Anyone like Keith Urban?

[chet]

I taped one of his videos and saw another one this weekend that I dug. I'd never listened to him before.
How many CD's has he made and are they all good?

[thisismike]

It would appear the man has some skills on the plank.

[TheGoodTexan]

I believe that he has two solo albums out, but he did great work with a band called "The Ranch" before he went solo.

He's not a traditional country picker at all...but I do like how he blends county and rock together....gigs with a small arsenal of Marshall and Matchless amps.

Some folks dismiss him as "what's wrong with county music today"....and that may be true from a purist's perspective, but I like his stuff, for what it's worth.

There was a great write up on him in Guitar Player a few months ago. Very short article.

[e-merlin]

Count me in as a fan...with the exception of the one popular song he had that had a banjo on it so they could call it Country. I don't care for many songs where the only thing "Country" about it is that they added some canned fiddle or banjo.

[cowboytwang]

I've never really cared much for any of his songs, however I will concede that he is a decent singer and picker.

On the CMT Crossroads show with John Fogerty, Urban even mentioned something about how he likes writing cheesy mass appeal songs.

On the recent grammy awards during the "Southern Rock" fiascoes, Keith Urban was the only one that played and sang intune.
I was impressed with his performance that night, compared to the others on stage. However I'm still not going to go out and get any of his music, but now I do respect his talent more.

[GopherTele]

He has released three solo records. On his first, he has an instrumentical (as I call them) that is the chickenist pickenist (including a great tone control wah intro) kicking buttingest country jam you ever did hear.

There is no doubt he can do the Brent Mason/Brad Paisley deal, but he also throws in the rock thing.

He is an amazing player live. The thing I was most impressed with was his acoustic playing. He had complete control and mastery of the instrument.

And he's a tremendous singer.

His writing? It's okay, but I do respect that he TRIES to have hit records and isn't ashamed of it.

[PraiseCaster]

I gotta admit, that the first time I saw him was on that southern rock bash on the Grammy's and I was blown away by him.

I admit I am not big on country. I hear some things and appreaciate em very much, but country is not where my heart is. It lies more with its kin, blues and rock. having said that, I'm thinkin maybe, just maybe, KU could be takin country on its next evolutionary step, just like EC, JH, and SRV did with the blues/rock scene? I could be wrong, wouldnt be the first time, feel free to disagree with me. I might just learn me somethin.

I think its safe to say you can put me in the "I like Keith Urban" camp. Wheter or not I go out and buy one of his cd's, who knows, I dont buy many cd's these days.

[JMH65]

I like his playing a lot......but I think his songs are a little to geared toward the chic crowd. 8)

[agent2x4]

Isn't he from Australia?

[mojito]

Yes he is from "down under".

I have a great deal of respect for his chops after watching perform moreso than for his songs.

[showard44]

He is australian.

He has three solo albums, and one album with The Ranch (my personal favorite, he was pretty much the whole band any way - three peice - probably why it was obvious he should be a solo act). Just bought the newest solo album today actually - Be Here.

In his first two albums, especially the first, he showed true chickin pickin chops and used a Nashville Tele all the time. Two solo guitar songs stand out from those albums "Clutterbilly" on the one with the ranch and "Rollercoaster" on his first solo album.

He has found star appeal with the last two albums and for some reason has decided to travel the country/southern rock route which is working for him and I can respect and dig it. He has traded in the tele for a LP and has traded in the fiddle and steel guitar solos for more rock guitar and organ space.

All in all, absolutely great talent and the kind of guy who really seems to appreciate what he has. You gotta love that.

I was more impressed with him as a musician early on in his career, but I think he has simply moved on into being great at what he does and may have decided to focus more on making good "Music" and their is nothing wrong with that at all.

So, I dig him.

[chet]

I like the two videos "Making Memories With You" and "You'll Think Of Me". It's obvious he can play good acoustic guitar on the first video. Good singer too.

[chet]

Originally Posted by TheGoodTexan

Some folks dismiss him as "what's wrong with county music today"....and that may be true from a purist's perspective, but I like his stuff, for what it's worth.

I admit I haven't heard anything but the two videos but why would they say something like that? What's everybody supposed to do...just re-make all the country standards over and over?

[teledude66]

Originally Posted by chet

I admit I haven't heard anything but the two videos but why would they say something like that? What's everybody supposed to do...just re-make all the country standards over and over?

yeah i like old country but it like everything else will evolve ...i think it started with ALABAMA being country but just shy of southern rock, then jump to the 80's and bands like Little Texas were to me (not to disrespect them ) but looked like bands that had tried rock and did better in country, maybe they need a new genre ...lol

[TheGoodTexan]

Originally Posted by showard44

In his first two albums, especially the first, he showed true chickin pickin chops and used a Nashville Tele all the time.

Originally Posted by showard44

He has traded in the tele for a LP

The Tele in question looks like a Nashville Tele, but in actuality it just has a bridge pickup. It does have a Nashville Tele pickguard, but the middle and neck spots are empty. This is easy to miss, since the bridge pickup is a black EMG...the middle and neck empty "holes" can look like they match.

The EMG bridge pickup is actually a Strat pup that Keith had modified to mount in a Tele bridge.

I may be wrong, but I think the Les Paul that he's been playing lately is an LP Jr....again, with one pickup, in the bridge position.

The CMT Crossroads that he appeared on with John Fogerty is certainly worth watching. He knew some of John's licks better that John did!

[chet]

I missed my opportunity to tape that show. Will CMT be televising that again?

[jpkusa]

Sorry guys, but since no one has disagreed, I guess it's up to me...

Keith Urban is a very competent, skilled, talented guy. So is Jon Bon Jovi. I'd rather not listen to either one of them.

But hey, to each his own!

[lenny]

i think he's cool
he's a solid picker, solid singer, solid songwriter, hes handsome and charming onstage without being cocky.
he won me over when he won the award on the (o crap i know i'll get this wrong) cma's(?) and earnestly said how grateful he was, and how this is all he ever wanted to do, and thanks to all for letting him do it.
we need more guys like him being stars if you ask me
:)

[KRZ4TELE]

I just learned Your My Better Half...A fun tune to play and sing...Just grab your nuts when you get to the falsetto part and you will hit the note!
Great rhythm to the tune!

[showard44]

Originally Posted by TheGoodTexan

The Tele in question looks like a Nashville Tele, but in actuality it just has a bridge pickup. It does have a Nashville Tele pickguard, but the middle and neck spots are empty. This is easy to miss, since the bridge pickup is a black EMG...the middle and neck empty "holes" can look like they match.

The EMG bridge pickup is actually a Strat pup that Keith had modified to mount in a Tele bridge.

I may be wrong, but I think the Les Paul that he's been playing lately is an LP Jr....again, with one pickup, in the bridge position.

The CMT Crossroads that he appeared on with John Fogerty is certainly worth watching. He knew some of John's licks better that John did!

Not to get in a peeing contest here :) :)

No, I did realize that he had the middle and neck pickups removed. I think it was still a Nashville tele though. Now, why would a guy do that? If I never used my other pickups, I still don't think I would just take them out. But I didn't know he had an EMG in it. Thanks for the info.

And the LP definatly isn't a standard, I realized that as well, but I wasn't familiar enough with all the model names to be sure of what exactly it was.

[teledude66]

Originally Posted by showard44

I think it was still a Nashville tele though. Now, why would a guy do that? If I never used my other pickups, I still don't think I would just take them out. But I didn't know he had an EMG in it. Thanks for the info.

.

some around here with Esquires go with the theory that no front pickup, and in this case middle pickup, produce no magnetic pull on the strings thereby letting the strings ring more, not saying thats the case here but it could be an answer, or he could have just wanted to spark up threads on Tele discussion boards...lol

[chet]

Originally Posted by KRZ4TELE

I just learned Your My Better Half...A fun tune to play and sing...Just grab your nuts when you get to the falsetto part and you will hit the note!
Great rhythm to the tune!

Do you the chords to "Makin Memories Of Us"?

[chet]

I think Keith Urban is a way better singer that all of the other country singers. Some of the other guys overdo the country twang and it sounds phoney.
He's my favorite anyway.