Flashback: Carrie Underwood and Keith Urban Tackle ‘Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around’

When the Love, Pain & the Whole Crazy Carnival Ride tour kicked off in January 2008, it brought together two of the biggest names in country music — Keith Urban and Carrie Underwood — at the height of their careers. 

Underwood’s Some Hearts had been the top-selling country album of the previous year, and her newest release, Carnival Ride, sold 527,000 copies during its first week, putting her in the same category as mega-sellers like Shania Twain and Beyoncé. Meanwhile, Urban — new and improved, thanks to a stint in rehab and a recent marriage to Nicole Kidman — had won his second Grammy Award and sent all four singles from his latest album, Love, Pain & the Whole Crazy Thing, to the Top 10. It was a good time for both singers to hit the road… and an even better time to do it together. 

Underwood opened the show each night, followed by a headlining set by Urban. Halfway through Urban’s 20-plus song setlist, Underwood would return to the stage to sing Stevie Nicks’ “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around,” backed by Urban — pulling double-duty as Tom Petty and Mike Campbell — on backup vocals and a Les Paul Goldtop guitar. Here, the two tackle the song at the Gwinnett Center in Duluth, Georgia, during the final week of the tour. 

It wasn’t either singer’s first time playing the music of Tom Petty or Stevie Nicks. Urban had covered Petty’s “Free Fallin'” on an earlier tour, stretching the song to nearly 10 minutes in length with the help of an epic crowd sing-along. Underwood, on the other hand, had duetted with Fleetwood Mac’s Lindsey Buckingham in September 2007, singing the Rumours classic “Go Your Own Way” at that year’s Fashion Rocks fundraiser.

Underwood and Urban have continued to work together over the years, even co-headlining this year’s WE Fest in Detroit Lakes, Minnesota.