Keith Urban‘s hit song “Wild Hearts” was a collaborative effort. Written by Urban, along with Eric Paslay, Runaway June’s Jennifer Wayne and Old Dominion’s Brad Tursi, Urban initially passed on the track before reconsidering. “Brad and I happened to be golfing together that day,” Wayne told Everything Nash. “Keith Urban calls his cell phone. We knew he had it on hold, but we also knew the story that he passed on it first. So we just didn’t know anything. He called us and he was like, ‘Man, I just love this song so much.’ And he told us, ‘I originally passed on it, because the verses didn’t quite hit me the way that I wanted them to. But I woke up three days later, I couldn’t stop singing the chorus.’ He just went on and on about the chorus. He was like, ‘Do you care if I tweak some lines in the verse?’”
Urban quickly rewrote the lyrics to fit his story, but the exchange left a lasting impression on Wayne. “It was so sweet,” she said. “He’s so respectful of songwriters and songs. He was like, ‘I absolutely want, if this song can find a home the way it is, I do not want to take that from you guys. I want to respect the writers. You guys are all amazing.’ I mean, Keith was just unbelievable in the whole process. Then he made it personal about the first time he went to a concert, his dad took him to see Johnny Cash. And he was like, ‘I just remember looking at my dad and looking at the awe that my dad had for this man.’ He wanted his dad to look at him that way.”
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Wayne was grateful for Urban’s recording of a song she helped write and the opportunity to meet him behind the scenes. “I just can’t say enough nice things about him,” Wayne told the outlet. “He’s just incredible. When the song came out, he texted all of us. It’s like our little baby is out there ready to fly. What songwriter calls the artists like that personally and talks to them and tells them the whole story? He’s amazing. It’s pretty awesome.” Old Dominion even often includes “Wild Hearts” in their own setlist.
Urban discussed his enthusiasm for working with other artists with the UK radio station Smooth Country in 2021. “I’ve always loved collaborating,” he said. “I’ve always loved the discovery of unexpected collaborations, whether it’s with Pink or Nile Rodgers or Breland or Eric Church or whoever it is. Pitbull is on one of my tracks, from two albums ago [‘Sun Don’t Let Me Down,’ also featuring Rodgers, from 2016’s Ripcord].” He added that another dream team-up would remain unfulfilled.
“I really wanted to do something with Daft Punk, and I was heartbroken that they’ve disbanded,”Urban said. “That was somebody who was probably top of my list of artists who I really, really, really admire – the work that they have done in the studio. Because it’s the highest level of that kind of craftsmanship. They’re just unbelievably great at it.”
