Keith Urban picked up four nominations for this year’s CMA Awards, including a return to the Entertainer of the Year category – he won the award in 2005. He also picked up nominations for Album of the Year for Fuse, Male Vocalist and Musical Event of the Year for his collaboration with Miranda Lambert on “We Were Us.”

Keith won the Male Vocalist award three times (2004 – 2006). The last award he was not available to pick up in person. “This morning, I was just thinking the last time I won that was 2006, and I was in rehab and I couldn’t be present to receive it, which I don’t really have any adjectives for how that felt not being able to be here to receive that award,” recalls Keith. “Now, fast-forward eight years and be at this place in my life and get that nomination this morning, I was right back there in that moment with deep, mixed feelings, mixed feelings of how devastating and emotional and chaotic everything was then and how living life a different way the last eight years to land at a different place is extraordinary.”

He’s also really thrilled to be nominated alongside his friends Dierks Bentley, Luke Bryan, Eric Church and Blake Shelton. “It’s a great group to be in. It’s a real extraordinary cool little group to be in,” says Keith. “I’m really happy for Dierks too. That’s a guy that’s been working his ass off for a long time, so. It’s funny, ‘cause Eric, Dierks and I, we’re all pretty tight because we have kids the same age, so Dierks’ kids are over at our house almost all the time, and we have that tight little kid connection, so it feels very ‘family.’”

His nomination for his latest album, Fuse, is one he’s really proud of, especially due to the fact that he’s nominated with his fellow producers Benny Blanco, Nathan Chapman, Ross Copperman, Zach Crowell, Mike Elizondo, Dann Huff, Jay Joyce, Stargate and Butch Walker (Urban only receives one nomination for the category, but can receive a second trophy as producer).

“I was thrilled that Fuse got realized,” says Keith. “It was an elated feeling on behalf of a lot of people, because this is the most amount of people I’ve ever worked with on a record, even in the collaborations with Eric [Church] and Miranda too.”

The 48th Annual CMA Awards will be broadcast live from Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena November 5th at 8pm ET on ABC.

Keith Urban (how he found out CMAs) OC: …was amazing. :25
“I was dropping our kids off at school and legitimately had forgotten that they were being read out this morning and my phone started blowing up. I was driving, so I couldn’t respond to any of the texts. I must’ve gotten 15 texts in the space of about 15 seconds, and dropped our second girl at school and then got home and then sat in the garage calling everybody to thank them. It was amazing.”

Keith Urban (CMA Male Vocalist nod 2014) OC: …extraordinary. :46
“This morning, I was just thinking the last time I won that was 2006, and I was in rehab and I couldn’t be present to receive it, which I don’t really have any adjectives for how that felt not being able to be here to receive that award. Now, fast-forward eight years and be at this place in my life and get that nomination this morning, I was right back there in that moment with deep, mixed feelings, mixed feelings of how devastating and emotional and chaotic everything was then and how living life a different way the last eight years to land at a different place is extraordinary.”

Keith Urban (Male category is family) OC: …very family. :27
“It’s a great group to be in. It’s a real extraordinary cool little group to be in, so…gosh, man, I’m really happy for Dierks too. That’s a guy that’s been working his ass off for a long time, so. It’s funny, ‘cause Eric, Dierks and I, we’re all pretty tight because we have kids the same age, so Dierks’ kids are over at our house almost all the time, and we have that tight little kid connection, so it feels very ‘family.’”

Keith Urban (CMA Album 2014) 1 OC: …and Miranda too. :38
“I was thrilled that Fuse got realized, as far as it being captured and it was cohesive and it was everything I had hoped it would be, and then it goes out into the stratosphere and it does what it’s gonna do, and that can also be sort of gradual too. People can slowly start to like a record after a while, but this one sort of found people pretty quick and kept growing, so for me that was really, really gratifying. So, for me, it was an elated feeling on behalf of a lot of people, because this is the most amount of people I’ve ever worked with on a record, even in the collaborations with Eric and Miranda too.”