Be Here

For other uses, see Be Here (disambiguation).

Be Here is the fourth studio album by New Zealand-born Australian country singer Keith Urban. It was released on 21 September 2004, through Capitol Nashville. With four million copies sold, the album is not only Urban's best-selling album, but also one of the best-selling albums in America by an Australian artist.

Be Here
Studio album by Keith Urban
Released	21 September 2004
Studio	Blackbird (Nashville, Tennessee) Capitol (Hollywood, California) Emerald Sound (Nashville, Tennessee) Hound's Ear (Franklin, Tennessee) Sound Kitchen (Franklin, Tennessee) Starstruck (Nashville, Tennessee) The Castle (Franklin, Tennessee)
Genre	Country
Length	55:39
Label	Capitol Nashville
Producer	Dann Huff Keith Urban
Keith Urban chronology
Golden Road (2002) Be Here (2004) Days Go By (2005)
Alternative cover
Singles from Be Here
"Days Go By" Released: 29 June 2004 "You're My Better Half" Released: 25 October 2004 "Making Memories of Us" Released: 21 March 2005 "Better Life" Released: 30 July 2005 "Tonight I Wanna Cry" Released: 21 November 2005

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]
Rolling Stone	[2]
Entertainment Weekly	B[3]

The album produced three number 1 singles on the Hot Country Songs chart with "Days Go By", "Making Memories of Us" and "Better Life", as well as the number 2 hits "You're My Better Half" and "Tonight I Wanna Cry". The song "Live to Love Another Day" also peaked at number 48 on the country charts, even though it was not released as a single.

Content

"Making Memories of Us", written by Rodney Crowell, was originally recorded by Tracy Byrd on his 2003 album The Truth About Men. It was also recorded by Crowell himself, along with his backing band The Notorious Cherry Bombs, on their 2004 self-titled album. Nine of the album's songs were written by Urban. Urban produced the tracks "God's Been Good to Me" and "Live to Love Another Day" himself, and then he co-produced the rest of the tracks with Dann Huff.^[4]

"Country Comfort" is a cover of a track from Elton John's Tumbleweed Connection.

Critical reception

The album has received positive reviews from Allmusic,^[1] BBC,^[5] Entertainment Weekly,^[3] and Rolling Stone.^[2] Three tracks from the album, "Days Go By", "Making Memories of Us", and "Tonight I Want to Cry" were included in an About.com ranking of Urban's top ten songs.^[6]

Accolades

Be Here received a Grammy Award nomination for Best Country Album,^[7] and won Academy of Country Music Award for Album of the Year. The album was also nominated for Album of the Year at the 40th Annual Country Music Association Awards.

Commercial performance

The album was certified 4× Platinum by Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA),^[8] and remains as Urban's best-selling album to date, with sales of 3,639,000 copies in the United States, as of July 2009;^[9] it also reached number 8 on the Canadian album chart, number 1 on the Billboard Hot Country Albums chart and number 3 on the Billboard 200.

Track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Days Go By"	Keith Urban Monty Powell	3:48
2.	"Better Life"	Urban Richard Marx	4:42
3.	"Making Memories of Us"	Rodney Crowell	4:11
4.	"God's Been Good to Me"	Urban	3:37
5.	"The Hard Way"	Rivers Rutherford Gordie Sampson	4:37
6.	"You're My Better Half"	Urban John Shanks	4:12
7.	"I Could Fly"	Urban Shanks	5:19
8.	"Tonight I Wanna Cry"	Urban Powell	4:19
9.	"She's Gotta Be"	Urban Powell	4:52
10.	"Nobody Drinks Alone"	Matraca Berg Jim Collins	5:21
11.	"Country Comfort"	Elton John Bernie Taupin	4:23
12.	"Live to Love Another Day"	Urban Darrell Brown	3:29
13.	"These Are the Days"	Urban Powell	2:49
Total length:			55:39

Australian Release Bonus Tracks

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
14.	"You (Or Somebody Like You)"	Sampson Blair Daly Troy Verges	4:51

Personnel

• Tim Akers – accordion (tracks 1, 7), keyboards (1–3, 6–7, 10), Hammond organ (9), piano (3)
• Charlie Bisharat – violin (tracks 8–9)
• Bruce Bouton – Dobro guitar (track 9), steel guitar (11)
• Paul Buckmaster – string conductor, string arrangements (tracks 8–9)
• Denyse Buffum – viola (tracks 8–9)
• Tom Bukovac – acoustic guitar (track 12), electric guitar (2–7, 10), slide guitar (7), wah wah guitar (7), additional guitars (1, 3, 8–9, 11, 13)
• Paul Bushnell – bass guitar (tracks 3, 5, 9, 11)
• Matt Chamberlain – drums (tracks 3, 5, 9, 11), percussion (3, 5, 9)
• Larry Corbett – cello (tracks 8–9)
• Eric Darken – percussion (tracks 1–2, 6–8, 10–11, additional: 3)
• Bruce Dukov – violin (tracks 8–9)
• Matt Funes – viola (tracks 8–9)
• Armen Garabedian – violin (tracks 8–9)
• Berj Garabedian – violin (tracks 8–9)
• Endre Granat – violin (tracks 8–9)
• Paula Hochhalter – cello (tracks 8–9)
• Dann Huff – acoustic 12-string guitar (track 3), electric guitar (6), mandolin (1, 11)
• Suzie Katayama – cello (tracks 8–9)
• Peter Kent – violin (tracks 8–9)
• Steven King – accordion (track 13)
• Natalie Leggett – violin (tracks 8–9)
• Chris McHugh – drums (tracks 1–2, 4, 6–8, 10, 12–13), percussion (4, 12)
• Robert Matsuda – violin (tracks 8–9)
• Steve Nathan – piano (track 8)
• Jimmy Nichols – keyboards (5), piano (11), synthesizer strings (9)
• Sara Parkins – violin (tracks 8–9)
• Bob Peterson – violin (tracks 8–9)
• Kevin Pickle - assistant engineer
• Steve Richards – cello (tracks 8–9)
• Jimmie Lee Sloas – bass guitar (tracks 1–2, 4, 6–8, 10, 12–13)
• Dan Smith – cello (tracks 8–9)
• Charles Stegeman – violin (tracks 8–9)
• Rachel Stegeman – violin (tracks 8–9)
• Rudy Stein – cello (tracks 8–9)
• Russell Terrell – background vocals (tracks 1–3, 5–7, 9–10, 13)
• Chris Thile – mandolin (track 9)
• Keith Urban – banjo (tracks 2, 4, 6–7, 11–13), EBow (1, 5), acoustic 12-string guitar (3), acoustic guitar (1–7, 9–13), electric guitar (1–7, 9–12), hand clapping, mandolin (7, 13), slide guitar (4), lead vocals (All tracks), background vocals (tracks 1–10, 12–13, harmony: 11)
• Josefina Vergara – violin (tracks 8–9)
• Evan Wilson – viola (tracks 8–9)
• Jonathan Yudkin – cello (track 3), fiddle (1, 13)

Charts

Weekly charts Chart (2004) Peak position Australian Albums (ARIA)[10] 11 Canadian Albums (Billboard)[11] 8 US Billboard 200[12] 3 US Top Country Albums (Billboard)[13] 1

Year-end charts Chart (2004) Position US Billboard 200[14] 191 US Top Country Albums (Billboard)[15] 35 Chart (2005) Position Australian Albums (ARIA)[16] 57 US Billboard 200[17] 30 US Top Country Albums (Billboard)[18] 7 Chart (2006) Position US Billboard 200[19] 29 US Top Country Albums (Billboard)[20] 8

Singles

Year	Single	Peak chart positions						Certifications
		US Country [21]	US [22]	US AC [23]	US Adult [24]	AUS [25]	NL
2004	"Days Go By"	1	31	—	—	56	99	* RIAA: Gold[26]
	"You're My Better Half"	2	33	—	—	34	—	* RIAA: Gold[27]
2005	"Making Memories of Us"	1	34	5	22	54	—	* RIAA: Platinum[28]
	"Better Life"	1	44	—	—	—	—	* RIAA: Gold[29]
	"Tonight I Wanna Cry"[A]	2	36	—	—	72	—	* RIAA: Platinum[30]
"—" denotes releases that did not chart

Footnotes

• A: "Tonight I Wanna Cry" charted in Australia in 2011, after it was performed by a contestant on The X Factor Australia.^[31]

Certifications

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
Australia (ARIA)[32]	3× Platinum	210,000^
Canada (Music Canada)[33]	2× Platinum	200,000^
United States (RIAA)[34]	4× Platinum	4,000,000^
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

Release history

Country	Date	Label
Canada[35]	21 September 2004	Capitol Nashville
United States[36]
Australia[37]	30 November 2004