Keith Urban brought to an end the Nashville rehearsals for his "Escape Together World Tour" on April 30, 2009. Photo by Jeff Johnson, © Guitar Monkey Tours.

Keith Urban has been one of the top hitmakers in country music for most of this decade, but it appears that he never quite enjoyed his position until the last few years, after confronting his demons in rehab.

“I was one of those guys who was always thinking about the past or about the future, but never the here,” he told The Dallas Morning News. “I even made an album called Be Here, and I still didn’t get it — I was never really here. But now I love being in the present, because I have so much to be grateful for in the present.”

Indeed. Keith’s current Defying Gravity album has earned him a pair of hits, with the latest single, “Only You Can Love Me Like This,” looking as if it will be just as successful. His Escape Together World Tour is one of the top country draws on the concert scene, where his goal of living in the moment is tested on a regular basis.

“There’s something of a dichotomy, being absolutely present and completely lost in the moment despite what I was planning on doing,” he said. “There’s this beautiful balance of two opposite things happening simultaneously.”

Keith brings the tour to four cities this week: Denver, Fresno, Las Vegas and Los Angeles. Sugarland opens three of the dates, with Glen Campbell preceding Keith on stage in Vegas.

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