Australia isn't exactly a hotbed of country-music activity, but, as a child, Aussie and future country star Keith Urban [ tickets ] was well versed in the genre thanks to his father.

"My dad took me to see Tom T. Hall when I was 6. About a year later, Johnny Cash toured Australia. My dad took me to see him. Those were the first two concerts I ever saw," said Urban, who grew up in the farm town of Caboolture.

Urban, who moved to the United States 11 years ago, recently released his second solo album, "Golden Road," the follow-up to his self-titled debut, which garnered him the CMA's Horizon Award for best new artist, and yielded the hits "Where the Blacktop Ends," "But For the Grace of God" and "Your Everything." "Golden Road" has fared well, too, spawning the hits "Somebody Like You" and "Raining on Sunday."

Success has been a long time coming for Urban, who has been playing the guitar since he was 6 and joined a band when he was 12; he quit school at age 15 to tour--and hasn't stopped.

Urban talked to liveDaily about his latest album, his inspiration and his songwriting habits.

liveDaily: Tell me about the recording of "Golden Road." Was it recorded in the same fashion as "Keith Urban"?

Keith Urban: It was a little looser. That's a rough question. I'm not sure what the answer to that question is.

Did you use some of the same producers? Write material the same way?

It was very similar. You're always in a different headspace when you make each record, so hopefully they're all different. You just pick up things that you wish you hadn't done on the first one. I used a different co-producer, Dann Huff, for this record, and then I did half the record myself. I moved into that self-production area, a little more so than the first record.

What was it like to produce your own record?

I'm a little more comfortable in that role. I love being in the studio. It's something I've always loved doing. I'm not one of the artists who comes in and just does my bit. I'm there every second of every day. That's my hands-on situation.

Did you write the songs before you entered the studio or as you were recording?

They're mostly done before we went into the studio, although I do like writing in the studio. It can get a little costly if you try and leave it until then to write songs. But you're writing all the time. You're collecting songs. I've had songs that have been collected over a two-year period for my next record. It's not the case of turning in a bunch of songs and recording the next month. I think you're looking for songs all year long and you're writing all year long.

When do you expect to start recording your next album?

I'm hoping early next year.

In concert, you do a cover of Tom Petty's "Free Fallin'." The audience's response clearly shows that there's a lot of cross-genre listening, more so than most radio programmers and record companies are willing to admit. Would you say so?

I think the industry is oblivious to the fact that most people listen to all kinds of stuff. I personally don't know of anyone who listens to only one genre of music. It's vanity because no one does. I don't know anybody who says, "I only listen to jazz. That's all I listen to." I'm sure it exists but I don't know anybody like that. [But] Petty falls into that organic, rootsy, acoustic-song mode anyway, like Mellencamp. Tom Petty, John Mellencamp, Bonnie Raitt--all those artists sort of fit in that country perimeter anyway.

You opened for Kenny Chesney this summer. Now that that tour is finished, what do you have planned?

We go to Australia with LeAnn Rimes for a couple of weeks in October. We have a lot of shows between now and the end of the year.

Is there much of a demand for country music in Australia?

It's growing. My father's record collection was all country. That's how I was exposed to it.

Who were his favorites?

Every Don Williams album. Ronnie Milsap. Charley Pride. Johnny Cash.

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