Keith Urban

With so many country musicians still advocating the tear-in-beer formula for the tried-and-true tones of twangy songwriting, it's refreshing to hear this uplifting and inspired celebration of life and love. Even his cover of Sir Elton John's "Country Comfort" is a glass-raising ode to country living.

Urban's "You'll Think of Me" was the best breakup song of the year in any genre, a carefully
detailed evisceration of a petulant ex. He turns the cruel lens on himself with "The Hard
Way," the starkest track on Be Here. His fifth album's main fault: Most of it is saddled by
stubbornly traditional country-rock arrangements ("Days Go By," "Better Life") that worked
for, say, John Mellencamp, but that Urban doesn't quite have the gravel pipes to... More >