Keith Urban Debuts New Song ‘We Were’ at 2019 Country Radio Seminar [Watch]
Keith Urban and Hootie & the Blowfish provided the two biggest highlights of Universal Music Group's showcase concert at Nashville's legendary Ryman Auditorium at the 2019 Country Radio Seminar on Thursday (Feb. 14).
Urban took the stage at the Mother Church of Country Music to perform a new song titled "We Were," which is from a new album that he announced he's been working on since coming off the road recently. The song is such a work in progress that the county superstar had to stop and start over, and when he got to the chorus, Urban forgot the words, stopping to sheepishly apologize to the industry-only crowd of radio programmers, artists, journalists and other country music insiders. He finished the song flawlessly to an enthusiastic response from the crowd.
Hootie & the Blowfish recently signed to UMG, and they surprised the audience at the Ryman by staging an unannounced reunion mini-set on the Ryman stage on Thursday afternoon, performing their classic songs "Only Wanna Be With You" and "Hold My Hand" to close out the showcase to rousing applause.
Other highlights of the show included Little Big Town, who debuted a new female empowerment song that centered around the tag line, "I'm just looking for a god for the daughters." Jon Pardi played a new song titled "I Want Tequila Little Time With You," and Travis Denning impressed the audience with both his vocals and guitar chops when he performed "After a Few."
Vince Gill was also among the artists who took the stage to perform, thanking the assembled radio crowd for their support over a decades-long career. He recently celebrated 30 years on MCA, and he performed a song on Thursday that he says he wrote "many years ago" titled "Letter to My Mama" that will be included on an album he is currently working on.
The Country Radio Seminar began in Nashville on Wednesday (Feb. 13), and it wraps up Friday night (Feb. 15) with the annual New Faces of Country Music performance, which features Jimmie Allen, Russell Dickerson, Lindsay Ell, Lanco and Dylan Scott in 2019.
See the 2018 CRS New Faces of Country Music