Keith Urban Speaks To Middle Tennessee High School Students

NASHVILLE, TENN.- Some Metro high school students were given the opportunity to hear from a multi-Grammy award winning, country superstar on Thursday.

WKRN reports that Keith Urban spoke to a group of middle Tennessee high school juniors and seniors as part of a special Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum educational program.

Urban gave the students some advice on making it in the music industry based on his experience since coming to the states to pursue music.

Urban told the students that he had devoted all of his time to music as a child, adding that his dad played drums and his grandmother taught piano lessons.

“The first concert my parents took me to was Johnny Cash. I think I was five,” Urban recalled, “My dad had brought us little cowboy shirts, little boots and everything, it was adorable and off we go to see Johnny Cash.”

Urban also told the students that his parents were always very supportive of his dream of pursuing music… even to the point of letting him quit school at a young age.

“I joined my first band when I was 12 and mom and dad used to drive me around to all the gigs,” he said. “When I was 15, I quit school. [I’m] not suggesting you do that, but that’s what I did.”

Even though he had always loved music, Urban did not seriously think about songwriting until his early 20’s. Urban explains that his approach to writing is all about rhythm.

“I think the important thing is to respond quickly to ideas before they go, because they don’t hang around sometimes very long,” Urban said.

RTT News reports that approximately 200 middle Tennessee high school students attended the program. During the 75 minute lecture, students listened intently to Urban and then took part in a question-and-answer session. Urban then treated the students to a private performance as he played a banjo that he bought in 1995 in the early days of his career.

The private “All Access: Keith Urban” program was funded by the Metro Arts Commision and the Tennessee Arts Commision through the National Endowment for the Arts.