Keith Urban forgets words to new song
CRS featured an unforgettable show at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville as Darius Rucker reunited with his Hootie and the Blowfish bandmates. Unforgettable? Well… Keith Urban DID forget the words to his new song, which made the show unforgettable for a forgetful reason!
Universal Music Group Nashville (UMG) invited attendees of this year’s Country Radio Seminar (CRS) to a lunchtime showcase at the Ryman Auditorium on February 14. CRS, now in its 50th year, is the world’s largest gathering of radio decision-makers and the recording artists who wish to interact with them.
Royce Risser, UMG’s Executive Vice President of Promotion emceed the event, getting in a few witty ‘digs’ at radio execs in the audience as he light-heartedly urged them to add these songs to their playlists. In a fast-moving show, each act came on stage to perform one song – generally a cut that would impact Country Radio in the days or weeks ahead. (See below for a full list of performers.)
Keith Urban debuts “We Were”
Keith Urban came out on stage to perform “We Were,” a song so new that he brought out his cell phone so he could sing and play along to it. Technology is subject to Murphy’s Law (If anything can go wrong, it will) and the track stopped playing after just a few bars.
Undeterred, Urban re-started the track and, when it once again failed, he carried on singing to just his acoustic guitar. But a minute or so later he suddenly stopped. “Oh my gosh!” he told the audience. “I’ve forgotten the words to this dang song! Can you believe it!”
A less experienced artist might have suffered a total meltdown, blowing a song in front of hundreds of radio professionals who make the decisions about what gets aired. But being a true professional, he picked up the threads of the song and carried on, much to the delight of his audience. If nothing else, they will all remember Urban’s “We Were” when they get back to their radio stations.
Later, Vince Gill took the stage and, as he sat on his stool, he jokingly said he had been planning to bring his phone out and play to a track on it. “Keith said that was a really cool idea,” said Gill glancing off to the side of the stage with a smile. Guess no one is going to let Keith forget that. 2019 marks the 30th year that Vince Gill has been with MCA, part of the UMG family of labels. Risser noted that Vince has earned 18 CMA Awards and 20 Grammys, including wins for ten consecutive years.
More highlights of the UMG show
Dierks Bentley revealed that when he’s on tour, it seems he hardly ever leaves the bus. Indicating his band members, he recalled that one day these guys returned to the bus with grocery bags filled with toothpaste, deodorant, those kind of things. “I asked them where they’d been,” said Dierks, “and they said ‘Walgreens.’ Man! These guys really did some livin’!” It was a neat lead-in to his performance of “Living,” his current single. “I hope this is my third No. 1,” he told the radio industry audience.
UMG’s Risser introduced Caylee Hammack saying this was her first time on the Ryman stage. “When she arrived in Nashville,” he said, “Caylee slept in her car in a Target parking lot. Before long, all the labels were fighting to get her. But we won.” As she began her new song, “Family Tree,” Caylee said that it was inspired by her own family and every family has its quirks. “My sister has a smoking habit,” said Caylee. “She thinks we don’t know. But we know.”
Stapleton ‘didn’t get the memo’
When Chris Stapleton came up to the mic, he said, “There used to be a rule. No electric guitars, no more than three people on stage including yourself. Looks like that’s all changed.” He paused and the audience laughed, noting the rocking performances that had preceded Stapleton’s spot. “Looks like I didn’t get the memo,” he added, before launching into a solo acoustic performance of “Millionaire.”
Little Big Town opened the show with the poignant “For The Daughters,” about the role that women are expected to play if they are to be successful. The thought-proving song includes lines such as, “pose like a trophy on a shelf and dream for everyone but not yourself.”
In a similar vein, Kassi Ashton has a single, “Violins,” currently being promoted with a music video. However, she performed “Pretty Shiny Things,” a song about a woman’s role in life.
The lyrics include: “Put your makeup on, girl / stand up straight / your face will take you farther than your brain.”
Darius reprises ‘Hootie’ songs
The program notes promoting the show indicated that Darius Rucker would be appearing. Yes, he appeared, but to the delight and surprise of the audience, he appeared with his ‘old’ band and performed as Hootie and the Blowfish. Their performance of Hootie hits “Only Wanna Be With You” and “Hold My Hand” was met with deafening cheers and a standing ovation at the climax of the UMG luncheon. The group will be heading out on their Group Therapy Tour and will be recording a new album for UMG.
The full list of the performers at the Team UMG At The Ryman luncheon: Eric Church, Dierks Bentley, Keith Urban, Little Big Town, Maddie and Tae, Kassi Ashton, Chris Stapleton, Travis Denning, Brandon Lay, Adam Hambrick, Caylee Hammack, Vince Gill and Darius Rucker (with the reunited Hootie and the Blowfish band).
It will be interesting to see how many of the songs heard during the show will be added to the playlists at the radio stations represented by the broadcast executives in the audience.
Preshias Harris is a music journalist and music career development consultant with the emphasis on new and aspiring artists and songwriters. Her book, ‘The College of Songology 101: The Singer/Songwriter’s Need to Know Reference Handbook’ is available at www.collegeofsongology.com Follow her blog at www.nashvillemusicline.com