Keith Urban's 'Flow State' Goes Full Yacht Rock
Get the Culture newsletter
Daily culture — film, music, books, the trends and ideas worth your attention. Free.
- Keith Urban released his 13th album 'Flow State' on Friday, comprising mostly covers including 'Summer Breeze' and 'Just the Two of Us,' with features from Little Big Town, John Mayer, and Michael McDonald, co-produced by Dann Huff — a session player on seminal 1980s yacht-rock records.
- Charles Kelley of Lady A launched 'Y'all Aboard' on SiriusXM's Yacht Rock Radio last month, spinning soft tunes with guests like Russell Dickerson, Dustin Lynch, and Trisha Yearwood, and telling Rolling Stone country artists are 'obsessed with yacht rock.'
- Morgan Wallen's '7 Summers' is cited as evidence the relaxed West Coast sound has already broken through to country radio.
- Yacht or Nyacht ranks Ronnie Milsap's 'Where Do the Nights Go' at 60.5 and lists Dolly Parton's 1980 track 'Some Old Fool' among Nashville's highest-scoring yacht-rock songs.
- 'Hollywood' Steve Huey, host of the Yacht or Nyacht podcast, says about half of Urban's track listing counts as genuine yacht rock and praises the 'sense of groove' on the tracks that qualify.
- Nashville Yacht Club Band, led by Jay Barclay, has filled the traditional country venue Scoreboard in Music Valley with monthly yacht-rock covers and is booked for Old Dominion's Moon Crush Beach Vacation festival this fall.
Why it matters: For Nashville, the question is whether yacht rock is a passing dalliance or a real sonic shift. Urban's album, a dedicated SiriusXM channel, and packed cover-band shows suggest the crossover has moved from novelty to programming — giving established country artists a softer commercial lane and giving yacht-rock gatekeepers a fresh catalog to adjudicate.
Ask SkimNews
