“It Allowed Me To Stay” – Keith Urban On Turning To Drugs During His Early Struggles In Nashville

Keith Urban was an open book when he sat down with comedian Bill Burr. The interview, which took place on the Bill Burr's Monday Morning Podcast (which posts on Monday mornings and Thursday afternoons), offered up a strange dynamic. At times, it seemed as though Keith Urban was interviewing Bill Burr - and I'm not saying that as a bad thing. It was very entertaining. The relaxing and laid-back nature of the interview allowed for the soon-to-be-57-year-old country music star to open up a bit about his past. That included the very beginning of his career, when he moved all the way from Australia to Nashville in 1992 to pursue his country music dreams. As Urban revealed while talking to Burr, the move wasn't all that he had hoped it would be: "I got to Nashville and it was really hard. Harder than I thought it was going to be. I couldn't have checked more boxes of, 'This is not going to work.'" The "Somebody Like You" singer went on to talk about the two-facedness of trying to break into the industry. People were telling him he was great and that it was awesome he was there, only for Urban to find out years later that those same people were saying that he was "crazy" and that he'd "never make it" behind his back. And with no support system in the United States, and feeling a long way from home, Keith Urban found comfort in a vice of his that he's historically struggled with: "That's where drugs came in, and they worked great for me. Because it allowed me to stay and (to) just keep going at it." Urban's addictions issues and rehab visits also came up during the podcast, so if you were hoping for a sit-back-and-laugh podcast between the country singer and Bill Burr, it's not exactly that - though its still very funny in parts. Burr asked what moment Keith felt as though he finally broke through, and Urban answered by telling the story of how his song, "But For The Grace Of God," finally took off: "I had written a song, and I was trying to pitch it around town. It ended up on my first solo record and then it ended up being my first number one song." And part of that break through moment was being accepted by the Nashville songwriting community early on. Urban credited them with taking him in and recognizing that he was authentic - even though he wasn't from the area: "I was really lucky because the writing community, the songwriting community was really good to me right out of the gate. They knew I was the real deal. I could play, I could write, and I was there for the long haul. Nashville is a small town, especially in the early 90's. They were just making sure that you weren't coming in to be a carpet bagger." You can hear more from Keith Urban and Bill Burr in the Monday Morning Podcast episode linked below: https://youtu.be/WbT_AqsG_uw?si=GKnImb3f3bEmDh0n&t=2467