Keith Urban‘s next release comes with a plot twist. The country guitar legend announced this week that his cover of the classic “Steal Away” drops Friday, May 16, and the arrangement centers on a sitar.
A sitar. From a Nashville country star. In 2026.
Urban kept the announcement simple on Instagram: “cue the sitar !! my cover of ‘Steal Away’ is yours on friday.” He skipped the preview clip and the audio teaser. The caption did the work on its own.
For a guy best known for electric guitar fireworks and radio-ready country production, leading with a sitar is a real left turn. The instrument has deep roots in Indian classical music. It famously crossed over into Western rock in the mid-1960s – think George Harrison’s influence on Revolver-era Beatles records – but it’s far from standard Nashville territory. Urban seems to know exactly what kind of reaction that word is going to get. The caption’s double exclamation point says as much.
“Steal Away” has a rich history across soul, R&B, and country. The song has been covered by plenty of artists over the decades and earned its status as a genuine cross-genre classic. Urban clearly found something worth reworking in it. Pairing it with sitar texture takes the whole project somewhere well outside the obvious.
Urban has been one of country music’s most versatile names for over two decades. He broke through in the early 2000s. His guitar-driven sound pushed the rock edge harder than most Nashville acts were comfortable with at the time. Grammy Award-winning albums followed. Pop-leaning singles, raw acoustic ballads, and some straight-up hard-rocking energy are all in his catalog. The range has always been part of the deal. A sitar-driven cover fits right in.
The announcement pulled in over 4,000 likes on Instagram. For a tease with no audio clip and no rollout, that’s a solid signal his audience is paying attention.
The real question is whether the arrangement actually delivers. Wrapping a sitar around the emotional core of “Steal Away” could go beautifully or feel forced. Urban is genuinely one of the most technically gifted guitarists in country music, so the musical instincts are there. Pairing Indian classical texture with soul-rooted source material isn’t the most predictable combo. But unpredictable choices tend to hit different.
Country fans expecting something familiar are going to be surprised. Everyone else tuning in with open ears is probably in for a genuinely good time.
“Steal Away” arrives on Friday, May 16. That’s two days away. Cue the sitar, indeed.
