‘Timing felt right’: Keith Urban’s brutal clean out as he splits from wife Nicole Kidman and longtime bandmates
Keith Urban's split from Nicole Kidman follows his January break with longtime bandmates, as lyrics from his latest album hint at relationship woes .
Keith Urban’s split with his wife Nicole Kidman is the second of two major breakups the musician has initiated this year.
In January, it emerged Urban had also ended his almost 30-year association with his band leader, bass guitarist Jerry Flowers.
Flowers had been at Urban’s side since 1997, when the duo formed the group The Ranch.
It was left to Flowers to announce the split on social media.
“It is with a heavy heart that after 25 years on stage with Keith Urban, Keith has decided to make a lineup change and I will no longer be in the band,” Flowers said.
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He wasn’t the only one to depart with stalwarts Nathan Barlow (guitar and vocals), Pete Kuzma (keyboard), Jeff Linsenmaier (track guy and Ableton) and Terence Clark (drums) all benched as Urban broke with tradition and moved ahead with plans to refresh his band.
Urban’s new band is Kevin Lee MacIntire (bass and backing vocals), Josh Kearney (guitars and banjo), Jimmy Paxton (drums) and Katie Ohh (guitar and vocals).
In June, Urban told Kyle Sandilands and Jackie “O” Henderson the “timing felt right” for change.
“It was just musically time for something a little bit different. I hadn’t made that change in a long, long time, and it just felt right. The timing felt right,” he said in an interview, which at times seemed forced as he promoted the upcoming Australian leg of his current High and Alive tour.
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He dodged a series of attempts by the breakfast duo to steer the conversation towards the singer’s wife, Kidman, whose name was not mentioned during the 16-minute interview.
When Sandilands tried repeatedly during the June 26 interview to direct the conversation towards Kidman by introducing topics - a break-in at the Kidman-Urban house in LA, how a wife can dictate a professional schedule and Urban’s good fortune at being married to a “movie star” wife – that might illicit an exchange about Kidman, Urban repeatedly batted the chat away.
Divorce papers unearthed this week show the pair have been negotiating the terms of their divorce for at least a month.
They are believed to have separated at the time Urban gave the KIIS FM interview.
Though Urban laughed like a drain throughout the interview, he periodically fell silent, leaving Sandilands and Henderson to awkwardly improvise questions such as “do you have a new car or anything?” in the hope of avoiding dead air.
Urban foreshadowed his split with wife Nicole Kidman on his latest album, which the musician has described as “completely expressive, true and honest.”
While ballads, breakups and boozin’ are the cornerstones of any country music album, Urban appears to have mined his marriage for his latest album, High, released in September 2024.
In the track Love is Hard, Urban sings about a relationship that’s running out of steam.
“It hurts when we fight, babe – it’s worse when we say nothin’,” he laments.
“Callin’ names and slammin’ doors - and keepin’ secrets and keepin’ scores…”
Songwriters Eren Cannata, Justin Tranter and Shane McAnally are credited with penning the lyrics.
Urban has said the album grew out of the ashes of a previously abandoned project.
“Sleepin’ in the same room – but I don’t even hear you. Would you even notice if I didn’t come home this weekend?” he sings in Love Is Hard.
“Love is hard – some things can and can’t be forgiven. Love is hard, it’s so hard, but I ain’t quittin’.”
In a second track on the album, a collaboration co-written by Urban entitled Straight Line, the songwriter sings, “You and me used to be like a year-round summer – let’s go back.”
“Why we livin’ every day in circles? Just burnin’ out, burnin’ out. I don’t wanna just go through the motions – Goin’ round and round it’s takin’ us down.”
In a subsequent verse, he references The Eagles’ classic Hotel California.
“Finally leavin’ Hotel California – couple runaways in a getaway car. Remember when this kinda high was us, babe? I wanna feel that way now… Let’s trade the past in the fadin’ rearview.”
Urban recently told a US media outlet the line “finally leavin’ Hotel California” spoke to him of ultimate freedom.
“There’s a line in Straight Line—‘finally leaving Hotel California’ — and the reason I love that line so much is because it’s the ultimate statement of breaking free.”
Originally published as ‘Timing felt right’: Keith Urban’s brutal clean out as he splits from wife Nicole Kidman and longtime bandmates
