Keith Urban Released New Single ‘Coming Home’ With Caveat [LISTEN]
Keith Urban just dropped a new track, ‘Coming Home.’ He revealed, however, that the song would’ve sounded different without the permission of Merle Haggard’s family.
By Admin on March 21, 2018
Keith Urban revealed that the release of his brand new single, “Coming Home,” required getting some permission first. He said that he didn’t want to deliver the song without the permission of Merle Haggard’s family.
It was so important to Keith that he even added Merle as a songwriting credit for the song. “Coming Home” is a duet with pop singer Julia Michaels.
So why is Merle such a huge presence in this track? Because Keith borrowed the opening guitar riff of Merle’s “Mama Tried.”
Keith told Taste of Country:
“‘Coming Home’ started with an idea I had of using the intro of one of my favorite Haggard songs, ‘Mama Tried,’ to build an entirely new song around it. Then, I took the idea to J.R. Rotem and he put some chords around it. I jotted down the first words that the music made me feel, jumped on a mic and sang the chorus.”
He continued:
“Hearing that rolling Haggard guitar lick sparked memories of my childhood — and my dream to come to America. I knew right then the story of the song was about the struggles of being in a city where your dreams have brought you, but far from your home — wherever, whomever and whatever that is for each of us.”
It wasn’t enough to just give Merle a writing credit, though. Keith wanted to make sure that Merle’s wife and son were on board:
“I called Theresa Haggard and Ben Haggard to play them what we’d been working on. It was important to me to have their blessing — and I’m so grateful that they love the song.”
Listen to “Coming Home” below.
