Keith Urban is singing Kix Brooks’ praises.
Urban said that Brooks, who is one half of the duo Brooks & Dunn, was one of his earliest career champions, according to a new interview with Taste Of Country.
When asked by the outlet which artist helped him early on in his career, Urban said, “Kix Brooks, hands down, top of the list.”
“I’ve been very fortunate to have lots of headline acts be very good to me over my support act years [with] Kenny Chesney being another one who was great to me. But Kix I always think of, because he was certainly the first in Nashville who really went above and beyond in believing what I was doing and supporting us,” he explained.
Prior to launching his solo country music career, Urban used to play in a band called The Ranch and Brooks would come and watch their shows, he shared.
“He would come out to see us play and he came out this one night — I think the very first time he saw us play — he came out to this dingy little club we were playing and he had just been at some highfalutin black tie event with his wife, Barbara, and they decided to swing by this club on their way home,” Urban said.
“They walked in dressed to the nines in this complete, down-trodden, beer-soaked, shag-carpeted place. And there was no seating there; it was tiny. It was full of people. He found a seat for Barbara and there was none for him, so he just came and sat on the filthy carpet in his nice suit right at the foot of the stage,” he continued.
Despite the gig taking place in a less than ideal setting, Brooks offered Urban and his fellow members of The Ranch the opportunity to tour with him and Ronnie Dunn.
Though Urban didn’t think Brooks was serious at first, he and his band wound up hitting the road. Urban also shared a memory about how Brooks looked out for him while they toured together.
“Kix stayed behind after he did his soundcheck and walked around, talked to all the road crew like, ‘These are our boys. Take great care of them. Anything they need,’” Urban recalled. “He was just a champion. He was a class act, right from day one,” he said.
Urban is currently performing on his Speed Of Now Tour.