Urban tours Nashville

In his interview, Urban talks about his first gigs in Music City, how it feels to perform in Nashville, his favorite part about creating an album and why Nashville remains so special to him.

Urban's first stop with Yahoo! Ram Country is the Country Music Hall of Fame. Once inside Urban stops to point out the beauty of the Hall and its history, "There are manuscripts, original lyrics from Hank Williams, Johnny Cash. That's stuff that I love because you see what a song like Walk The Line could've been."

He also discusses the annual "We're All for the Hall" benefit concerts with Vince Gill that raises money for the Hall of Fame, as well as his induction into the Grand Ole Opry. "Last year's 'All For The Hall' benefit was particularly special," Urban said. "I got presented with this induction into the Grand Ole Opry. I was genuinely blindsided by it. The funny part about it was that they did it right before Merle Haggard was coming on - this is like Merle Haggard - Merle Haggard is waiting in the wings. It was the most conflicted emotions that I've ever had in my life - this incredible gratitude and incredible want to bring him on. It was beautiful."

Next Urban visits his "favorite live music venue," The Ryman Auditorium - "the mother church of country music. It has this energy about it," said Urban, "and it's historic - its been here over a 100 years and is undoubtedly the best place to hear live music."

The final stop is Blackbird Studio, where he has recorded several of his multi-platinum albums. "The studio is a magical place," said Urban. "When you create in a studio. it's captured, and when you play on stage, it's gone in a moment, and that's it."

Of Nashville, Urban said, "I moved to Nashville, and it was referred to as the third coast - it has all of this country around it. But the songwriting has a particular flavor that you don't find anywhere else."