Born in New Zealand and raised in Australia, Keith City is among the most distinguished and profitable examples of nation music’s worldwide attain whereas additionally being a bona fide Nashville star. City spent years honing his distinctive, evocative singing voice and spectacular guitar and banjo abilities down underneath earlier than he lastly broke stateside within the late ’90s. He’s been a fixture of Music Row ever since, churning out 18 No. 1 nation songs whereas incomes 4 Grammys and a slew of different awards.
His distinctive type is rooted within the ’70s and ’80s rock music he got here up listening to, with a lot of stadium-ready guitar riffs and upbeat grooves which are danceable with out essentially inviting a traditional nation two-step. By integrating hovering guitar solos and pop grooves into his music, City traced a brand new mannequin for bringing Prime 40 and nation radio nearer collectively and anticipated the methods rock sounds would come to dominate the style’s business arm.
Beneath are 20 of his greatest songs, exhibiting the methods City has broadened Nashville’s sound and attraction throughout his many years within the nation music enterprise.
20. “Put You In A Song” (2010)
Collaborating with Sarah Buxton — who cowrote “Stupid Boy” — in addition to Australian singer-songwriter Jedd Hughes, Keith City got here up with this lovelorn meta-tune. It suits neatly in his wheelhouse as an uptempo love track, with guitars that edge into rock territory whereas nonetheless aligning properly with the general ambiance of the period’s nation radio. There’s slightly little bit of a classic rockabilly sensibility to this one as nicely that units it aside from its friends in City’s catalog.
19. “I Told You So” (2006)
This single discovered Keith City leaning into his rock influences, in addition to a number of the Celtic sounds he used on earlier releases. Extra edgy and fewer bubbly than a lot of his hits, the track additionally allowed City to experiment slightly stylistically: he performed seven totally different devices on the monitor, which he additionally wrote and co-produced.
18. “Raise ‘Em Up” (2015)
Joined by fellow hitmaker Eric Church, Keith City takes a extra severe flip with this duet — an ode to not simply pleasure and gratitude, but additionally exhausting work and sacrifice. It has a number of the identical guitar-driven vitality that defines so a lot of City’s singles, channeled with precision in direction of the track’s thought-provoking lyrics. There’s a little bit of U2’s affect throughout Fuse, the album from which this single is drawn, and it’s audible right here in the best way City combines expansive sounds with Music Row rootsiness.
17. “I’m In” (2009)
Keith City’s cowl of this 1998 Radney Foster monitor provides attribute levity, with the singer-songwriter utilizing his robust pop sensibilities to show the track right into a close to chart-topper (it reached No. 2 on Billboard’s nation chart). It’s the second Radney Foster tune that City lined in his profession — the primary was “Raining on Sunday,” which was on the identical album as “I’m In.” Romantic and charming with only a trace of City’s favored rockish edge, the track grew to become one other crowd-favorite uptempo love track for the hitmaking singer-songwriter.
16. “Somewhere In My Car” (2013)
An unforgettable banjo riff, layered with a driving groove and stadium-ready guitars — with that unmistakable combo, you’ve received one other hard-to-resist Keith City single, by which the singer-songwriter’s irrepressible vitality retains issues transferring at a danceable clip. City paints an image of a timeless romantic fantasy that wound up persevering with his hit streak — by this level over a decade lengthy — at U.S. nation radio, touchdown at No. 1 on Billboard’s newly created Nation Airplay Chart.
15. “Who Wouldn’t Wanna Be Me” (2002)
One in all Keith City’s many banjo-driven nation anthems, tailored for cruising down the freeway not less than a number of miles per hour over the velocity restrict, the track grew to become his third No. 1 on Billboard’s nation chart. The monitor was each co-written and produced by City himself, a window into his distinctive, jam-ready tackle nation pop that’s not often self-serious when it may be exuberant.
14. “We Were Us” (2013)
Keith City was joined by Miranda Lambert for this nostalgic checklist track that was named the Musical Occasion of the 12 months on the 2014 CMA Awards. Their voices mix seamlessly, with each artists’ rock-versed singing types showcased nicely by the track’s energetic preparations. It’s all construct on this anthem, as City layers banjo and guitar in usually virtuosic style to create a driving backdrop for his or her heartfelt musical dialog.
13. “Kiss A Girl” (2009)
One in all Keith City’s greatest pop crossover efforts, reaching No. 16 on Billboard’s Scorching 100, “Kiss A Girl” exhibits City’s aughts rock bona fides with its chugging guitar pulse and hovering solos. It hit with nation followers too, exhibiting the ever-tight hyperlink between these two audiences because it grew to become yet one more high 5 hit for the prolific singer.
12. “John Cougar, John Deere, John 3:16” (2015)
Written by Music Row heavy-hitters Shane McAnally, Ross Copperman, and Josh Osborne, this track is crammed with conventional nation touchstones. Regardless of its typical subject material, the track’s sound is pretty funky for Nashville courtesy of a bass line by City himself — a accountability added on high of his common guitar duties. The sing-a-long prepared tune finally grew to become a streaming hit, incomes an RIAA platinum certification two years after its launch.
11. “Better Life” (2004)
Keith City co-wrote this upbeat striver’s tune with Richard Marx, including to his canon of banjo-driven country-pop singles in addition to his roster of No. 1 nation songs — “Better Life” was his seventh, simply 5 years after he broke onto the American nation scene. It’s simply one of many many profitable examples of City’s musical optimism, along with his hovering sung encouragement driving the propulsive tune.
10. “You Look Good In My Shirt” (2002)
Initially a 2002 near-single that grew to become a fan favourite though it was pulled from the airwaves, a stay model of the flirty “Shirt” received rereleased as a correct single six years later and have become Keith City’s eighth nation No. 1 hit. The spunky unique, although, nonetheless holds up for many who haven’t already witnessed certainly one of City’s sprawling stay exhibits. His efficiency oozes twang, from his singing to his always-memorable guitar riffs.
9. “You Gonna Fly” (2010)
Co-written by the nation duo LoCash in addition to Cadillac Three’s Jaren Johnston, “You Gonna Fly” is all rock riffs and get-up-and-go lyrics (there’s even a ref’s whistle, presumably to cue some kind of beginning line). Keith City sells these sorts of songs higher than most, along with his energetic, rhythmic melodies punctuating the layers of guitars and different stringed devices. If you happen to pay attention intently, you’ll hear Little Huge City’s Karen Fairchild and Kimberly Schlapman singing backup on the track’s inspiring refrain.
8. “Sweet Thing” (2008)
The opening single from his sixth studio album, Defying Gravity, “Sweet Thing” discovered Keith City on the high of his seductive pop-country recreation almost a decade into his U.S. profession. It earned him accolades that had been, by this level, acquainted to him — one other Greatest Male Nation Vocal Efficiency Grammy and one other No. 1 — however didn’t sound just like the work of a veteran. As an alternative, it’s all youthful exuberance and verve, scorching dates on nation nights, upbeat banjo, and charming harmonies — traditional City.
7. “Where The Blacktop Ends” (1999)
Keith City could not have reinvented the wheel with this dust highway anthem, the final single off his self-titled American debut — nevertheless it’s an ideal instance of the acquainted nation kind, showcasing an artist who was beginning to refine his virtuosic tackle nation pop. On “Blacktop,” City makes use of a lush, Celtic-tinged string part to attract out the tune’s backwoods hoedown really feel; Steve Wariner, the track’s co-writer, additionally seems on guitar. “I’m lookin’ down the barrel of Friday night” is only one of this track’s immediately compelling, hooky lyrics.
6. “Blue Ain’t Your Color” (2016)
Arduous to get extra sudden than sending a pop-tinged waltz to nation radio, however “Blue” grew to become a smash. The track, co-written by Nashville heavyweight Hillary Lindsey, is a candy showcase of Keith City’s vocal prowess, with the singer exhibiting that he can croon simply in addition to he can promote uptempo get together tracks and heartbreak songs. The monitor’s core wordplay is pure nation even when the string-driven backdrop isn’t — a dose of balladry that greater than balances out City’s largely upbeat catalog.
5. “Long Hot Summer” (2010)
A timeless entry in nation music’s huge summer season track catalog, this scorching monitor is all open highway with the home windows down and ice-cold longnecks on a patio — a love track shrouded in seasonal lingo. It was even pushed as a single in City’s native Australia earlier to be correct to the southern hemisphere’s seasons (stateside, it was launched as a single in June 2011). One in all City’s extra party-ready entries, “Long Hot Summer” is tailored for any sweaty gathering.
4. “Days Go By” (2004)
An ode to dwelling within the second with slightly little bit of repudiation of 9 to five dwelling thrown in for perspective, “Days” captures that very same joie de vivre that City had by this level develop into recognized for. “Somewhere in the race we run, we’re coming undone,” he sings, conjuring some sunny day and open area on the opposite aspect of the day by day commute. Shiny banjo and a chugging, rock-tinged backbeat mix to make the City co-write that rather more partaking.
3. “Wasted Time” (2016)
With its danceable synths and scream-ready refrain, “Wasted Time” is certainly one of Keith City’s most irresistible get together tunes — definitely match for the summer season nights he’s singing about however not solely suited to seashores and barbecues. Its banjo solo is one for the books, and its message concerning the instances if you’re not doing something being a number of the better of all is evergreen. He was pushing nation pop to its aesthetic limits with this one, and it labored completely.
2. “Stupid Boy” (2006)
This energy ballad wasn’t Keith City’s most profitable single when it was launched, although it nonetheless peaked at No. 3 on Billboard’s nation chart. Nevertheless it’s develop into certainly one of his most beloved signatures, a transferring depiction of some doofus who doesn’t recognize his companion that showcases City’s vocal ability as an interpreter — he even received his second Grammy for Greatest Male Nation Vocal Efficiency for the recording. Recorded on the behest of his spouse Nicole Kidman, the track discovered City taking the (too usually uncommon in nation music) tack of voicing a girl’s perspective — it additionally had two ladies co-writers, Deanna Bryant and Sarah Buxton.
1. “Somebody Like You” (2002)
If you happen to haven’t heard it already — sure, you’ve. The primary single off Keith City’s second stateside launch, Golden Highway, and the singer’s second No. 1 track on Billboard’s Scorching Nation Songs chart (it additionally reached No. 23 on the Scorching 100) went on to develop into the most important nation track of the last decade. The bubbling love track showcased each City’s songwriting (he co-wrote it with genre-agnostic scribe John Shanks) and banjo chops (curiously, a banjo-free model appeared on the How To Lose A Man In 10 Days soundtrack). The smash was co-produced by Dann Huff —City’s go-to collaborator since — spurred the singer-songwriter’s ascent to mega-stardom.
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