Keith Urban Reflects on Importance of July 4th Holiday: 'It's Common, Shared Beliefs'

Keith Urban might have been born in New Zealand and grown up in Australia, but in many ways, he is still a proud American. The 51-year-old is opening up about the upcoming July 4th holiday, explaining why it matters so much to him, especially considering his childhood Down Under.

"It's common, shared beliefs and identity," Urban explained. "And I think at its core, it's an incredibly strengthening, vital thing for our people to have, and it's particularly gratifying in the midst of so much separating of ideas that it can get fractious. And it's kind of nice that a sense of patriotism can remind everybody of the unity."

When Urban moved to Nashville, he was, like so many others, an aspiring singer-songwriter, hoping his music caught on.

"I didn't have any choice. I didn't really have a backup plan," he recently shared with PopCulture.com and other media. "It always, right as it felt like, 'Man, I'm just hitting my head against a brick wall. Nothing is happening,' there'd be a little break of some sort, even if it was tiny. There'd be like, 'Okay, there's a little momentum forward.' That always kept me going, but I always felt like what I'm trying to do is just around the corner, and they just kept moving that corner.

"It was like an [artist] M.C. Escher," he added. "It just kept moving. But it was always just there, just sort of like, dangled a carrot. Then I just kept going and eventually they stopped moving the corner."

The reigning CMA and ACM Entertainer of the Year is grateful people understood his sometimes eclectic music, far surpassing his own dreams for himself.

"I feel pulled to particular music when I'm creating, and I don't know where it goes sometimes, but I just wander along and float, and see where it goes," Urban said. "Sometimes it wanders off to a place I haven't been before, and I don't expect that people will support it necessarily.

"So when it happens like that, and I get to make a record like Graffiti U, or particularly Ripcord, those two records, and they get supported the way they have," he added, "it's an incredible feeling, for any artist."

Urban is spending the summer on his revamped Graffiti U World Tour, playing fairs and festivals all over the country. Find dates by visiting his website.

Photo Credit: Getty / Jason Kempin