Keith Urban's fourth album, Love, Pain & the Whole Crazy Thing, was released days after he entered a treatment center to treat his alcoholism.
The album debuted in the top spot in the Billboard country charts, scored four hit singles, and eventually went double platinum.
What's so remarkable about this is that Urban's rehabilitation regimen didn't allow him to tour for months after the disc's release, a move that could've hurt sales.
It didn't happen.
Urban's now trademark meld of country, pop, and rock & roll connects deeply with fans, and they are nothing if not loyal.
Defying Gravity is his fifth studio release, and in many ways it simultaneously builds on its predecessor while standing apart from it completely.
Certainly, there are similarities in sound and approach: Urban once again worked with Dan Huff to co-produce the set, and his signature manner of layering everything from strings and drum machines to banjos, pedal steel, crisp drums, and taut, sheeny electric guitars is a sound that belongs to him alone.
The other similarity is that this album is unapologetically one of redemption tomes colored as love songs in various shades and tempos -- though none of them are heartbreak songs.
He co-wrote eight of Defying Gravity's 11 tracks, and arranged all of them.
| Title/Composers | Performer | Listen | Time | Size | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kiss a GirlMonty Powell, Keith Urban | Keith Urban | Play | 03:46 | 8 MB | 27 MB |
| 3 mins | 8 MB | |||||
| 3 mins | 27 MB | |||||
| Artist | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tim Akers | Keyboards |
| 2 | Adam Ayan | Mastering |
| 3 | Drew Bollman | Assistant Engineer, Audio Engineer, Mixing Assistant |
| 4 | Bruce Bouton | Guitar (Steel) |
| 5 | Darrell Brown | Composer |
| 6 | Tom Bukovac | Ambience, Guitar (12 String Electric), Guitar (Acoustic), Guitar (Electric) |
| 7 | Joanna Carter | Art Direction |
| 8 | Danny Clinch | Photography |
| 9 | Eric Darken | Percussion |
| 10 | Stuart Duncan | Fiddle |
| 11 | Jerry Flowers | Composer, Vocals (Background) |
| 12 | Radney Foster | Composer |
| 13 | Mike "Frog" Griffith | Production Coordination |
| 14 | Mark Hagen | Overdub Engineer |
| 15 | Michelle Hall | Art Producer |
| 16 | Jeri Heiden | Design |
| 17 | Dann Huff | Ambience, Audio Production, E-Bow, Guitar (12 String Electric), Guitar (Acoustic), Guitar (Electric), Hi String Guitar, Mandocello, Mandolin, Producer |
| 18 | Charles Judge | Keyboards, Loops |
| 19 | Jill Lamothe | Art Producer |
| 20 | Tony Martin | Composer |
| 21 | Steve McEwan | Composer |
| 22 | Betsy McHugh | Art Direction |
| 23 | Chris McHugh | Drums, Percussion |
| 24 | Georgia Middleman | Composer |
| 25 | Seth Morton | Audio Engineer |
| 26 | Mark Nesler | Composer |
| 27 | Justin Niebank | Audio Engineer, Engineer, Mixing |
| 28 | Rick Nowels | Composer, Keyboards |
| 29 | Monty Powell | Composer |
| 30 | Rich Ramsey | Assistant Engineer, Audio Engineer |
| 31 | Dean Reid | Audio Engineer, Engineer |
| 32 | John Reid | Composer |
| 33 | Chris Rowe | Digital Editing |
| 34 | John Shanks | Composer |
| 35 | Adam Shoenfeld | Ambience, Guitar (Acoustic), Guitar (Electric) |
| 36 | Jimmie Lee Sloas | Bass, Guitar (Bass) |
| 37 | Nick Steinhardt | Design |
| 38 | Russell Terrell | Vocals (Background) |
| 39 | Keith Urban | Audio Production, Banjo, Composer, E-Bow, Guitar, Guitar (Acoustic), Guitar (Electric), Mandocello, Mandolin, Primary Artist, Producer, Slide Guitar, Soloist, Vocals, Vocals (Background) |
| 40 | Max Vadukul | Photography |
| 41 | Brian Willis | Digital Editing |
| Quality | Format | Encoding | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | MP3 | 320kps 44.1kHz | MP3 is an audio coding format which uses a form of lossy data compression. The highest bitrate of this format is 320kbps (kbit/s). MP3 Digital audio takes less amount of space (up to 90% reduction in size) and the quality is not as good as the original one. |
| CD Quality | FLAC | 16bit 44.1kHz | FLAC is an audio coding format which uses lossless compression. Digital audio in FLAC format has a smaller size and retains the same quality of the original Compact Disc (CD). |