An Open Letter to Keith Urban

Dear Keith,

I have been a fan of your work since The Ranch, that's why what I have to say is so hard. I think you are a nice guy. I have actually met and talked to you. I liked the way you used to tick. You seemed aware of the world and of deeper things. The entire concept of Be Here appealed to me. I love your music; I love to see you in concert. I can get a contact high watching you play. But after this last week with the diva behavior over the soccer match, the questionable motorcycle wreck and now the appearance at a movie gala, it has become clear to me that you have made a choice. That choice is something I can't accept nor tolerate any longer. Keith, you have chosen the A-list sideshow over real life.

You talk about “balance”, but is it? You fly to Australia and disrupt your work. Your wife doesn't do that. You hang with her family and her friends. Your family and friends, and even the town you lived in have all but disappeared. That wonderful house that was built with everything you wanted was sold, and why? Because you can't go back to Nashville? Why? Is it too hard being around people who know and understand you? Is it easier to start fresh? Are you so damaged that you don't know who you are any more?

Is your addiction so severe that you are afraid of the past? Does that past include your fans? When you chose the A-list lifestyle, and many of us know you do like the finer things, did you think you could have it all?Please understand it is not because I am jealous or hate your wife or have some weird obsession with you. I believed in your work. I believed in the career you were building. I liked your music. I wanted people to hear it, more importantly, I wanted others to see you performing. You have a gift when you are on that stage and you can touch every single person in a room. You seem to have lost that since rehab. Yep, you can still touch the sky in concert but you don't linger there any more. I miss that. I miss the chills I used to get hearing you. I miss the themes and variations on the songs you chose for your records.

When Love Pain and the Whole Crazy Thing was released almost a year ago, you said it was a reflection. A reflection of your marriage, you said. I saw a man very uncomfortable with who he wants to be, who he chooses to see himself as,and who he really is. It hurt so many of your fans when you went to rehab, not because we were dependent on you, but because we cared. Yep your fans, while some are crazy, most of them are mature, functioning human beings who support you. Today I look at headlines about you and ask myself what am I supporting? Since the infamous motorcycle ride in the country in July of 2005, it is less about your music, performances, and songwriting and more about your private life. I know that the woman who you made the marriage contract with was very high profile, but Keith, so many people are high profile and they live quietly and quite happily. You aren't doing either. You look miserable more so now than in the past which apparently was all about the career - so you say. We knew you had relationships with women off-stage. There was never a time you were alone, was there? You dated a supermodel but you kept all of that private and it worked. Has the way you have been conducting your life recently been working? You played at Live Earth - the best performance that day, yet flew to New York in a private jet. That's very fake. You say you are normally private, yet all I ever read anymore about you is how you do or don't want children and that you aren't who you are today without your wife. I hate to remind you, but if it weren't for the fans and your career you would never have met her in the first place. The motorcycle incident is a prime example of what your life is today. Going to an AA meeting you say, and I don't have a reason to doubt that, but why should I even want or need to know that. Then being chased, or whatever it was, and an accident that could have killed you. You assessed blame not on yourself for speeding but on the paparazzi for following you. Keith you know why they are now following you. Keith Olbermann on Countdown reminded you that part of that 12 step model is the one step about admitting your own mistakes. Maybe that is what you should think about. What is working and what isn't. Unfortunately I have done that and have reached some conclusions.

I will no longer buy any of your work. I won't go to your concerts. I can't support your lifestyle any longer. I hope you can get it together and realize what you are losing and what you are left with. I can't believe in a man who I used to believe could talk to anyone without looking down on them and now flies to New York to have dinner with Rupert Murdoch and then gets in a group picture in the way he did with real people in a meet and greet. I won't buy the Greatest Hits. If there is something new on it I will have someone get a free copy. I never would have downloaded or bought a bootleg as I know how you felt about that. But you used to be someone else. I am also choosing to go an extra step and discourage people from buying your work or seeing you. No more DVD’s, no more hoping you get nominated and win an award. Your life choices have brought the wrong element to Nashville and Country Music. I wish you would make some changes, but I know I can no longer wait. Thank you for the past. I sincerely hope that you find whatever it is you are looking for. I pray for you and I hope you don't destroy yourself in the process. I will be looking in from time to time and will be back if it does change.

We all have to make choices,

A follower