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Critics are calling country music star Keith Urban's latest album, "Ripcord," his most experimental project to date.
Dave Heaton, for PopMatters, writes of Urban as a "student of the game (popular music)" who treats "Ripcord" as his "playground." Annie Reuter, for Sounds Like Nashville, says, "'Ripcord' is a remarkably diverse album that pushes boundaries and furthers Urban's evolution as an artist." And Entertainment Weekly's Jim Farber opens his review of "Ripcord" with "Keith Urban took his last name literally on his new album."
From opening track "Gone Tomorrow (Here Today)," with its drum machine, synths and angular '80s-ish guitar leads, it's clear that "Ripcord" is not a sonically traditional country record. If this doesn't hit listeners right away, perhaps it will on fifth track "Sun Don't Let Me Down," which features rapper Pitbull and legendary disco guitarist Nile Rodgers. Then there's the doo-wop ditty "Blue Ain't Your Color" and the danceclub-ready "The Fighter."
Urban, whose 2016 tour makes a stop at the Lakeview Amphitheater on Thursday, said in an interview with syracuse.com that this level of experimentation is inherent to him, and to country music in general.
"I see [country music] doing what it's done since the late '50s and early '60s: drawing elements from pop music into itself to take the genre to a different place," Urban said, citing records by Jim Reeves and Patsy Cline as pioneering examples of this trend of "countrypolitan," which sooner featured piano and strings over pedal steels and fiddles.
"Back then, it was the big, lush orchestra, and now it's drum machines and synthesizers," Urban said, adding that he has written with a drum machine since his 1999 self-titled LP. "Those elements which used to be buried in my records have now just come to the front a lot more."
The Grammy Award-winning singer noted that in today's age of media consumption, virtually everyone is trying something different.
"We're living in a time when there's a lot less segregation in the listening styles and habits of all people, including artists," he said. "We're immersed in every kind of genre and sound that's happening everywhere, in a nanosecond. There's no doubt it's going to make its way into our music when we get into the studio."
Urban, 48, was born in New Zealand and spent much of his childhood in Australia, where his country-loving parents exposed him to the work of Glen Campbell, Dolly Parton and Ricky Skaggs and encouraged him to learn guitar.
At the age of 15, Urban had already decided music was his path. He dropped out of school to focus on playing the local pub circuit, and by 23 his prospects were already golden.
In 1990, Urban won a popular televised Australian talent contest called "Star Maker," which scored him a recording contract with EMI and four hit singles on the Australian country charts. Eventually, he moved to Nashville, where he formed a band called The Ranch and signed to Capitol. It wasn't long before Urban broke off to start a solo career on the same label.
Since then, Urban has put out nine studio albums through Capitol Nashville. He has charted 37 singles on the US Hot Country Songs list, 18 of which having made it to no. 1. His Grammy win came for "Sweet Thing," the first single off his 2009 album, "Defying Gravity." Urban is also known for his role as a judge on the last four seasons of "American Idol," and for his marriage to actress Nicole Kidman.
But being famous, Urban said, is not something he thinks of often.
"I'm a musician first, before a celebrity and all that stuff," he said.
Aside from being a father to his two girls and a husband to Kidman, Urban said his priorities are simple: write songs, make records and tour. Even a high-profile TV gig like "American Idol," he said, has influenced his own continuous pursuit to make quality music.
"I made a lot of great friends doing 'Idol,' and it helped me get into a lot of peoples' living rooms so they could get to know me on a different level," Urban said, "which, for me, in the end, helps the music because then people listen to it a little differently."
Urban said that every one of his fans, in fact, seems to listen to his eclectic, genre-challenging material differently -- but the Ripcord World Tour has, thus far, unified the diverse fanbase.
"You've got people that lean more towards a rural kind of country, and people that lean towards pop-country. You've got people that just bought the new record and maybe the last record, and they didn't buy any previous records; people that bought the first six or seven records but haven't got the new ones yet," Urban said. "But on this tour, there's been a consistent feeling of really genuine, euphoric singalong energy from everybody throughout the night, and that's what it's all about for me."
Keith Urban is set to perform at the Lakeview Amphitheater on Thursday. The show will begin at 7:30 p.m. and will feature openers Brett Eldredge and Maren Morris.
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