The Urban legend grows: Aussie country star Keith Urban brings his new songs ...

Hearing Keith Urban tell the story of the last weekend sounds like the makings of a country song. There he is in North Carolina promoting a new CD, "Get Closer," while his wife, actress Nicole Kidman, picks up the kids and scoots off to the West Coast on the eve of their fifth anniversary.

Cue in the fiddle player.

But instead of this being a twang about heartaches and breakup, it's all according to plan.

"Since I was working, we decided it was best for her to fl y west to show off our new baby girl to the extended family out there," the Aussie singer explains. "I'm going to fl y out to meet them."

Taking advantage of one of the few breaks in a tour that runs through October, the stars fl ew Down Under to introduce 6-month-old Faith Margaret Kidman Urban to the families in Oz (Faith's sister, Sunday Rose, turns 3 on Thursday).

"Of course we're celebrating our anniversary, but I'm not telling you where and how," Urban says with a laugh that you could here in Perth.

Presumably refreshed, he rekindles his tour at the Mohegan Sun on Saturday and Sunday.

"Get Closer" is pure Urban-ized country, a collection of eight mostly bedroom ballads that don't break any new ground but make easy listening on the car CD. There are no themes, says Urban, so don't look for any. "When I make records they are really snapshots of where I am," he says, "When I write I don't have themes. I make music and it comes out the way it comes out. I guess the only theme is intimacy, but I'm always reticent to label it."

And you never quite know from which direction it's coming, such as with the track "Georgia Woods."

"Nic and I spent weekends in Woodstock, N.Y., when we were dating. We'd ride our motorcycles into the woods and have picnics near a river. There is also a river that borders Georgia and Tennessee, so when I wrote it I referenced our experiences at Woodstock. It's metaphorical. I've never been to the Georgia woods."

It's apparent that Kidman wields some infl uence, such as on "Without You," arguably the best song on the album. "Joe West called me up and said he had written a song for me. I played it for Nicole. Although I had nothing to do in writing it, the song was so autobiographical that it set off all these vibes in her. She said, 'Hon, you've got to do this song.' She has taught me about the courage to love after I'd spent all of my life running from it."

The power couple met in January 2005 at a Hollywood party honoring Australians. They married in June 2006 in Sydney. Four months later, reportedly at her urging, he entered the Betty Ford Center for alcohol abuse, regretting "the hurt this has caused Nicole and the ones who love and support me.

Best Life

Contemporary Country

Vanity fair

Somebody Everybody Listens to

The Tall Book, A Celebration of Life from on High