Keith Urban Recalls Being 'So Humiliated' on His 'Worst Day' in Country Music

LONDON, ENGLAND - MAY 06: (EDITORIAL USE ONLY) Keith Urban performs live on stage at Hammersmith Apollo on May 06, 2022 in London, England. (Photo by Jim Dyson/Getty Images)

Celebrities love to talk about the highs of their careers, but it's not too often we hear about the lows.

In a new interview with Taste of Country's Evan Paul, Keith Urban is flipping the script, offering fans a look at what he calls his "worst day" in the country music scene.

It happened very early on in his career, far before he was the household name he is today, when the "Somebody Like You" singer was touring radio stations to introduce himself—something he called a "grueling" process where "nobody knows who you are and nobody cares who you are."

At one station, he met the manager, who directed him and his acoustic guitar into a conference room to get ready to play for the employees that were going to gather. Only, the conference room was already occupied.

"I quickly shut the door, and I went back and I said to the station manager, 'There's a meeting going on in there, just give it a second,'" he remembered, but the manager was persistent, telling him to "slip in there quietly and get your guitar out and it will be all cool."

But as he began to set up, the group questioned him, leaving him feeling "so embarrass[ed]."

He returned to the station manager, ready to just bail on the whole thing after being "so humiliated," but the manager was determined to push forward, escorting Urban back to the room "like your dad walking in."

Urban continued, "He opens the door and says to everybody, 'Hey guys, this is a new artist and he is going to set up his guitar and he's going to sing a few songs.' They are like, 'fine, fine.'"

So he had to "set my guitar up and play to the exact people, sitting with their arms crossed and just huffing and puffing" in what sounds like an incredibly awkward encounter.

In the end, things went all right. The station brought in pizza and "it went fine," but the cycle of "those things that they could care less" that "you just gotta do" are, again, "grueling."

Next: See Keith Urban Surprise Travelers in Nashville Airport With Impromptu Concert