Rising country music star Maggie Baugh reached a career milestone as a touring guitarist with Keith Urban in 2025.
The singer-songwriter, who hosts her own TikTok music series, Finish the Lick, got an onstage salute from Urban during their High and Alive World Tour in September 2025. A video that resurfaced amid Urban’s split from wife Nicole Kidman revealed that he’d recently changed the lyrics of his hit “The Fighter” to reference Baugh.
Urban altered the original lyrics from “when they’re tryna get to you, baby, I’ll be the fighter” to “when they’re tryna get to you, Maggie, I’ll be your guitar player” during a gig.
Baugh shared the clip via Instagram, along with the caption: “Did he just say that👀.”
Aside from her connection to Urban, Baugh has been named on Spotify and Apple Music’s lists of rising country stars and has even performed on stage at the historic Grand Ole Opry.
Keep scrolling for five things you need to know about Baugh:
1. Maggie Baugh Was Originally Trained in Classical Music
Baugh started singing at age 12 and was trained in classic violin before her parents encouraged her to explore her passion for country music.
“I started going to Nashville when I was 13 and started songwriting around the same age,” Baugh told The Hamilton County Reporter in September 2025. “I put out my very first record when I was 13 years old.”
The musician recalled that she was able to tour “bigger venues” in Florida from a young age during the traditional festival season.
“When I was 18 years old, I moved to Nashville and started touring a bunch,” she said. “Last year, I was on tour with Keith Urban and it’s been a crazy wild journey, man.”
Unlike many of her contemporaries, Baugh had no family connection in the music business to help her get started.
“Nobody in my family plays music,” Baugh explained. “I’m literally the only one. Isn’t that crazy? I’m the oddball. My dad is a microbiologist, and my mom is a stay-at-home mom who runs a dog training business on the side.”
2. Maggie Baugh Hosts a Popular TikTok Series
Baugh has hosted her own TikTok series called Finish the Lick since 2022, where she is challenged by a friend or fellow artist to finish the signature guitar riff of a popular song.
While speaking to Up N Country in 2022, Baugh admitted she resisted joining TikTok because she felt like an “old soul” despite being born in 2000.
“I never really found like my thing on TikTok until literally a month ago,” she said at the time. “I did a few guitar videos throughout the year and, I think, a few of them blew up. But my following was 20,000 followers or something like that. And so, literally a month ago, I was just in my room hanging out and I was [thinking], ‘I want to do this thing called Finish the Lick.’”
She explained that the concept for the TikTok series came about as a response to the popular “Finish the Lyric” trend, which she felt was “way overplayed.”
“[I thought], ‘What can I do that’s different?’ And so I was jamming in my room one night,” she remembered. “I was [doing] finish the lick. [I thought,] ‘That’s an awesome idea,’ because I could showcase all of my instruments, so it’s not just vocals. And so I ran over to my neighbor and started knocking on her door. I [asked], ‘Will you help me film a couple videos please?’ And so the first couple videos [were] her helping me out in my bedroom. Literally, it was so fun, but it caught on and I gained 80,000 followers in not even a month.”
3. Her Breakthrough Single Was About Mental Health
Hot on the heels of her TikTok success, Baugh unveiled her debut solo album, Dear Me, in October 2023. According to her website, the record landed Baugh on Spotify’s “Next From Nashville” and “New Music Friday Country” lists, as well as Apple Music’s “New in Country” and “Fresh From Nashville” playlists. Her music was also featured on Amazon Music’s “Breakthrough Pop” and “Breakthrough Country” selections.
Baugh shared with Today’s Country Magazine at the time that the title track, “Dear Me,” was about her real experience of being “bullied horribly in middle school.”
“[I] almost took my own life,” she recalled. “Instead, I started pouring my feelings and depression into the lyrics. I used songwriting and country music as a way to escape what I was going through, which later turned into me becoming an artist. Instead of using my story to gain fortune and fame, I decided to keep my head down, work hard and keep writing music that I wanted to write.”
She went on, “Now, almost 10 years later, I am ready to tell my story and what better way to tell it than through the title track to my debut album. Releasing it during Suicide Prevention Awareness Month, the ‘Dear Me’ music video features a message at the end from the American Foundation For Suicide Prevention, and I am honored.”
Baugh collaborated on “Dear Me” with songwriters Elena Jones and Tyler Bank as a way to process her ongoing “mental health” journey.
“It was a mental challenge of strength trying to write ‘Dear Me,’” she told the outlet. “I had to put my mind back into that little 12-year-old girl mindset, ready to end it all. The little 12-year-old girl who kept questioning why she wasn’t good enough every day. I am truly so grateful that Tyler and Elena were there to turn my crying and my story into a song. You need to have a certain level of trust to open up about a story like mine, and their patience and compassion makes them a few of my favorite humans and writers. I truly believe that ‘Dear Me’ was meant to be written that day.”
4. She Has a Growing Reputation in Country Music
Baugh parlayed the success of Dear Me and the popularity of her TikTok into a growing media profile. In the past few years, the musician has performed on The Kelly Clarkson Show and NBC’s Today, as well as Jimmy Fallon and Jimmy Kimmel’s late night shows.
After gracing the stages of both the Ryman Auditorium and the Grand Ole Opry, Baugh announced her first-ever headlining shows as part of the Entertainers Heart World Tour in 2025.
Her second studio album is set for release later in 2025 as well.
5. She Was Recruited by Keith Urban for His Touring Band
Baugh revealed to Pittsburgh Music Magazine that Urban first asked her to perform with him at the CMT Music Awards in 2024. She impressed the “Stupid Boy” musician so much that he quickly invited the multi-instrumentalist to join his touring band too.
“Working with [Urban] was like going to rock star school. He is a musical encyclopedia,” she declared.
In September 2025, she shared a vlog about her experience performing with Urban during his High and Alive World Tour.
As she trekked through an airport with her baggage, Baugh joked: “Nobody in this airport knows I played to 21,000 people in a stadium yesterday with Keith Urban. … Someone pinch me.. this was a dream!”
If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call or text 988 or chat at 988lifeline.org.