Keith urbans you look good in my shirt lick

As if SXSW doesn't have enough cool stuff going on — the panels, the bands, the networking, the parties, the culture of Austin, Texas — one of this year's keynote speaker sweetened the deal just a little bit more. The New Zealand native was quick to credit his drummer father for turning him onto his love of country. As a 5-year-old, Urban had the chance to see the legendary Johnny Cash in concert, which captured the young artist's imagination. By age 6, Urban was taking guitar lessons and learning from the country records spinning in his parents' house as well as the local bands in his area. When he discovered the "chicken pickin'" style of guitar players such as Skaggs, the deal was sealed.

Drum machines—often mixed with live-in-the-studio drum performances—are all over Ripcord. The record could as easily be called modern country, pop, or, um, urban, as it features collaborations with Carrie Underwood, Nile Rodgers, Pitbull, and others from those various musical worlds. Typical of those genres, the record is light on guitar solos, but unlike them it is rife with guitar. And, despite using backing tracks and samples onstage, Urban is also able deliver shows that are more spontaneous than many self-contained bands. The Australian-born guitarist took time to tell GP just how his human picking interacts with the machine world.

When he was two, his family moved to Australia, where he grew up around Brisbane. Urban was already singing and playing guitar for talent shows when he was eight years old. Moving to Nashville in , the aspiring country star formed a band called the Ranch. Though Urban calls the rumors he spent time as a session player after leaving the Ranch untrue, he nevertheless began getting calls from high-profile artists like Garth Brooks and the Dixie Chicks, wanting him to add his brand of guitar excitement to their projects. That same tune contains a concise solo by turns funky, melodic, and raunchy.

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