Keith Urban Fires Up 2021 ACM Awards With Energetic ‘Tumbleweed’

Keith Urban brought high energy to the stage at the 2021 ACM Awards on Sunday night (April 18) in Nashville. The show's co-host hit the crowd right between the eyes with an uptempo rendition of "Tumbleweed" that was a real crowd-pleaser.

Keith "Freakin'" Urban, as his co-host Mickey Guyton announced him, completely tore up the electrified stage. In one of the evening's most elaborate sets, Urban performed atop a video board runway, even giving fans a view of his guitar's fretboard with a special camera affixed to the guitar's headstock.

A barn burner of a single, "Tumbleweed" is reminiscent of some of Urban's earlier rock-tinged hits. And though he nailed his co-hosting duties for the awards show, there's no question that Urban is truly in his natural habitat with a guitar in his hands.

"Tumbleweed" appears on Urban's most recent album, The Speed of Now, Part 1, which he released in September. The recorded version of the song allows Urban a chance to show off his top-flight chops on both electric guitar and the ganjo.

Urban co-hosted the 2021 ACM Awards with Guyton, marking the first time a Black female artist has ever hosted the event. In an interview with Ellen DeGeneres in the week prior to the show, he said he's glad that inclusion in country music is "on the right track."

"I mean, there's always work to do, and there's always improvement," Urban acknowledged. "But we're definitely moving in the right direction, finally."

Urban was also a multiple nominee at the 2021 ACM Awards. He was nominated in the category of Music Event of the Year twice: once for his collaboration on Thomas Rhett's "Be a Light" with Reba McEntire, Hillary Scott and Chris Tomlin, and again for his duet with Pink on "One Too Many."

The 2021 ACM Awards air live on CBS and stream live on Paramount+. Sign up for Paramount+ here.