‘It’s very strange when the artist is sitting in the audience watching you play their song’

Once again, Keith Urban took over Friday night on your favorite Audacy Country station, joining Rob + Holly to talk about his latest album, HIGH, his performance at Opry 100, and his new series with Blake Shelton.

“Well, they asked me to do a song from one of the Opry members, and then one of my own songs,” Urban shared about his performance at Opry 100. “For some reason I just thought about Crystal Gayle, and I was like, ‘oh, I might do ‘Don’t It Make My Brown Eyes Blue.’ I love that song, and, so I did it and they invited Crystal to be in the audience. So literally she’s sitting in the front row as I’m singing ‘Don’t It Make My Brown Eyes Blue’ to Crystal Gayle. It was crazy.”

“It’s a little intimidating,” Keith revealed, to sing an artist’s song back to them, but it’s not the first time it’s happened for the “STRAIGHT LINE” star. “I did a Neil Young tribute one time and he was in the audience. It’s happened occasionally. Barry Gibb from the Bee Gees, I did a song of his in front of him. It’s very strange when the artist is sitting in the audience watching you play their song.”

A completely different performance experience hits Urban and Blake Shelton on their TV series, The Road, where the two look for up-and-coming artists as opening acts in spots across America. “We’re having a great time doing this, and to see all of these musicians that are competing against each other in a real setting. I mean, this is not a TV studio, it’s a real club. We’re really playing clubs in Oklahoma and Texas and Arkansas, we’re playing Memphis next week. It’s a real world thing,” smiled Keith. “You’re walking out on stage. That audience doesn’t know who you are, they don’t care who you are, and you’re opening for me in this show, and they’ve got two songs where they gotta make an impression with the audience, and the audience votes.”

“So by the end of the night, we know who’s not going on to the next city.”

To hear much more from Keith Urban, check out the full conversation above.