Keith Urban, along with his co-host Vince Gill, will play host to several country music bands at this year’s All for the Hall concert. The show, taking place Tuesday, April 10th at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena, will feature Alabama, Lady Antebellum, Little Big Town, Diamond Rio, Exile, The Oak Ridge Boys, Rascal Flatts, The Band Perry, Pistol Annies and Thompson Square, among others. Proceeds will benefit the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. The concert, officially titled All Together Now: Groups Give Their All for the Hall, was postponed the concert from earlier this year due to his recovery from vocal cord surgery. Two previous All for the Hall shows have raised more than $1 million. 

Keith usually decides on a theme for the annual show. Last year’s theme was “Heroes,” in which the participants picked a song from one of their musical heroes to perform. This year, he settled on the band theme, because he feels that “our genre’s got such a rich history of bands, and sometimes it doesn’t get the center of attention in our genre.” He adds, “There’s been a lot of new bands and groups and duos emerge on the scene in the last few years, so I thought it just seemed the right theme for this year.” He is looking forward to seeing Hall of Fame members Alabama perform, and he hopes he’ll hear one song in particular. “I put ‘Love in the First Degree’ pretty high on the list of my favorite Alabama songs,” says Keith. “It’s just such a cool lyric, and I think that real distinctive Alabama harmony is so, so captured in that song.” 

Keith is getting ready to hit the airwaves with “For You,” a song he wrote and recorded for the Act of Valor film soundtrack. He has pledged the proceeds from the single as a writer and artist from “For You” to the Navy Seals Foundation. Information on the foundation can be found at nswfoundation.org.

AUDIO: Keith Urban explains why he chose the band theme for this year’s All For the Hall benefit, taking place April 10th. 

Keith Urban (All for the Hall 2012) OC: …for this year. :34

“I think ‘cause our genre’s got such a rich history of bands, and sometimes it doesn’t get the center of attention in our genre. People are more focused on solo artists, and historically, it’s been that way too. But there’s just any amount of great music since the beginning of our genre from bands and groups and vocal groups, and I thought this was the perfect opportunity to showcase a lot of that. There’s been a lot of new bands and groups and duos emerge on the scene in the last few years, so I thought it just seemed the right theme for this year.” 

AUDIO: Keith Urban reveals that Alabama, who will perform at his All for the Hall benefit next week, were a major influence on him musically. 

Keith Urban (Alabama influence) OC: …band’s songs, you know? :36

“Alabama were a big influence on me because of the timing of when I was growing up listening to country, especially through the ‘80s. And there was that real mix of sort of contemporary melodies and the sort of the way the band sounded on records was different than any other band I’d heard before in the genre. So, we covered a lot of songs from ‘Dixieland Delight,’ to, we did ‘Mountain Music’ maybe once or twice. ‘Love in the First Degree’ we used to do. There was a handful of Alabama tunes we did. I loved them, and they just worked in that format. I was in my own band at the time too, and we loved the fact that we could play another band’s songs, you know?” 

AUDIO: Keith Urban talks about his favorite Alabama and Exile songs, which he hopes to hear on Tuesday (April 10th) at the All For the Hall benefit. 

Keith Urban (AFH-Alabama & Exile) OC: …on the night. :22

“I put ‘Love in the First Degree’ pretty high on the list of my favorite Alabama songs. It’s just such a cool lyric, and I think that real distinctive Alabama harmony is so, so captured in that song, particularly. Exile – ‘Kiss You All Over’ I mean, it’s the one that I always think about (finger snap) right off the top of my head, so looking forward to hearing that on the night.”