"I think it took me a while to convince Nashville that what I do is genuine and my heart's in the right place, and I love country music"
About this Quote
The subtext is about legitimacy in a genre that markets itself as lived experience. Urban, an Australian who arrived with a pop-ready sensibility and later became a crossover superstar, has always been a slightly improbable citizen of “authentic” country. So the obstacle wasn’t sound alone; it was suspicion. “My heart’s in the right place” is a loaded, almost moral phrase. It implies that genre boundaries are treated like ethics: you can play the chords, but do you deserve the story?
What makes the quote work is its careful triangulation between self-defense and love letter. He acknowledges the tribunal (“convince Nashville”), offers the proof they demand (“genuine”), and then ends with the simplest credential country will accept: devotion to the form. “I love country music” isn’t a tagline; it’s a pledge. Urban is quietly arguing that authenticity isn’t about birthplace or purity tests, but about commitment over time - the long, unglamorous work of earning trust in a community that sells trust for a living.
Quote Details
| Topic | Music |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Urban, Keith. (2026, January 16). I think it took me a while to convince Nashville that what I do is genuine and my heart's in the right place, and I love country music. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-think-it-took-me-a-while-to-convince-nashville-133265/
Chicago Style
Urban, Keith. "I think it took me a while to convince Nashville that what I do is genuine and my heart's in the right place, and I love country music." FixQuotes. January 16, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-think-it-took-me-a-while-to-convince-nashville-133265/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"I think it took me a while to convince Nashville that what I do is genuine and my heart's in the right place, and I love country music." FixQuotes, 16 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-think-it-took-me-a-while-to-convince-nashville-133265/. Accessed 19 Feb. 2026.


