was I had a manager who was also managing this band. It's a long story, but I had been in, I'd done duos, I'd done bands, I'd always had my own thing, right? It was always me, whatever, I was always doing my thing. My manager thought, I really need some frontman experience, how to handle a crowd, how to put a set list together, how to put on a show, how to just

lead. And so he said, I've got this band. I think you should join the band and watch this front man because he's amazing and you'll learn so much. So I was with that band for about a year and he was right. I learned so much from that lead singer. But one of the things was I wanted to do some original songs. We're doing all these covers. And so I started writing a song and he loved it and the band learned it and he was going to even sing it and it would be on the set list and I'd be looking at the guys in the band. I'm like, here comes our song, it comes our song. We're going to get to do our song. And he would bail on it every time. He'd be like, no, I skip that one. Let's do monie, moony. And I'm like, uh, and after a while of that, I just went, I'm not, this is going nowhere.

What are you going to do with covers? I want to play original music. So I left the band, and the drummer and bass player quit at the same time and came and joined me. There's two golden rules that any man should live by. Rule one, Never mess with a country girl. You play stupid games, you get stupid prizes. And Rule 2, never mess with her friends either. We always say that, trust your girlfriends. I'm Anna Sinfield, and in this new season of the girlfriends...

Oh my God, this is the same man. A group of women discover they've all dated the same prolific con artist. I felt like I got hit by a truck. I thought, how could this happen to me? The cops didn't seem to care. So they take matters into their own hands. I said, oh, hell no. I vowed.

I will be his last target. He's going to get what he deserves. Listen to the girlfriends. Trust me, babe. On the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. What's up, everyone? I'm Ego Wodom.

My next guest, you know from Step Brothers Anchorman, Saturday Night Live, and the Big Money Players Network. It's Will Ferrell. Woo, woo, woo. My dad gave me the best advice ever. I went and had lunch with him one day, and I was like, and dad, I think I want to really give this a shot.

I don't know what that means, but I just know the groundlings. I'm working my way up through, and I know it's a place that come look for up and coming talent. He said, if it was based solely on talent, I wouldn't worry about you, which is really sweet. Yeah. He goes, but there's so much luck involved. And he's like, just give it a shot. He goes, but if you ever reach a point where you're banging your head against the wall and it doesn't feel fun anymore, it's okay to quit. If you saw it written down, it would not be an inspiration.

It would not be on a calendar of, you know, the cat. Just hang in there. Yeah, it would not be. Right, it wouldn't be that. There's a lot of luck. Listen to Thanks Dad on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me, Clifford Taylor the 4th.

You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music.

The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast, it's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So if you've ever supported me or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to the Clifford Show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. And so then what do you do? Is it a new name band?

Is it, are you... It was just me. It was just solo. But then, because I couldn't get any work playing original songs. And so we resorted to be in another cover band, but slipping in my own songs in between the covers, at least.

Yeah. And so as you're doing your own music, are you in Australia at this point? Yeah, yeah, it's all in Australia. Was the plan to get to the States? At some point, yeah. But I didn't know how or when and nothing. You knew nothing about it.

Then how did you? So in 1989, my manager got some tickets for us to come over to America and we came to Nashville and spent, split down at the Shoney's, which was on DeMondrian, and pitched my crappy demo to all the labels and met with complete silence. Is it now it was met with complete silence because it's your big, famous and successful? Or was it really met with complete silence? Oh, no, it was terrible. First of all, it was a terrible demo, which, of course, when you come from, if you're not from here, you think it's pretty, pretty good because it's pretty good from where you come from, but it's pretty crap when you get here compared to everything else.

And I was just out of, out of step, out of place, out of step. My music didn't fit at all. So what made you think that you could stay and thrive? Because Nashville was like 16th and 17th Ave. And I got here and went, this is it? Is this it? this is the legendary iconic music row like that's it my god this is this is fantastic it's not new york city it's not like this is i'm at home i love it here it's great and i didn't want to

leave and i also foolishly thought we'll get i'll get here and i'll start writing songs and i'll record and boom we'll be off and running in no time and man the years just went by and by what were you doing in those could you make money though at the time like if you're coming from australia and you're just visiting were you able to make money so i signed a public deal with a company in Australia that had an office in Nashville. It's very small little wage to, well, it's not even a wage. What is it like money that you're going to have to pay them back, right? So I'd come over for a couple of weeks on my own, stay with crash of somebody at their house,

going to write songs every day with whoever they put me with, you know, that thing that we do here in Nashville, professional songwriters, whenever the new kid in town is, they throw them in with the pro songwriters and see if something happens. Was that weird for you, by the way, because that was the culture, and you'd been writing probably by yourself? Yeah, but yeah, it was really difficult. I also was nowhere near good enough yet. And so I'm getting with really great pro-writers, and I just, I sucked. I just had so much to learn.

It was excruciating. And are you learning, or are you overwhelmed? I think all, and also frustrated the way in which I would write with my drum machine and my bass or a banjo or something, and always with a groove, always. I would never sit with a guitar on a legal pad. in a windowless room. So were you an early track guy? Yeah, definitely. Because I like them, well, because I write from the music out.

The music is trying to tell a story, and then I extrapolate the story from the music. Will you write songs with melody first? Just straight melody. Will you write a melody? Absolutely. And that's what you have, and then you create around the melody.

Yeah. Are you more prone to do that when writing if you're starting from scratch or an idea, a lyric. Like, where do you like to start if you get to choose? If I get to choose, I like a groove, a beat, doesn't have to be fast, just any kind of beat that I can then play along with,

whether it's bass guitar, guitar, piano, something, banjo, whatever, it doesn't matter, just something that you pick up and just respond to, and then a melody comes, a melody comes of some sort. And then I think the music has an emotion about it. It's trying to say something. I'm like somebody like you. You know, that song's still.

started from flying out to L.A., meeting this guy, John Shanks. So I didn't know. I was so nervous to meet with some L.A. guy, you know, and I'm like, what do I know? I've showed up with my banjo and everything. And before I went to the session, I went to this Irish pub, and I had a pint of Guinness. And it was like 10 in the morning. And it was really good. So I had another one. And that was really good. So I had like a third one. I'd get in my car, drive over to the studio where he is. And by, and by then I walked in a, I felt pretty, pretty just, not bulletproof, but I felt very relaxed, very confident, you know. And he had this little drum machine and it was going, that's all it was doing.

And I pulled my banjo out of the case and go, dangda, dang, da, down, la landa danga dang. No idea why. It just came out. And we're like, oh, that feels good. What do we do with that? You know? I've got to find some words.

And that's it. And then the rest comes, hopefully. You're creating that vocal melody too without putting the words on. Yeah, yeah. So, and then you'll go, would you record that? Yeah. You go back over and go, okay, you know what's sound here.

Yeah. Well, a lot of times, a gibberish is actually trying to say something. Like you'll listen to the tape, which we had a tape then. And it would be, there's a new wind of, I never know. You're like, oh, there's a, never something. Was that a new win?

Something? I would write that down. Never known, sounds like. It's all in there. I think Mick Jagger calls it making foul movements. It's great. So as you're here and you're learning to write,

when does the ranch start to be a thing? Well, this three-piece band that I mentioned, I had, drummer and bass player, that I took from this cover band, I thought, well, let's head over to Nashville and do some shows. All I can bring is, bass playing drums i got no money i can't afford anything um by right around that time i actually had built out a five-piece band i signed a record deal in australia did a rap did an album put two more guys in

my band keyboard and guitar so i had drums bass keyboard guitar and me and we were touring around playing these songs off my album so it was starting to happen in australia it was pop and had a song on the radio and it's like here we go it's great you know but all i wanted to do is come to nashville i couldn't bring the whole band so I could bring bass and drums the least I could bring and make a sound out of it. My bass player were the two guys that didn't sing. So I had no harmony, no nothing. So my bass player went back to Australia and I found a singing bass player from Florida. And we played for a year or so. And then he went back to Florida and we found Jerry who came in and took over. So we were free piece because of no money. It was not my preference. It just couldn't

afford anymore players and that eventually became the ranch. What's interesting about that is we were playing back some of the ranch stuff with Jerry and it feels like it was just ahead of its time. Like that that music and we were listening to some demos and some old ranch cuts. Right. It feels like seven years later that probably hits. Yeah. Do you feel like it was a bit advanced musically?

And that's why it didn't work at the time? It certainly didn't sound like anything on. radio and that that's always the thing you know with the record we made in 1997 just didn't sound like anything on the radio it was hell making that record because we were signed to warner brothers in 1995 and we went in with every court appointed producer in town uh every one of those situations didn't work because what happens is we would either sound like us which didn't sound like the radio or we would sound like something that could go on the radio but didn't sound like us. And we were just in hell. And just no matter what we did, we just couldn't make it,

couldn't make it work. Was there someone that was betting on you, though, as Keith Urban? Like, okay, the ranch didn't work, but we still have faith in you. And so many times in this town, once you don't make it, people are like, well, you're just not going to make it. I see it all the time. Right. They're like, well, you didn't make it. Probably not for you. Yeah. Was there anyone that was like, hey, hey, I know that didn't work. And maybe it was just you. Right. But was there anyone that was like, hey, you have that star. Like, let's keep going. and try to figure out who Keith Urban is instead of this three piece. I think that was me.

I mean, I just had that burning belief. I know why is because I was, I'd grown up on all this music. I knew how to make the music, but I didn't know how to make it with this band. This band had a unique sound about it. And the band wasn't, I wasn't trying to get the band signed.

You know, the band wasn't in the plan originally. It morphed into that. So it was originally you? It was me. It was me and my bass player and drummer. We didn't have a name, it was just my name. But we got messed around with so much by the record company, and the tipping point was over at that label at Warner Brothers at the time.

They just signed me, not the other two guys. And we made the record, and they said, oh, we're going to send you guys out maybe to play some of these songs. But actually, we're not sending you guys out. We're just going to put a house band together. And we're going to send out you, Keith, and about four other artists on our label, and you guys will all share the same band. And I went, no, I won't.

you're like what do you mean i go i'm not i'm not playing with just i got a band right take my band with me and they're like yeah but we didn't sign your band and i go no i know but i mean they're my band it doesn't make sense when i play with someone else and uh when we got dropped from that label and when i have it a capital i said you have to sign everybody and i'm i'm gonna get rid of my name too to hell with it getting rid of my name we're doing it you know and i had so many people around me saying don't do that don't don't drop your name and just lose yourself in the band, but that's what I did. When you became Keith Urban, I want to roll through some number ones here, 2001, your first number one, but for the grace of God. Let's hear a little bit of this.

After the years of struggle on a label, to have a hit, did it feel like a relief, or did it feel like, this is amazing? Because there's a difference? Was it like, oh my God, thank you? Or was it like, who? That's what I'm talking about. Yeah. All the above, it was surreal. To have a number one song in America was just crazy. I remember that day like it was yesterday.

Really? Oh my gosh. 20 years ago, you still remember it like that, your first one. Fidly, yeah. I remember exactly the house I was at, what I was doing, who told me everything, like detail, because it was too surreal. I was like, number one, like the number one most played song in Country Radio in America. Truly? Really?

Did your life change after that? After you had a number one? Since you could say it? I felt like, okay, now we got a chance to get some more music going. And the next single after that, I think, was where the blacktop ends. Which is weird because it peaked at, I was looking at numbers. It wasn't a number one. No.

But that, to me, is one of the songs I think of when I think of you and your catalog. It's where the blacktop ends. Right. Wasn't even number one. No. Which shows you not all number ones are career songs and not all career songs are number one songs. So true. Even in 2001, 2002.

Did that song feel big like a number one song where the black top ends? Can't remember that. That one you can't remember. No, I can't remember that. I remember making that a whole album with Matt Rawlings. And it was the first time where I was in a studio and having gone through all of the famous producers and realizing none of it works for me. I don't know what I'm going to do. It was a guy running capital records at the time called Pat Quigley.

And he was the president. And I used every proper famous producer and none of it was working. And I went into Pat and I said, can I just, I had just done a session with Matt Rawlings for somebody else. The two of us were playing on it. And I clicked with him. And I really liked him a lot. And I said, could I just go on and record some songs with this guy? Because I think he can put a good band together and we can just make a record that sounds good.

And he went, yeah, whatever. It was very much that case of like, go do whatever you want to do. We're not that interest. You could tell. It was like, whatever. So we went and cut up to Grace God and like four or five songs, and I took him in and played for him. And he goes, that sounds good to finish the record out.

It was no big deal. And we handed in the record. And it had, It's a Love thing and Want to Be Your Everything, all the singles that came out, Grace God, Blacktop, all that stuff. And they put out love, it's a love thing. I think I went to number 18 or something like, it's okay, pretty good. They put out another song,

want to beer everything, and I think got to top five or close to it. And it wasn't, it was okay, everything was okay. And then the label really focused on me, and they put out grace of God and it did that. And I could feel everything change after that. Whenever somebody like you comes out, 2002, here's a little clip.

Do you remember this one is vivid? Your second number one? Yeah. You do, okay. Everything about it, recording. it first time I'd work with Dan Huff working out at Sound Kitchen at Franklin and putting the band together

and the whole session I remember it's so vividly because it felt magical. Does a guy like Dan Huff challenge you? So I was going to do the next record on my own Golden Road and I had already done six

sides of that record including who wanted me. I put the band together I chose the studio, I chose the engineer, I put it all together. And then someone said, you know, you should try and work with Dan Huff. And I went, no, I don't want to work with him because, and they went, well, he's a guitar player. I'm so not going to work with a guitar player who's going to tell me what to play. You know, I don't want that.

I've been down this road before. And they're like, well, just give it a shot, you know. And I met with Dan. And this is a true story. And I, it really is a compliment to Dan. I met with Dan. I said, okay, I've got this one song. It's called Somebody Like You.

That'd be a good one for us to start. on. And I'd already been in the studio for two weeks with this band. We'd cut half the record. It was already done. And Dan says, okay, this song feels great. I think we should use this drummer and I already got the drummer. Well, I think we should use this bass, but I got the whole band, Dan. I got the whole band. All right, well, I like to work at this studio. I said, I'm already at the studio. We're going to be at Sound Kitchen. Okay, well, the engineer I already got the engineer. His name is Justin E. And he goes, what do I do? And I go, you just show up. That's All you're going to do, show up, because I want to see what you do.

I'm sick of these producers that say they're a producer, but really they have great engineer, great players. They don't do anything. I saw it again and again and again. I'm like, just show up. What the hell can you possibly bring to this session? I want to see. And he walked into that session.

I'd been with this band for two weeks. He walks in and I literally could feel all the musicianship go up a whole other level, just with him being in the room. He sat in the room. The band's playing a bit of somebody like you. And he goes, hey, Chris, just change that snare a little bit there. Okay, yeah, leave that bass part out right there. And you play that bit over there.

And I watched him arrange this thing. And the whole track just elevate and I'm like, damn, this guy is the real deal. He's so good. When did the town start to treat you differently? Tuesday. Same day. Same answer. I was already getting support from the town very early on,

I think because of all those writing sessions, you know, and when you write with people, word gets out, whether you can really sing, really play, whether you know about country music, if you're legit or just some poser, really. So I think those sort of guitar pool sessions, people's houses, going to the bluebird, people knew I was for real.

I was watching some of your performance with her, I guess all of it. for Tina Turner for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Oh, wow. How did you get called in to do that? I haven't seen any of that yet. You haven't? No.

What do you mean you haven't seen it? Do you watch your stuff? No. Well, I haven't seen that. No. But generally, will you go and watch your stuff? It depends. Are you one of the guys that after a live show, you want to go and critique it?

I probably should do it more than I do. Yeah. Yeah. It's always better when I get in there and care. How does a rock and roll Hall of Fame invite come for Tina Turner? Because Brian Adams couldn't make it and they just called me up and they go

Would you come and fill in for Brian? It's like day before the COVID right? That's why, yeah. It was Thursday and Nick and I were going to the Bahamas and my manager calls me and he goes, hey, can you come fill in for Brian? And I'm like, you were going to the Bahamas on Friday.

He's like, you didn't hear what I said. I was like, no, I heard you. We're heading off to the Bahamas. And Nick's in the car. And Nick's like, oh, I think we should do that. That sounds fun. But I think in my head, I'm like, this sounds overwhelming. I've got to learn a song in record time, a song I've never played.

It's not really my kind of song. It's not my vocal range. It's not in my key. I'm so in over my head, you know. I was terrified. You still get terrified? Yeah. Wild to hear.

Yeah. That's well. That anything means. musically would intimidate you. Yeah, to be thrown into something that's not really my zone, especially in that place. I'm like, I'm going to be standing up on stage in front of McCartney and the food fighters. And they're all, you know, I pictured them all like arms crossed like, okay, what do you do? What's your thing?

And I'm like, well, it's not this. This is not it. That's all I could picture in my head. When it comes to collaborations as far as your career is concerned, what do you look back at and go, man, that one right there, we nailed it. You and who? Collaboration wise? Yeah, you and who? Oh, so many. I mean, John, doing Crossroads of John Mayer. To this day, I just loved that whole experience with him playing. I learned a lot from him. Really? You learned from him. Hell yeah. Yeah, yeah. What do you learn from John Mayer?

To make the song your own. You know, you got to remember, I still came from cover band Land, which John did not. And so John approaches it. as a pure artist and makes a song his own. Because I remember saying to him, no, the verse doesn't go like that. He's like, yeah, but that's how I'm going to sing it. I went, right on, of course. Yeah. Is there a gamesmanship when you have two people that are so,

again, I'll just talk about the instrument for a second. So two people that are so proficient at their instrument, do you feel each other out at first? Are you like, is he really as good as I've heard? Or is it you know because you've heard for yourself, like on a record or on YouTube? And not John specifically, but anyone, you know, when you kind of cross paths. Because I had room for squares and we played that record to death on our two of us.

So I was a fan right from the beginning. I love the conversation, the musical conversation that happens. And the most important thing for me is spontaneity. It's just, you know, you can rehearse, yeah, yeah, yeah. But being in the moment and having that musical conversation with each other is everything. You ever meet someone, you're like, man, it's going to be awesome. And you're like, man, it's not really what I, not really as good as I thought. Or as, and you know, I don't want you to say who.

Some people don't have a collaborative heart. That's what it is. They don't have a collaborative heart for whatever reason. They just don't collaborate. They kind of, they have that thing of, well, this is what I do. So you do your thing, I'll do my thing. And I'm like, well, let's do our thing. That's what I'm here for.

On the opposite side of that, whoever you collaborated with, you were like, well, I didn't expect it to be as warm and as a, just a friendly collaboration. But holy crap, we're in it. We're in it, and it's rocking. Pink, I think, was that when we did one too many. Why do you think you guys hit it off? I think our voices go together really well. And I hope they would, but you never know until you hear it. But she was just unbelievably giving with that whole project.

You know, for a song that she didn't write to be giving so much of her time and her effort to, you know, we shot a video as well. And then we shot footage, which we can use in concerts. so we have her projected on the screen in concert. That's all time-consuming. And she was just amazing. Is it an issue whenever you're with an artist like that? Because they also have their own music and their own singles and calendars. And when they want to put out their own...

To get pink on a song, do you go, okay, well, maybe we can release it a single, maybe not, depending on what your schedule is? Right. I mean, is that something? Is that an issue that you deal with with other artists? It's something you have to consider. Yeah, for sure. Because sometimes the timing's not going to work, you know.

Yeah, it's great. This single sounds really great, but we're not going to be able to release it at the right time. There's two golden rules that any man should live by. Rule one, never mess with a country girl. You play stupid games, you get stupid prizes. And rule two, never mess with her friends either. We always say that trust your girlfriends. I'm Anna Sinfield, and in this new season of the girlfriends, Oh my God, this is the same man. a group of women discover they've all dated the same prolific con artist. I felt like I got hit by a truck.

I thought, how could this happen to me? The cops didn't seem to care. So they take matters into their own hands. I said, oh, hell no. I vowed. I will be his last target. He's going to get what he deserves. Listen to the girlfriends.

Trust me, babe. On the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. What's up, Everyone, I'm Ago Wodom. My next guest, you know from Step Brothers Anchorman, Saturday Night Live, and the Big Money Players Network. It's Will Ferrell. Woo, woo, woo, woo. My dad gave me the best advice ever. I went and had lunch with them one day, and I was like, and Dad, I think I want to really give this a shot. I don't know what that means,

but I just know the groundlings. I'm working my way up through, and I know it's a place they come, look for up and coming talent. He said, if it was based solely on talent, I wouldn't worry about you, which is really sweet. Yeah. He goes, but there's so much luck involved. And he's like, just give it a shot. He goes, but if you ever reach a point where you're banging your head against the wall and it doesn't feel fun anymore, it's okay to quit.

If you saw it written down, it would not be an inspiration. It would not be on a calendar of, you know, the cat. Just hang in there. Yeah, it would not be. Right, it wouldn't be that. There's a lot of luck. Yeah. Listen to Thanks Dad on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me, Cliver Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered.

conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment, and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast.

It's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So, if you've ever supported me, or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to the Cliverts Show on the Eyeheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. I was reading on the internet that you bowl. Some of the stuff I didn't know and could be crap. Are you a bowler? Yeah. Are you a good bowler? I'm okay. How do I not know that?

I don't know. We've never talked about it. Exactly. Or been bowling. True. But where do you, where do you bowl? I haven't bowled in a long time. It's just one of those things that I happen to be not bad at, sort of

out of the gate. It's that eye-hand coordination that guitar players have. You know your highest game? Is that what you call it, a game? Yeah, no, I don't know. Did you have an average? 200-something. Really? Yeah. It's not great. Me, 300's a perfect game, right? You ever done that?

Definitely could crack, no. But definitely could crack 200. You play pool? Yeah. You go to that? I think that's mandatory when you're from Australia. You've got to play pool. Is that a thing? Yeah. All the pubs I grew up and they all had pool tables. It's a sign of a misspent youth. Well, think about that, though. You're good at bowling.

You're good at pool. I mean, is that you're obviously good at guitar. Which one made you good at which? Because you do have the hand-eye coordination there. It's not a coincidence. All of those are very hand-eye-coordinated. Do you think being a good guitar player helps you be a good bowler? I suck at basketball.

I cannot get that thing in the hoop. So there goes that theory. True or false, you were once a road guitar. for a bit for Brooks and Dunn? No. Never. One of the many things on Wikipedia, it's not true. I didn't think the bowling was true. I'll be honest with you. I expected that to be false.

Right, okay, yeah. So where does that story come from? Do you know? Yeah, we toured with Brooks and Dunn in 2001, and I came out and played one song with them as a guitarist. And I think that then from then on people were a backup. Yeah, I was like the guy in the band. Well, what happened was we were going to pull a prank on them. and they had a guitar player in a band, Charlie, I forgot in his last name, Charlie,

and he had his hat down real, he wore a hat, wore it down super low, had this like leopard print shirt and everything. And during the tour I was thinking, I could probably masquerade his, I could probably pretend to be him and the boys wouldn't even know. And so during one of the shows, Charlie slipped out the back while he was playing. I already had the same clothes on, slipped right out and reclaimed his spot on the stage and played an entire song and then in the middle of the

when the solo happened kicks goes Charlie! And I ran down the front and was shredding right in between kicks and Ronnie it took a beat for them to realize I wasn't Charlie. But they did realize that eventually. So I think that was where this rumor got started. What's like a Tuesday at your house like?

And I asked that because you and your wife exclusively are superstars. When you're together, I feel like you're kind of normal. Right. It's a weird situation. Yeah.

Like when I see you two, if we're an event or something, I feel like as a couple, you're quite approachable. Individually, it's different because I feel like I know you and I can just come up to you. Yeah. But individually, I would say you're superstar Keith Urban and she is superstar Nicole Kidman. But together, it's almost like a normal husband and wife. And I've not seen that vibe with any other couple. Usually it's different.

It's like they're much more. they're much less approachable together because there's so much more power there. But it feels like you're a normal, normal married couple at home. Yeah. Is that true? Yeah. You'd be doing our house. It's like super normal.

I saw her tell you once that she was going to stop and get some milk. Right. And I was like, you do that? What do you mean you're going to get milk? Shouldn't someone be flying that in? Flying the cow in? Be rock and roll, isn't it? How, how do you guys make?

What do you focus on to try to have normalcy in a life that is abnormal? I mean, look, love, genuine love and genuine gratitude for what we get to do. Nick has it, I have it. And I think it's, we were both raised in a similar thing to. Australia is really, Australia has a thing called a tall poppy syndrome. Every Aussie knows about this. And it's if you get too big, in the south they say when you get above you raising, right, they cut you down.

You get cut down. The poppy seed plant is another one. The tall poppy gets cut. There you go. So that's it. So it's the tall poppy syndrome where you don't last very long if you're strutting around with this crazy ego in Australia. You get cut down so fast. So you just are always down to earth.

You're out of work. It's one of the two. And it's put us in a really good place to have a good life because of it. What are you grateful for with her as a person? How does she make you better? And I ask this from a personal place because I've never been married. I've never even told anyone. I hadn't either.

Right. Like I never, there was no, I didn't know how to love until now. No. Because I think, you know, as you talk about the trauma from your, I struggle with a lot of that trauma until now and still am, but have found someone. But what is it about her as a human that you appreciate so much that brings a different side of you out that hadn't been exposed yet? she really loves genuinely loves and has real empathy

compassion caring and love like I've never never experienced before do you ever watch her acting go holy crap that's so good or do you see it all the time where you just expect it to be great no I'm amazed at it she's so good she's so good

and I don't know anything about acting sometimes people say yeah so-and-so's a bad actor and I'm like I all looks the same to me However, I was watching on Hulu, nine strangers, watch the whole thing. She's so good in that that you then go,

okay, that's good acting. And she is nailing these serieses. If she's in a series, I'll watch it. It's just to that point now where if your wife is in a series, even if I don't know what it's about, the history of poop. All right, that's her next series.

I'm going to watch it because she has showed that she's awesome in these things. Do you talk about projects with her? Does she talk about projects with you? Yeah. And do you go home together. Like, should we do this? Yeah.

Yeah, because we have to talk about scheduling and where it is and how's this going to work. And then, of course, a lot of the times reading scripts with her. You know, this is the, uh, being the Riccados, which is the Laceal Ball film that's coming out. Aaron Salkin wrote most amazing script. And just getting to read these scripts is something that is, God, it's surreal.

You read with her? Sometimes, yeah. You ever want to do that? You ever want to do that? Especially some, no, I have zero. in acting like none zero does she ever hear a song of yours and go yeah it's okay she doesn't have to i can tell you can here's the thing that's more important and you may be able to relate to this i realize that whoever i play a song for and i've had you at the house and i've played you things

before what how you react that song tells me a lot about the song but what tells me more is how i feel playing it for you i've learned so much about how you I feel about playing somebody a song, whether it's you or whether it's Nick. Because, you know, she may go, oh, I love that. And inside I'm thinking, I did until I played it. And I'm not feeling so good about it now. So I want to figure out what's going on. What is your relationship with singles, EPs, albums?

Because it's a new land out there. Yeah. It's attention spans are different. Sorry, what? Exactly. But it is getting that way, right? Yeah. So how are you feeling these days about 12, 13, 14, 14 track albums?

why do you see you changing how you're doing Keith Urban distribution of music? I still like to think it comes down to quality, the quality of something. Because people go, oh, people want shorter, they're short of that. And I'm like, only because a lot of what's out there is just not great. It's okay. It's not great. And it's not great because it's having to be churned out at such a fast rate now because it's content, content, content, quick.

You have it with your show. And you're trying to maintain a level of excellence with this. often unrealistic demand for the amount of it. You're trying to walk a line. Always. How can I give you the best most? Exactly. That's exactly it.

And I miss a lot because sometimes I do most and sometimes I do best, but I often don't get it right at the same time. And I think we're in this a lot in our society right now, the speed of everything and the demand for more and more and more and more. Quality takes time. Not always, but most of the time it takes a beat. There's two golden rules. that any man should live by.

Rule one, never mess with a country girl. You play stupid games, you get stupid prizes. And rule two, never mess with her friends either. We always say that trust your girlfriends. I'm Anna Sinfield, and in this new season of the girlfriends, Oh my God, this is the same man. A group of women discover they've all dated the same prolific con artist. I felt like I got hit by a truck.

I thought, how could this happen? me. The cops didn't seem to care. So they take matters into their own hands. I said, oh, hell no, I vowed. I will be his last target. He's going to get what he deserves. Listen to the girlfriends. Trust me, babe. On the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. I'm Ego Vodom. My next guest, you know from Stepbrothers, Anchorman, Saturday Night Live, and the Big Money Players Network. It's Will Farrell. My dad gave me the best advice ever. I went and had lunch with him one day, and I was like,

and dad, I think I want to really give this a shot. I don't know what that means, but I just know the groundlings. I'm working my way up through, and I know it's a place that come look for up-and-coming talent. He said, if it was based solely on talent, I wouldn't worry about you, which is really sweet. Yeah. He goes, but there's so much luck involved. And he's like, just give it a shot. He goes, but if you ever reach a point where you're banging your head against the wall and it doesn't feel fun anymore, it's okay to quit.

If you saw it written down, it would not be an inspiration. It would not be on a calendar of, you know, the cat. Just hang in there. Yeah, it would not be. Right, it wouldn't be that. There's a lot of luck. Listen to thanks dad on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. A win is a win.

A win is a win. I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me, Cliver Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes,

creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment, and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast, it's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So, if you've ever supported me, or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to the Clifford Show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or we're

you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Do you feel pressure from at this stage of your career labels, managers, like, hey, let's go. We need another something from you. Or are you now, like guys, you'll get it when you get it. Yeah, I've never felt that. I've never felt, uh, I will say my record company, capital records, who I've been with a long time. I've never ever felt anything but support for, for what I do. They've never given me like dragging the racket out of my hand, demanding this song with that song ever. They've been amazingly supportive. Do you need a teleprompter ever for lyrics?

You've had so many number one songs. Do you ever need a reminder of words? Do you have to refresh or are you just there? Yeah, refresh it if it's going to be an old song. But I have a sick memory for lyrics of songs. It's crazy. You bring up, I brought it up, but we talked about it with Ronnie Dunn, who I have, oddly become friends with

and we're opposite in many ways but we were texting last night there's a big picture when you walked into this guest house he's sent over to the house of like a bowl or something that was laying on the counter but Ronnie has

and I don't think he would care if I shared this he has someone in his ear the whole time on a microphone side stage telling him every lyric to every song and he's had it for a long time he's just like I don't want to forget

and I don't have a good memory right so they're like out in the country out in the country I mean they're right in there that's excellent I mean, voice of an angel, but holy crap, he can't remember words for anything.

That's a high-pressure gig for the guy in the ear. And it's, yeah, very much so. Yeah. But you have it all there for the most part. Boy, he'd want to be on good terms of that guy, wouldn't he? It's like Ron, Ron. Ronnie, don't, yeah, Ron Burgundy. Ron Burgundy.

Oh, man, you could get Burgundy, San Diego real quick. The prompter there. Let's talk about the new single, and then I do want to get back to the tour. But the current single is Wild Hearts. Let me play a little bit of this for you I kind of have a relationship with every songwriter on this song Which is pretty cool

Oh good Eric Passley is a dear friend of mine Yeah Jen Wayne Same She's in now she's in a group herself Runaway June There it is

Brad Tursey from Old Dominion How does this room come together Or was it a room that came together It didn't come together I got sent this song As a finished song Two verses Chorus done

and I got pitched the song from Roxy King and I heard it and I was like, I don't know, it's just, I like the chorus, I don't really, the rest of it's not pulling me in. And so I passed on the song. And then about two weeks later, I woke up one morning singing this chorus in my head and I'm like, what is that?

That's that Wildheart song. It's a really special chorus. I listened to the song again and I went, Man, that chorus is so freaking good, but the verses don't say anything to me. And so I called the writers and I said, would you mind if I rewrote the verses? Just to make it more personal, because it's such a personal song. It's, you know, following your dreams. I'm like, well, what about, you know, what was my dream journey from Australia to hear?

And they sent me the track without anything in the verses and I just rewrote the verses. That's pretty cool. One that they would go, yes. And I said to them, I said, I'm a writer, so I get this. First of all, I'm not one of these guys that's going to be like, I added the word the, give me 50% right, I've never been that guy. And I said, you guys have written the top song, it's top to bottom, it's finished, right? If you can pitch it and someone wants to cut it as is, please do that.

I'm not asking to dismantle your song if someone else wants to record it. But if you are okay, and I can rewrite these verses and they come up the way I think they will, I'm definitely recording the song. and God bless them, they let me do that. The North American Tour, the speed of now world tour 2022. The tickets are on sell now, Keith Urban.com.

How long do you think? You have another 10 years of doing these really high energy shows in you? I don't even think about that. I mean, just the next show. I mean, I'm injured. My whole body's still injured from my Nat Geo show.

Yeah, I bet. So now I think about things in terms like, could I do another three seasons of that show? And I can't. I now understand I can't. Yeah. I have her wrist, her shoulder, hurt everything.

My tour is not that show. But your tour, I'm telling you. The thing is that show. You're mad, man. Your tour is, again, is the most energetic show I have ever seen from a superstar who doesn't have to be that energetic because he's already a superstar. And I mean that in the most complimentary way. Right.

You could go out and just put on a solid show and be Keith Urban and people will be blown away. But you don't, your hair is on fire for no other reason than you live, that your art is your hair being on fire during a show. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I only know one volume to get out there and play at. There is, I mean, if it's real passion, and the audience knows it, they're like, that's legit. That's a guy surfing on the wave, not thinking about it, but it's really happening. And I can feel it. It's true. It's in the moment. Do you lose yourself in shows? Definitely. Yeah, it's a perfect balance of being completely present and completely lost in the moment all simultaneously. Do you ever, sometimes I'll drive and I'll get somewhere and I'll be like, holy cr I don't even know how I got here. Right. Like subconscious has completely taken over and then I feel unsafe and I'm like,

you're telling me people to drive. And then I start thinking about other idiots who are doing what I did, not thinking and driving places. But does that ever happen in a show where you're three songs later and you're like, dear God, how does I even get here? No, no.

I mean, maybe, no, not really, not even a moment. I was thinking about a moment in a song. No, because I don't know, I'm just super present. But I'm also thinking, I'm taking a multi-processing, right, which I think you do it extremely well on your show. You're listening to me.

You're checking that out. You're thinking about other things. You're probably thinking about some other things you've got to do. And it's all multi-processing all at once. And yet you're totally here as well. I feel like I'm completely present, but I think I'm good at being present while also delegating my mind to do other things at the same time.

A good way to put it. Yeah. What do you say on that microphone when you walk over that nobody hears? You know the little microphone we're talking to it. Oh, right. You have one of those? Yeah. When you walk back, if it's four songs in,

and only your guys on stage can hear you. Because for those that don't know, some of my friends that have them call them, we'll call it a B mic. Right. I'm so the word rich. We're like, we're talking to the rich mic. Right.

If you're going to that microphone, what are you saying in the middle of a show? Why would the mic be called that, by the way? No idea. That's weird. That's the only thing I know it has. Right. Oh, that's weird.

I've never heard that expression. Oh, you haven't? No. Oh, okay. Never heard that. Well, I don't say it. That's crazy. We stole it from Kenny Chesney when I was on two with him and I saw he had one.

I'm like, well, that's perfect because everyone's got in ears and you can actually talk to everyone. Aren't you worried it's going to get out over the top? No. You're not at all. Not that, Mike. No. What do you say? Is it like, hey, guys, we're going to switch songs or we're going to play in a different, or on my throat hurt?

It could be something to my guitar tech. It could be something to the monitor guy. It could be something to the band. It could be something to security. it could just be... Oh, really? Like you see something out there? For sure. Security has ears in and they can hear that? I know that it's going to get to where it's got to get to, if maybe not directly, someone will relay the message.

But yeah, if I feel like there's just heavy-handed security at a place, not letting people have fun or anything like that, I'll make sure it gets taken care of. Definitely. Of all the things that you do, as we wrap this up, one of my favorites is when you, and I haven't seen it in a while because you haven't been on the road, as normal, no one has, right? When you do those videos with the police escort behind you, and you're like, thank you guys, it's been a great. Like, I love the blue light video at the end of the show. Right. That's funny.

So much so that there have been a couple of times where, you know, we did a, we've done a couple of shows. We did a festival. I threw a festival in Texas, and we had like four or five thousand people, and we had to get out, and I was like, hey, I want to get that blue light like Keith Irving, because I got to get that shot. See, you're inspiring me in ways you had no idea. That's great.

It's much better to have them in front of you than behind you. Let me tell you. I would agree with that. I've spent way more years with the opposite, so this is nice. Mike, anything that I have missed that we need to address with Keith before he leave. I think that's everything. It's a daylight savings time just about, so it's getting darker now, and so it feels like it's midnight. I'm a little tired. I'm kind of run through it here. Anything you'd like to say, Reed, you're a massive Keith fan. Reed is my video guy. I am a huge fan. He's been looking forward to this whole life. Oh, my gosh. So, Reed, this is your one shot with Keith. Is there anything? Take a deep breath.

All right. That you'd like to ask Keith. All right, Keith. I don't know. All I'm thinking about is when I first started learning guitar, my dad got me your Golden Road DVD that had all the music videos on. And I would stand in front of the TV and I would try to mimic and try to learn the songs. And it was God-awful. But I remember that moment.

And then I got the pleasure of going to your show. I think it was in Dallas like three, no, maybe like two years ago. and my girlfriend got me the tickets and of course you were out in the crowd running around and you came up to us and I can just remember my girlfriend just going Keith Keith!

That was probably me actually but yeah so those are just the moments that came up to me but I'm just a huge fan man Thank you so much How's the plane coming along? Oh it's good Yeah? You're still playing?

Yeah, yes sir I love songwriting I don't do a lot of playing shows or anything, but I love to produce my own music as well and write songs. Great. Yes, sir. There we have. Hey, an emotional moment here.

I'll mention this before you go to. As we were walking out of our wedding, we played God Whispered Your Name. Oh, wow, man, thank you. The writers, or one of the writers saw me out. I was getting some ice cream with Caitlin, and he was like, you guys played when God whispered your name at your wedding. And I was like, first time I heard I'd sing that song,

song, I was like, that's it. Like, I felt that's one of those rare songs in my life where I was like, because when I heard it the first time, I thought, if I can ever have this in my life, that's it. And then when I met my wife now, I went, this is that song. Like, it was the songwriting, it was the delivery, it was the texture, all of those things together in that song. I remember thinking, man, if I ever find this? Because I heard the song before, I knew her.

But when I met her, and I was like, oh, this is when God. whispered your name. Wow. And it's one of those few moments where a song just kind of... You're super romantic. Punches you in the gut. You really are. Okay.

Yeah. Maybe. You got married. And you love that kind of song. And yeah, Dan and Shet played you winning. Yes. How cool. And the funny part about that was my wife and Abby Smires are really close friends.

Dan and I have been buddies for a long time. And I was like, hey, look they're like whatever you want we'll play like Dan was like you didn't even ask us like we'll play whatever you want

and I think they expected us to pick one of their songs because they have a hundred love song they have the best love but I didn't I picked a Beach Boys song Oh what song did you pick Forever

I don't know that song When everyone I say Will make you laugh I talk forever Dennis Wilson wrote it I don't know that song Jesse and the Rippers later did it on Full House

Dennis Wilson wrote it The drummer Wow And they crushed and for it. And they did us check that song out. They put it on a,

they gave us a file, they recorded it as well as a wedding gift to us and gave it to us. It was awesome. Amazing. And what was cool was, even Ronnie was like,

hey, you don't want anything for your wedding. Like, I can't get you anything. What do you mean to sing? I was like, that's the greatest gift ever.

So he sang neon moon? It was awesome. Oh my goodness. It was awesome. Wow. How did he remember all the words? I worried too. I said,

do we need to get that mic for you over on the side. We didn't. He knew the words, though. Had the cell phone up his ear the whole time. All right, get tickets. They're on sale today.

Keith Urban, the speed of now world tour, 22. They're up. Go see him. This podcast, this show is heard in all kinds of countries. So obviously North America, but all over the world. I don't know how you do it. I don't know how you do it. And maintain the energy.

Same as you. I love what I do. I love what I get to do. And truly, it's a gift. You know, so people go, oh, it's a gift every day. It really is. And I'll finish with this because I think it's what is what it's all about is I went, I'm born with the addictive gene. I went to three rehabs in the span of

eight years. The first rehab was 1998. My second one was 2003 and my third one was 2006. And it took what it took for me to finally get sober. And that journey brought the deepest, deepest level of gratitude for what I get to do that I don't know if I ever would have gotten that gratitude level without that journey. I think when you come close to losing all of that and then it gets given back to you through grace, in my case, getting back to me, I was like, I'm never going to take this for granted ever again. Does it make you a more giving person going through? Because for me, I have found that growing up a poverty kid and someone who's been through those struggles with addiction, secondary, that affects me and how I treat other people.

Do you think you were two different people before and after your final run, your final time in rehab? Very much. Yeah. And yes, I separate the person from the addiction. You are known as one of the nicer guys in town, just generally by people, like Keith Urban is the nicest guy. Were you known early in your career as that guy?

Were you always just completely dialed into the human aspect of people? Because now you are and you're known for that. I like people. And I like collaborating. I love, yeah, I love people. I've always loved people. You've always been a nice guy. I've always, I think I've always been bridge builder.

I'm a bridge builder. I'm an entertainer. I think I was the, I was the peace person. You know, if you have an identity in your home, I was the bridge builder between my brother and my, my father always trying to kill each other. I was like, I'm going to be the one that keeps the peace here, and I think

I've carried that into my life. All right, go to a show, listen to the music. Keith Urban, thank you. Always good to talk to you, Bobby. Good to talk to you, too. There he is, Keith Urban, everybody. When a group of women discover they've all dated the same prolific con artist,

they take matters into their own hands. I vowed, I will be his last target. He is not going to get away with this. He's going to get what he deserves. We always say that trust your girlfriends. Listen to the girlfriends. Trust me, babe, on the IHartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me, Clifford Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, my basketball and college football journey, or my career in sports media. Well, now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show.

This is a place for raw unfilled conversations with athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. So let's get to it. Listen to the Clifford Show on the IHeard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. This week on the Sports Slice podcast, it's all about the NFL draft. And we've got a special guest. The director of the NFL's East West Shrine Bowl, Eric Galko, joins the Sports Slice Podcast, to break down what really matters when evaluating draft prospects.

From hidden traits teams look for to the biggest mistakes franchises make to the players flying under the radar, this is the insight you won't hear anywhere else. If you want to understand the draft like an insider, you don't want to miss this episode. Listen to the Sports Slice Podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slical Life 12 and TikTok podcast network on TikTok.

This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.