Keith Urban Debuts ‘John Cougar, John Deere, John 3:16′ at the 2015 CMT Music Awards
Keith Urban's brand-new single, “John Cougar, John Deere, John 3:16,” was just released on Tuesday (June 9), and much to fans' delight, the singer performed it at the 2015 CMT Music Awards.
Urban's new tune is the type of song that will get stuck in your head forever -- but in a really good way. At the awards show, the singer-songwriter jammed on his electric guitar and sang the ultra-catchy melody, combining the best of country and pop and name-checking everyone from John Wayne to Kris Kristofferson. (His new, edgier haircut was another high point.)
The song wasn't just love at first listen for fans -- Urban felt it, too.
“[The song] was sent to me a few months ago by one of the songwriters, and I loved it immediately — loved it so much that right before I walked out on stage at the Ryman for CRS a few months back, I thought I’d play the song solo acoustic to see what the audience thought," he says.
Well, that audience loved Urban's performance of "John Cougar, John Deere, John 3:16," and that was all it took.
“Flash forward, and there’s no doubt that their response that day helped make it the first single from what will be my next album," explains Urban.
The song was written by Shane McAnally, Ross Copperman and Josh Osborne, and co-produced by Urban and Dann Huff.
At the 2015 CMT Music Awards, Urban received nods for Male Video of the Year, for "Somewhere in My Car," and CMT Performance of the Year, for “It’s a Man’s, Man’s, Man’s World” from the 2014 CMT Artists of the Year.
Urban's hard at work on a new album and will appear at the 2015 Taste of Country Music Festival and Country Jam 2015 this summer.
Listen to Keith Urban, "John Cougar, John Deere, John 3:16":
2015 CMT Awards Red Carpet Photos