Keith Urban can by now fill as many arenas and amphitheaters as he wants, but he well remembers his days of playing in bars and clubs, hoping to get his career off the ground. The Grand Ole Opry member helped another aspiring artist, Kayley Green, who usually spends her weekends singing on Lower Broadway in Nashville, by inviting her to sing two songs with him while performing at Bridgestone Arena on October 7, as part of his The Speed of Now World Tour..
“[That] is where I started,” Urban told The Tennesseean, ahead of his show. “I started playing five nights a week, four hours a night for well over a decade and worked my way up to these places. They’re my tribe, the people who are sweating it out right now in the clubs.”
While there are numerous artists playing in Music City who Urban could have granted the invitation, it was Green’s “amazing voice,” which led him to reach out to her.
“And she’s ready to play on that stage in front of everybody,” he added.
Indeed she was. The South Carolina native performed both a jaw-dropping version of the challenging Martina McBride hit, “Independence Day,” as well as a collaboration with Urban on “We Were Us.”
“I know people [who] have played on the road for years and never played Bridgestone,” Green reflected of the invitation. “That’s crazy. That’s nuts. It’s the biggest call of my life.”
Urban shared a clip of Green’s performances on social media, praising the rising star.
There was a theme for our Nashville show: BROADWAY TO THE BIG TIME. Our guests highlighted that journey, representing those playing on Broadway to those headlining Nissan. @KayleyGreen has been putting in the hours at The Stage. Once you hear her sing you won’t forget her !!! pic.twitter.com/gEM1xJA53X
— Keith Urban (@KeithUrban) October 9, 2022
“The first thing I wanted to do tonight is something different. I wanted to find somebody who is playing in a cover band, anywhere on Lower Broad, and bring them here to do a song,” he explained. “There’s a girl who I heard singing. She plays in a band that is down at The Stage on a regular basis, putting in her hours, night after night, week after week. I thought she had an amazing voice, so we’re going to bring her out to sing for you.”
Green wasn’t the only artist Urban highlighted during the show. He invited Luke Combs out to perform, and also paid tribute to the late Loretta Lynn.
“This week we watched one of our honky-tonk angels ascend,” Urban said, referring to Lynn, before launching into “Blue Kentucky Girl” and “You’re Looking at Country. “We love you, Loretta.”
Urban’s The Speed of Now World Tour, which includes Ingrid Andress iand Tyler Hubbard, will play its last show in the United States on November 5 in Minnesota. Urban will take his tour to Australia in December, wrappng up on December 17 in Melbourne. Find music and tour dates at KeithUrban.com.