Country fans continue to debate whether Lil Nas X‘s song “Old Town Road” deserved a spot on the country music charts or not. But regardless of the genre, Keith Urban is obviously a fan of the song. The Aussie recently posted an acoustic version of the song, with Urban playing banjo, captioning the video simply with the emoji for peace.
“Old Town Road” was originally climbing up the country charts, before Billboard ultimately removed it, citing the fact that it wasn’t country enough.
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“Upon further review, it was determined that ‘Old Town Road’ by Lil Nas X does not currently merit inclusion on Billboard’s country charts,” Billboard said in a statement, via Rolling Stone. “When determining genres, a few factors are examined, but first and foremost is musical composition. While ‘Old Town Road’ incorporates references to country and cowboy imagery, it does not embrace enough elements of today’s country music to chart in its current version.”
Billy Ray Cyrus recorded the song with Lil Nas X, which may appear on Cyrus’ upcoming SnakeDoctor album. But for Urban, who just released “Burden,” alongside Foy Vance, sticking to one genre has never been important to him.
“The listener is always going to decide what genre it fits into,” Urban previously told Rolling Stone Country, speaking of his latest Graffiti U album. “I’ve always made music that has felt not as country necessarily, that someone in Nashville may say, ‘Oh, this isn’t very country,’ but everybody else would say, ‘That’s totally country. What else is it?’
“It’s all relative to where you are, what you’re immersed in, and how you define genres as a listener,” he added. “My goal was to keep capturing my musical heart where it is right now. And it’s in motion. So this is musically where I’m at right now.”
The reigning ACM Entertainer of the Year continues to be amazed at the creative freedom afforded to him by his loyal fans.
“I think that’s what it is. It’s the support that I get for going on the creative adventures that I go on. I feel pulled towards particular music when I’m creating,” Urban told PopCulture.com and other media. “I don’t know where it goes most of the time, but I just sort of wander along, float, and see where it goes. Sometimes it wanders off to a place that I’ve never been before.
“I don’t expect that people will support it necessarily,” he continued, “so when it happens like that, when I get to make a record like Graffiti U or particularly Ripcord, those few records, and they get supported the way they have, it’s an incredible feeling for any artist.”
Photo Credit: Getty / Jason Kempin
