“We Were”
Keith Urban
Written by Eric Church, Jeff Hyde, Ryan Tyndell
Currently enjoying a victory lap after dual Entertainer of the Year awards from the CMA and the ACM, Keith Urban is apparently feeling nostalgic.
The ambitious sounds of Graffiti U have been replaced by the more generic arrangements that Urban was using in the years following Love, Pain, and the Whole Crazy Thing. Not quite country, not quite pop, not quite anything, really. It’s amazing how a banjo can’t even make something country these days, at least when paired with a drum machine.
Despite a co-write from Eric Church, “We Were” is also lyrically indistinct, treading familiar ground of longing for the good old days without the specific details (i.e. “barbecue stain on my white t-shirt”) that make such exercises come to life.
What saves the record? Urban, of course. Fact is, he’s an incredible singer still in his prime, and he can sell just about anything on record. The dude oozes empathy and humanity. He just needs better material.
Grade: C
Most of my favorite Urban songs are found in Golden Road and Be Here, but not a whole lot since. (I liked a Georgia Middleman-Radney Foster song, “I’m In”.) I do agree that he is an incredible singer. “We Were” debuted on KB’s Billboard chart at #24.
It sucks.
Urban has been creativity empty for years.