Keith Urban is a big fan of Ingrid Andress these days and he gets to see her onstage quite a lot — the younger star is opening for his The Speed of Now World Tour.

Ingrid got her start as a songwriter, and her impressive writing skills were the first thing that caught Keith’s ear. “She’s the real deal,” he affirms, saying that he first start hearing her work while she was putting together the track list for her debut album, Lady Like.

“And then, of course, I heard [her chart-topping single ‘More Hearts than Mine’ and I knew that this is a serious songwriter,” Keith continues. “With real perspective, fresh take on things.”

But it wasn’t until he saw her open a show for him in Las Vegas that Keith truly became a superfan. Originally, he admits, he’d been disappointed to learn that she was playing her set solo with only a piano.

“I was like, ‘Oh no, I need people to get the crowd going,’” he remembers. “And she completely floored me because she’s such a great storyteller onstage. And the way she connected with the audience — I stood side stage, and I was just floored at how good she was and how much the audience loved her.”

Then and there, he asked Ingrid to join him on the whole tour. As an opening act on one of Keith’s tours, Ingrid is following in the footsteps of another talented newcomer turned superstar.

“She’s just one of those artists that is going to get better and better and better. It was the same thing when Maren Morris came out and opened for us,” he explains. “She’s passionate. She’s hungry. Got a great sense of humor. And she’s a superb songwriter.”

Ingrid’s new album, Good Person, is out Friday.

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