All-around good guy Keith Urban pulls the Grammy chute with Ripcord.
It’s not the first time that Keith Urban has been nominated for a Grammy. He’s already won four, and these three nods for the 2017 awards bring his total to 13 nods. But somehow this year’s nominations seem more special for acknowledging the chances Urban takes. His ninth studio album, Ripcord, debuted in early May, preceding his single “John Cougar, John Deere, John 3:16.” The album received positive reviews for its divergent path.
Rolling Stone named it one of the Top 40 country records of 2016, calling it “experimental and ambitious.” We call it more proof that the Aussie singer-songwriter really knows how to let it rip — and can mash up progressive synthy sounds and old-timey banjo in the same song and pull it off with No. 1-single style (witness the hit “Wasted Time”).
He got a little help from his friends: With collaborations with Carrie Underwood, Pitbull, and Nile Rodgers, the album dances along the lines of pop, electronic, and country. But, while the music is adventurous, it still gracefully lands in the ever-widening category of contemporary country, while also displaying a whole new side of Urban’s boundary-charging talents that had yet to be revealed and praised until now.
The nominations for the 2017 Grammy Awards were revealed earlier this month, and we couldn’t be more excited that Urban was able to rope up three of them. Ripcord is nominated for Best Country Album, while his hit single “Blue Ain’t Your Color” is nominated for Best Solo Performance and Best Country Song.
Watch a couple of official videos from Ripcord and get in on the exhilaration:
Visit Kieth Urban's website for dates in 2017 when the Ripcord world tour comes to the U.S.
