Keith Urban is nominated for Male Vocalist of the Year at this year’s CMA Awards, and he’s set to perform his Top 5 hit, “We Were Us,” with Miranda Lambert. Keith says it’s really hard to “get into the zone” with a single song performance. “I just try and play. I try not to think about all the people sitting down in the front and that sort of thing,” says Keith. “TV is hard. TV’s just hard because it’s so run and gun. You don’t have time to check things, and you can do it at sound check and then it doesn’t sound anything like it on the night. It’s so quick and…I like being able to sort of get into the zone and you can’t do that in three minutes.”

The 47th Annual CMA Awards air live from Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena next Wednesday (November 6th) at 8pm ET on ABC.

Keith Urban (CMA 2013 performance) OC: …three minutes. :25
“For me, I just try and play. I try not to think about all the people sitting down in the front and that sort of thing, you know. I find, for me, it’s more about… TV is hard. TV’s just hard because it’s so run and gun. You don’t have time to check things, and you can do it at sound check and then it doesn’t sound anything like it on the night. It’s so quick and it’s just like… I like being able to sort of get into the zone and you can’t do that in three minutes.”