Urban: I never think of it in terms of experimental. I think of it in terms of all these different styles that have a connection to one another. What is that connection? And can we find what that is and see if we can harness it? And in the process, have people hear it and go, “Wow, that really, that does connect to that. I see that now.” … And that’s what drives me: the commonality in people, in music and everything in life, the commonality. It’s what drives me far more than what separates us, because there’s plenty of that. We’re drowning in it right now.

AP: In that vein, one song called “Tumbleweed” includes a sample of a didgeridoo, an instrument that originated in Australia. Not sure I’ve ever heard a didgeridoo on a country song, but it works.

Urban: After the guitar solo, there was about four seconds of a breakdown, and I was like, “I need something here. We’ve heard everything.” And I went “Didgeridoo! Fantastic.” My engineer is like, “Didgeri-what?” He goes, “I’ve never heard one.” We jump online and I find a guy playing the didgeridoo. And it turns out to be this guy, Lewis Burns. And I was just sort of using him as, “See? Like that. It sounds like that.” And then in the midst of it, I went, “Actually, can we use that?”

AP: You’ve got a song on the album called “Say Something,” about the power of words that seems to reflect the collective consciousness of this year’s protests. What did you want to say with that song?