Keith Urban is sharing new details about his latest Flow State album, out now. The record is full of yacht rock covers, plus one original song, “We Go Back,” which he sings with Michael McDonald.
The Grand Ole Opry member gives more insight into creating Flow State, also revealing the first songs he recorded for the project.
“This album started simply: I just wanted to play in my newly restored studio,” Urban reveals on social media. “I gathered a group of musicians around this time last year, and we tracked a couple of songs just for fun (‘Magnet and Steel’ and ‘On and On’). It was an absolute blast, so we did a couple more… and a couple more, until suddenly we were looking at an entire album.”
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What Keith Urban Says About ‘Flow State’
Urban was going through a painful personal time, including a divorce from his wife, Nicole Kidman, when he began creating the feel-good record.
“[It’s] an unexpected group of songs,” he tells the Associated Press. “And a very unexpected record to find me when it found me, because it was very much a 180 of what was going on at the time.”
“The record’s called ‘Flow State’ for a really good reason,” he continues. “It really was about just constant movement. And yeah, it was a challenging record to make at the same time, for something that kind of sounds so effortless. It was quite a juxtaposition at the time. But I’m really grateful for the way that the record turned out. And obviously I’m very, very protective of my family, and I’ve remained that way the whole time.”
While not everyone listening to Flow State may be going through their own heartache, Urban still finds all of the songs timely, for everyone.
“The music was almost an antidote to the stresses of the times,” the 58-year-old says. “And I think the reason it hits now is for the exact same reason it did back then, which is, there’s just so much divisiveness.”
All Of the Songs on Keith Urban’s ‘Flow State’
1. Steal Away
2. Baby Come Back
3. Magnet and Steel (ft. Little Big Town)
4. Just the Two of Us
5. On and On
6. We Go Back (ft. Michael McDonald)
7. Help Is On It’s Way
8. How Much I Feel
9. Summer Breeze
10. I Just Wanna Stop
11. Guitar Man (ft. John Mayer)
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Photo Credit: CMA / Acacia Evans