old but still cool

Subject: old but still cool Sat Jan 20, 2007 12:43 pm

I just got a Yahoo alert - of the above article - here you go:

INTERVIEW: Six questions with Keith Urban
(Reuters, Saturday March 4, 11:26 AM)
NEW YORK (Billboard) - It is good to be Keith Urban.
The Australian artist's three solo albums, the first of which came out six years ago, collectively have sold more than 6 million copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan. His most recent, "Be Here," is at 2.5 million copies and climbing and appears destined to eclipse sales of "Golden Road," his previous release.

Two singles from "Be Here" -- "Making Memories of Us" and "Better Life" -- spent a combined 11 weeks atop Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart in 2005. ADVERTISEMENT

On the road, Urban grossed nearly $11 million in 2005, according to Billboard Boxscore, ranking him No. 7 on the list of top-grossing country artists last year.

In November, Urban won his second straight Country Music Assn. Award for male vocalist of the year and also scored a dark horse win as entertainer of the year.

And on Feb. 8, the Capitol artist picked up his first Grammy Award for best male country vocal performance.

Urban's Still Alive in '06 -- a continuation of his Live in '05 outing -- wrapped up at the end of February. The rest of the year will be spent working on a new album.

Q: YOU JUST FINISHED YOUR SECOND HEADLINING TOUR. IS THERE MORE PRESSURE AS A HEADLINER THAN AS AN OPENER?

A: I don't feel it if there is. I look forward to playing longer. We normally play a couple of hours in our shows. It's great to have the time to stretch out a little bit and have more stage space.

Q: INSTEAD OF RUNNING YOUR FANS THROUGH A QUICK GRIP-AND-GRIN AT YOUR SHOWS, YOU HAVE CREATED THE "KEITH URBAN BACKSTAGE EXPERIENCE." SELECT FANS GET TO HEAR A SONG PERFORMED ACOUSTICALLY AND ASK YOU A FEW QUESTIONS. WHY DID YOU GO THAT ROUTE?

A: I found that sometimes at a meet-and-greet you barely met the person. You come away from those things like the Wal-Mart greeter. I wanted to make it more personal, but not so much that we had to limit the amount of people.

I do a song acoustically backstage and then do a little Q&A session. And then we do some group photos with everyone. It's not one-on-one, but it's allowed me to spend longer with, say, 50 people. You get to spend 20 minutes as opposed to 30 seconds with each person.

Q: CAPITOL HAS WORKED YOUR RECORDS TO FORMATS OTHER THAN COUNTRY. DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU HAVE HAD TO PROVE YOURSELF ALL OVER AGAIN?

A: Not in the same way, because I was fortunate to have just made music that in a certain song situation worked in another format. The label took it to them and they loved it and they played it. That allowed us to get to a whole new group of people that hadn't heard our music before. I was fortunate that I didn't have to go and record specific crossover material.

Q: COUNTRY PROGRAMMERS ARE NOTORIOUSLY PROPRIETARY WHEN IT COMES TO ARTISTS CROSSING OVER. HAVE YOU GOTTEN ANY FLAK BECAUSE YOUR MUSIC IS NOW HEARD ON OTHER FORMATS?

A: I haven't personally heard any flak about it. I try to leave the business side of it up to my record company and my management and have faith that they know what we're doing. My job is to make music, and they find a home for it.

Q: YOU STILL MAKE TIME FOR RADIO, DOING PHONERS, CUTTING LINERS, ETC. WHY IS THAT IMPORTANT TO YOU?

A: There's a lot more requests for (my) time, which (is) the one thing that hasn't increased -- my time. Trying to spread it around and stay connected to everybody is a hard job to do.

It's obviously important for me to stay connected through doing something like the (Country Radio Seminar) show and to show my gratitude. (Radio has) been extraordinarily good to me and continues to be. I think it's a team effort. You recognize that hopefully you need each other.

Q: YOUR WEB SITE HAS AN INTERNATIONAL TONE, ASKING VISITORS TO SELECT WHICH COUNTRY THEY ARE FROM. HOW HAS YOUR INTERNATIONAL FAN BASE GROWN?

A: We've done a couple of tours over to Europe, particularly to Germany. We seem to have a great following in Germany, Ireland and Scotland, and London and France seem to like the music. We recognize that there's fans all over the world, and the Internet obviously embraces that.

Reuters/Billboard
Copyright © 2006 Reuters. All rights reserved.
from yahoo

Subject: Re: old but still cool Sat Jan 20, 2007 8:27 pm

Thanks Terri. Awesome article. cheers

Subject: Re: old but still cool Sat Jan 20, 2007 10:27 pm

Yw. It's one of my favorites. I have a habbit of saving Keith articles. I'm a pack rat lol.

Subject: Re: old but still cool Sat Jan 20, 2007 10:32 pm

Subject: Re: old but still cool Sat Jan 20, 2007 10:48 pm

I just can't seem to part with anything. I still have Bon Jovi records. My family thinks I should toss 'em but I can't eventhough I have the cds.

Subject: Re: old but still cool Sat Jan 20, 2007 10:52 pm

I don't part with anything either. I wouldn't get rid of your Bon Jovi records. My mom loves Bon Jovi too.

Subject: Re: old but still cool Sat Jan 20, 2007 10:57 pm

I hid them lol.

Subject: Re: old but still cool Sat Jan 20, 2007 10:59 pm

Hahaha

Subject: Re: old but still cool Sat Jan 20, 2007 11:12 pm

The shirt Kenny hugged me in almost got tossed. So I hid that too. The zipper broke.

Subject: Re: old but still cool Sat Jan 20, 2007 11:25 pm

I'm glad you hid that maybe you can put a new zipper on it?

Subject: Re: old but still cool Sat Jan 20, 2007 11:56 pm

I'm not good at sewing

Subject: Re: old but still cool Sun Jan 21, 2007 12:08 am

I can't sew But my mom does all the time.

Subject: Re: old but still cool Sun Jan 21, 2007 12:14 am

Mom never sews lol

Subject: Re: old but still cool Sun Jan 21, 2007 12:17 am