Keith Urban Teases New Version of ‘We Were’ Will Soon Be Released

Keith Urban’s latest single, “We Were,” is still climbing the charts, but a new version will soon be available as well. The New Zealand-born star reveals on social media that an acoustic version will be released on Friday, Aug. 2.

“#WeWere Acoustic • 8.2.19,” Urban captioned the photo. Urban’s performance of “We Were” at CMA Fest will be part of the upcoming CMA Fest TV special, airing on Sunday, Aug. 4.

“I love it!” Urban said in a press release of the four-day Nashville event. “It’s like summer camp. I mean, it is! It’s a chance to obviously see a lot of people I don’t normally see. I don’t know. It’s just palpable. Since Fan Fair, it’s just been that sort of week-plus of energy; the town just explodes, and what it is we love about this genre and the community aspect of it. I always love it.”

“We Were” is from an upcoming, still-untitled new album for Urban. The song was co-written by Eric Church, although Urban had no idea who wrote the song when he decided to record it.

“It got sent to me, not by Eric, but by someone who finds songs for me,: Urban told Bobby Bones on his iHeartRadio The Bobby Bones Show. “I didn’t know he was a writer, which was really cool, because it wasn’t until we recorded the song, it was all done, and I found out after the fact. I found out and I called Eric, and I was like, ‘Dude, I just cut this song.’ He was thrilled. I said, ‘I had no idea that you were a writer on it.’

“He said, ‘Well that’s even better, because it means you really loved the song,’” he added. “I do. I really love the song.”

Urban might have been a fan of the song, but Church was as big of a fan of Urban recording the tune.

“That was the coolest thing for me,” Church told his record label. “I didn’t send Keith the song and say, ‘Here’s a song I wrote.’ He found it, and honestly, it fits him more than it fits me. There’s a line in there about ‘two heartbeats in the moonlight in leather jackets on a back of a Harley.’ I don’t ride a Harley. That’s a line, call it poetic license. That’s where it came from. He and Nicole [Kidman] used to do that when they first started dating, and they were touring. They would jump on his Harley and they would put on their leather jackets and they’d go ride up in the countryside before the show.

“I did not know that until after he cut that song. I truly believe songs find the path that they’re supposed to find, and that one was supposed to be with him. Now, as it goes No. 1 in a few weeks, I’m gonna rethink that a little,” Church continued. “It was perfect that he’s the guy that did that and did it better than I could have done it. I love hearing it on the radio. It’s fun for me. I came to this town to be a songwriter, so for me, I’m not sure if that’s not as proud as I’ve been as when you get a song cut by somebody else and then it becomes a hit.”

Photo Credit: Getty images / Erika Goldring