Heart Like A Hometown

Album: High (2024)
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Songfacts®:

  • Keith Urban's family moved around a lot in his childhood. By the 5th grade, he'd lived in nine different houses and attended four schools. "Heart Like A Hometown," crafted by Matt Roy (Chris Janson's "Done," Chris Young's "If That Ain't God") and frequent Russell Dickerson collaborators Casey Brown and Parker Welling, taps into the emotional resonance he formed by those early years of wandering. He sings of a place that isn't just a dot on the map but a comforting, familiar space within where the welcome mat is always out and the porch light never goes off.
  • Urban, reflecting on his own somewhat nomadic childhood, noted that his idea of a "hometown" was less about geography and more about the sense of stability and centeredness that family provided. He likened it to the feeling you get from classic tunes like Don Williams' "If Hollywood Don't Need You," Glen Campbell's "Country Boy (You Got Your Feet In LA)" and his own Fuse track "Come Back To Me."

    "Those songs and this one all share a similar feeling," he said, "a kind of grounded safety, familiarity and a place where I can always find ME."
  • "Heart Like A Hometown" is the fifth single released from Urban's 12th album, High. The record, co-produced by the singer with this regular collaborator Dann Huff, represents a departure from his previous projects, incorporating a more expressive, honest, and joyful sound.

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