Results: Remembering Country Singer Toby Keith

Toby Keith (born Toby Keith Covel), one of the most popular singers and songwriters in country music throughout much of the 1990's and '00's, died at 62 years old of stomach cancer in mid-February 2024. Were you familiar with Keith and, maybe any of his music?

Keith's first album was promoted in tandem with the debut long-players by a couple other singers on the same label. One of them is Shania Twain. Her career wouldn't gain traction until her second album, but Keith hit #1 country-wise with his first album's lead single, "Should've Been A Cowboy." By the time Twain took a professional hiatus not long into the 2000's, she was at least as much of a pop act as a country singer. Keith never really sought to switch stylistic lanes. How much pop influence do you like in country music.

One of Keith's bigger '90's hits does have a pop origin, though. He recorded a remake of Sting's "I'm So Happy," I Can't Stop Crying" as a duet with the former front man for The Police who wrote and recorded it only a couple years prior. Some may call that a pop move on Keith's part; I would instead say it was his recognition of a poignant song touching upon one of country's consistent lyrical themes--divorce--and a desire to bring it to his audience. Can you think of any other collaborations between country artists and pop or rock performers you enjoy?

After a bit of a lull near the end of the '90's, Keith solidified himself as a major figure in country throughout the '00's, with his renaissance instigated by "Courtesy Of The Red, White And Blue (The Angry American)," his blustery retort to the jihadi terror attacks on 9/11/01. The song's arguably most (in)famous line, "We'll put a boot in your @$$/It's the American way" may have led many country listeners to believe he was a neoconservative Republican, but he described himself as a conservative Democrat, a stance that allowed him to be comfortable around presidents divergent as Barack Obamas and Donald Trump. "Courtesy..." acted as a springboard for Keith to record other hits that situated him as both a patriot ("American Solder") and hard partyer ("I Love This Bar," on which he based his chain of saloon & grills). Do you know anyone who's politics and public persona may be nuanced as Keith's was?

Keith's last memorable salvo as an artist was his performance at the 2023 People's Choice Country Awards of a song he'd recorded a few years earlier, the writing of which was inspired by a conversation over golf with Clint Eastwood. When Keith asked how the actor-director maintained his drive to live at his elderly age, the directive he offered to Keith was "Don't Let The Old Man In." Perhaps ironically, Keith sang the song after he'd received his cancer diagnosis. However much you may or may not like his music or politics, can you respect Keith for his perseverance?