Country music star Keith Urban has been given advice from others over the years, including from the late Slim Dusty, who told him to be himself.

It's advice he stands by, but with a caveat.

"I may be not sure who I am today," Urban told ABC News Breakfast.

"But that's my authentic self, too.

"I'm in discovery mode. Maybe I'm changing who I am. Maybe my way of viewing the world is changing, and that's my authentic self as well."

As one of Australia's most successful exports, Urban, who is promoting his new album High, out Friday, had to grind to get to where he is now.

"I had to stick with it when I got to Nashville because it took so much longer than I was imagining," Urban said.

"I mean, years and years and years of nothing.

Urban has also spent a good deal of time in Australia's home of country music.

"Tamworth's like a second home to me," he said.

"I was nine years old when I first went to Tamworth, so I've got great memories of going to Tamworth in January and sleeping in tents and getting flooded out."

'Have people around you that you trust'

Urban says he finds it "impossible" to give blanket advice to aspiring artists because "everyone's got to find their way".

But there is something he thinks is crucial.

"I think it's really important to have people around you that you trust," Urban said.

"That's really crucial.

"I don't think it matters what era we're in. That's always going to be something really important because you have to have some people around you that you can trust and believe in and will help keep you on track."

'I'm just dad'

Urban, who is one half of a high-profile couple, the other half being his wife Academy Award winner Nicole Kidman with whom he shares daughters Sunday and Faith, says at home, he's "just dad".

"I think it's an Aussie thing as well," Urban said.

"It's sort of an intrinsic Aussie thing to stay grounded. Australians are pretty quick to go 'get your bloody hand off it. What's all this nonsense?,' and that's how I was raised.

"I was raised in that way of always being grounded.

"But there's something good about that Aussie-ism of just staying grounded. You know, 'keep it real. Don't forget where you came from. Be yourself, be authentic.'

"I've never lost that and I'm really grateful for it."

Born in New Zealand, Urban moved to Queensland with his family as a two-year-old.

"We were in Brisbane most of the time, but I went to four different schools by the fifth grade and lived in about nine different houses by the time I was 10," Urban said.

"So, although it was mostly in Brissy we were still moving around all the time.

"My guitar feels home to me…it's been with me my whole life, so it feels home."

Previously released songs on High include Go Home W U with Lainey Wilson, Messed Up As Me, which is resonating so strongly with audiences, it's already being requested at live gigs, and Wildside, which was inspired by the overworked school principal in the film School of Rock played by Joan Cusack, who lets her hair down after a few drinks.

Songs yet to be released include Daytona, which is about how it doesn't take much to trigger some memories, Laughin' All the Way to the Drank, where Urban invokes his working class family roots and a dad who worked hard, but also partied hard, and the song Love is Hard in which Urban sings "I ain't quittin'."

He says the hardest thing about love from his perspective is "the power of it".

"I think that song touches upon it as best it can," he said.

High by Keith Urban is out Friday, with upcoming tour dates available on his website.