Keith Urban announces new album 'Graffiti U' and world tour

Jan. 18 (UPI) -- Keith Urban has announced a new album titled Graffiti U and a world tour set for 2018.

Urban announced the new album and tour Wednesday as he performed a surprise free show at the Exit/In rock club in Nashville.

"I was toying with the letter 'U,'" the country star said of the album and tour's name while speaking with Rolling Stone. "Obviously it's the first letter of my last name, but I liked that when you say it, it's also the word 'You.' For me, that's the listener, that's the audience."

"Graffiti to me felt very uninhibited, artistic, liberated expression. "Graffiti" to me is a blank canvas and pure artistic expression upon that," he continued.

Urban has yet to announce a release date for the album. The initial dates for the world tour include 58 shows across the United States and Canada.

The tour is set to kick off June 15 at the Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre in St. Louis before wrapping up Nov. 3 at the American Airlines Center in Dallas.