A new song is here from Keith Urban! The New Zealand native just released “Heart Like A Hometown,” from his forthcoming HIGH album, out on September 20.
Urban announced the song on social media, sharing a few photos of him from his younger years.
‘When I was a kid, our family moved around a lot,” Urban writes. “For me, a ‘hometown’ has always felt more about my family and a place inside of me – somewhere I could find my center. It’s right there in the song title…this song has ‘heart!!’ Heart Like A Hometown’ is out now.”
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In a press release, Urban expounded on “Heart Like A Hometown,” and what inspired him to write the song.
“When I was a kid, our family moved around a lot,” Urban explains. “By the 5th grade, I’d been in four schools and lived in nine different houses. So, a ‘hometown’ felt more about my family, and a place inside of me, somewhere I could find my center. It’s a theme that’s always spoken to me. Songs like Don Williams’ ‘If Hollywood Don’t Need You’ and Glen Campbell’s ‘Country Boy (You Got Your Feet in LA)’ and a song I recorded on my Fuse album, ‘Come Back To Me.’ Those songs and this one all share a similar feeling, a kind of grounded safety, familiarity and a place where I can always find me.”
The title of the 12-track record, a result of another project that he scrapped, was inspired by the feeling Urban gets every time he writes a song.
“When I’m writing a song, or when I’m in the studio recording it, or even when it’s coming to life on the stage, it’s the same feeling of being ‘in the flow.’ It’s timeless, it’s weightless – and I feel euphoric – I feel HIGH,” says the singer-songwriter.
“What makes you ‘high’ can mean whatever you want it to mean,” he adds. “It might be physical, spiritual, herbal, meditative, chemical or musical, but it’s definitely a place of utopia.”
Urban has a Top 20 single with “Messed Up As Me,” the debut single from HIGH. He’s also released “Straight Line,” “Wildside” and his “Go Home W U” duet with Lainey Wilson.
“Maybe two years ago, somebody had played me a song that she had recorded, I think maybe even before she started working with Jay Joyce,” Urban tells Audacy’s US99, recalling hearing Wilson’s voice for the first time. “It was just her voice, ‘Who is this?’ … There’s a thing, a je ne sais quoi, a certain quality that you can’t put your finger on.”
“It was just like, I heard her voice in a way that I thought, ‘I think our voices would go good together if we could find the right song,’” he adds.
See a track list for HIGH below. Urban will kick off his 10-show HIGH residency in Las Vegas on October 4. Pre-order of his new HIGH album is available here. Find all of Urban’s music and upcoming shows at KeithUrban.com.
HIGH Track List:
1. “BLUE SKY”
2. STRAIGHT LINE
3. MESSED UP AS ME
4. WILDSIDE
5. GO HOME W U (WITH LAINEY WILSON)
6. CHUCK TAYLORS
7. DAYTONA
8. LOVE IS HARD
9. HEART LIKE A HOMETOWN
10. LAUGHIN’ ALL THE WAY TO THE DRANK
11. DODGE IN A SILVERADO
12. BREAK THE CHAIN