Hear Keith Urban and New Tourmates’ Loose Adele Cover
Keith Urban is the latest country artist to cover a song from pop’s reigning queen, Adele, and he had some help from a pair of rising country stars with whom he’ll be spending a lot of time this year. Unveiling details of his upcoming Ripcord World Tour during a special event at SiriusXM’s Music City Theater in downtown Nashville on Monday (January 11th), Urban was joined by tourmates Brett Eldredge and Maren Morris for an acoustic performance of Adele’s 2010 breakthrough hit “Rolling in the Deep.”
Morris, whose dusky vocal style is perfectly suited for the tune, carried the first verse even though she needed a little help recalling the words at one point. Eldredge soon joined in to supply harmonies as Urban strummed a steady rhythm on acoustic guitar. Once they reached the chorus, he joined in for three-part harmony which was nearly drowned out by the cheering crowd. Eldredge then turned up the heat during his soulful delivery of the second verse. “We’ll figure out something for the tour,” Urban said as the song ended, giving future concertgoers a clue that there could be more collaborations in the offing from the three performers.
The first leg of the upcoming 50-date tour, which kicks off on June 2nd in Kansas City, Missouri, is just one of the projects Urban has on the horizon. He’s also currently paring down the tracks for his upcoming eighth studio album, also titled Ripcord. While details of the LP are still scare, Urban says his decision on which tracks form a complete album comes from the songs themselves.
“Ideally, I like to record them and get them fully finished, if that’s 17, 18, 20 songs. I think songs tend to tell you which ones constitute a record. They feel right,” Urban tells Rolling Stone Country. “But obviously from my point too, I want to represent a particular theme. . . It’s an odd thing. It’s like describing a color. It’s a bit elusive. I just let the music talk really. It’s much better at it than I am.”