\n<\/p>\n
\n\tBuy me a boat<\/a>? That\u2019s so 2015. This year, country music<\/a> \u2014 or at least a few of its leading men \u2014 is moving up from fishing rigs and pontoons to the easy listening waters of yacht rock<\/a>.<\/p>\n \n\tOn Friday, Keith Urban<\/a> released his 13th album, Flow State<\/em>, a collection comprising mostly covers of classic songs like \u201cSteal Away,\u201d \u201cSummer Breeze,\u201d and \u201cJust the Two of Us,\u201d featuring Little Big Town, John Mayer, and lord of the smooth himself, Michael McDonald. It was also co-produced by Dann Huff, who played on some of the seminal yacht-rock records as a session musician in the Eighties. Urban has said that he started the project as an accidental antidote to the stress of our world, and sure, we get that: Who hasn\u2019t calmed their post-breakup heart in heavily divisive times with a little Doobie Brothers<\/a>? Well, at least Urban has.<\/p>\n \n\tHe\u2019s not the only one in Nashville currently enamored with yacht rock. Songs like Morgan Wallen\u2019s \u201c7 Summers\u201d have brought those relaxed West Coast vamps all the way to country radio. And last month, Lady A\u2019s Charles Kelley<\/a> launched Y\u2019all Aboard on SiriusXM\u2019s Yacht Rock Radio, where he spins his favorite soft tunes alongside guests like Russell Dickerson, Dustin Lynch, Trisha Yearwood,\u00a0and more. The goal, he said in an Instagram post<\/a>, is to show that country music has \u201ca lot more than you think\u201d in common with the genre most often associated with poolside easy listening, R&B tones, and jazzy riffs.<\/p>\n