{"id":1704,"date":"2026-06-11T07:07:14","date_gmt":"2026-06-11T07:07:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/?p=1704"},"modified":"2026-06-11T07:07:14","modified_gmt":"2026-06-11T07:07:14","slug":"keith-urban-didnt-set-out-to-record-a-yacht-rock-record-but-then-he-entered-the-flow-state","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/?p=1704","title":{"rendered":"Keith Urban didn\u2019t set out to record a yacht rock record. But then he entered the \u2018Flow State\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
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NEW YORK \u2014 He\u2019s a country music star, but keen listeners know Keith Urban\u2019s songwriting style is fluid across genres. Still, surely no one expected the shift of his 2026 album, \u201cFlow State.\u201d It features an original song with music legend, Michael McDonald, and 10 yacht rock covers.<\/p>\n

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The term is used as a catchall for soft rock released in the mid-to-late \u201870s and early \u201980s. Think classics like Player\u2019s \u201cBaby Come Back\u201d and Grover Washington Jr. and Bill Withers\u2019 \u201cJust the Two of Us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even Urban is surprised by his pivot. Few saw it coming. \u201cI didn\u2019t either, no,\u201d he laughed.<\/p>\n

How Urban channeled the \u2018Flow State\u2019<\/h3>\n

It began with the recording. Urban purchased and restored the former Tracking Room studio in Nashville, renaming it The Sound. To break in the space, he hired a few session musicians. \u201cI suggested that we do a yacht rock song just because I\u2019ve always loved that loosely defined genre, and the songs are great and the arrangements are bulletproof,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Urban, producer Dann Huff and the band recorded two songs in one day. They were on fire, so a few more sessions were booked. And then a few more. \u201cI thought, well, maybe this will be an EP, something that\u2019s in between albums,\u201d he said. It kept growing, eventually revealing itself to be a full-length release. \u201cIt really took on a life of its own.\u201d<\/p>\n

Urban says he and his crew were playing and recording purely for the joy of it. He says yacht rock is the \u201cperfect genre for that spirit\u201d – one defined by a kind of ease of presence.<\/p>\n

But for his first album with covers, Urban wasn\u2019t interested in corrupting the classics or attempting to perfectly replicate them. \u201cFlow State\u201d exists somewhere in the middle, with his sonic signatures intact. Extended outros were a natural place for experimentation. Take, for example, \u201cSummer Breeze.\u201d After recording the track, Urban and engineer Mark Dobson decided to extend the end with keyboard and acoustic guitar. \u201cWe assembled it after the fact, and it became this other piece,\u201d he said. \u201cThose moments kept presenting themselves, of where we could make it our own while still honoring the original.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s prevalent throughout the album, including on the record\u2019s collaborations: Little Big Town on Walter Egan\u2019s \u201cMagnet and Steel\u201d and John Mayer on Bread\u2019s \u201cThe Guitar Man.\u201d<\/p>\n

Urban and Michael McDonald team up for \u2018We Go Back\u2019<\/h3>\n

The sole original track on \u201cFlow State\u201d is \u201cWe Go Back,\u201d a nostalgic tune about a couple who separate and meet up later in life. Urban wrote it with BRELAND, Sam Sumser and Sean Small in 2020. \u201cI said to the guys, \u2018Oh my God, if we\u2019re going to write a yacht rock song, imagine Mike McDonald singing in the chorus,\u201d he recalled.<\/p>\n

Fast forward to 2026, when the yacht rock covers album materialized, and Urban\u2019s manager suggested he work with Kenny Loggins or McDonald for it. They sent McDonald \u201cWe Go Back\u201d and the rest is history.<\/p>\n

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\u201cLuckily, he loved it,\u201d he said. \u201cBut man, six years later to actually have him on this song when we just imagined him singing it all those years ago was just crazy. It was so surreal.\u201d<\/p>\n

Especially since Urban wasn\u2019t thinking about writing originals for the album in the first place – the pieces simply fell into place.<\/p>\n

A balm in a tumultuous time for the world and post-divorce<\/h3>\n

Urban describes the songs he chose to cover on \u201cFlow State\u201d as feeling as good to sing now as they did when they were initial release.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe music was almost an antidote to the stresses of the times. And I think the reason it hits now is for the exact same reason it did back then, which is – there\u2019s just so much divisiveness,\u201d he explained. The songs give audiences in 2026 the opportunity to escape and to revel in the joyfulness of the music.<\/p>\n

They are a balm for listeners and for Urban.<\/p>\n

In January, actor Nicole Kidman and Urban were officially divorced after 19 years of marriage. The documents stated that the couple has undergone \u201cmarital difficulties and irreconcilable differences.\u201d<\/p>\n

Urban describes \u201cFlow State\u201d as \u201can unexpected group of songs and a very unexpected record to find me when it found me, because it was very much a 180 of what was going on at the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe record\u2019s called \u2018Flow State\u2019 for a really good reason,\u201d he continued. \u201cIt really was about just constant movement. And yeah, it was a challenging record to make at the same time, for something that kind of sounds so effortless. It was quite a juxtaposition at the time. But I\u2019m really grateful for the way that the record turned out and obviously I\u2019m very, very protective of my family and I\u2019ve remained that way the whole time.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for \u201cFlow State,\u201d he says there\u2019s real beauty in the idea that a yacht rock song can connect people to one another. \u201cOne theme, one feeling, one emotion that just lets us all exhale for a minute – and look up and see a blue sky – just for three minutes and 30 seconds, is so needed,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

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That, everyone can agree on.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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