When you're a starving creative, oftentimes, you're willing to do almost anything to get a little boost. You'll perform at a dingy location for very little pay. Sometimes, promoters don't even pay at all, it's merely for exposure's sake to built the brand. You might make desperate compromises to try and get a spark in your career or just to merely survive. Keith Urban knows this kind of mentality very well. Moreover, it takes him to wild lengths.
Recently, Keith appears on an episode of Literally! With Rob Lowe. There, he recalls a wild pitch that his record label at the time gives him back in 2002. "It was a guy at my record company who was like, 'Hey, you know, we can do this article in Playgirl, and they'll do a big, long, nice piece on the record.' And I was like, 'Great,' and then we'll go to a photo shoot too," Urban retells. "I was like, 'Oh, OK.' Luckily, I play guitar and not harmonica."
Lowe responds with enthusiasm how Keith would know the drill by the time he gets there. Urban giddily replies that he was 'apparently willing to do anything to get going' back in that era.
Keith Urban Gets Candid on Writing With a Famous Partner
Later, Rob Lowe asks Urban what it's like to write songs when he's married to actress Nicole Kidman. Additionally, he asks if there's conflict where the audience assumes it's about his current marriage. "People think everything I write is about her, and, of course, you know, a lot of things are and a lot of things aren't," Keith replies. "I mean, you know, I've lived a life. I've had other experiences, and, also, it doesn't always have to be a personal experience either.
Then, he uses his song Brown Eyed Baby as an example of how the songwriting can differ from his actual life. Keith sharply points out that writing isn't merely an autobiographical experience. "No. It's just a song. It's just a song," Urban says. "People get so, I don't know. So, it's never, because I don't think Dolly Parton actually worked 9 to 5."
