Remembering Toby Keith: A Tribute to a Country Music Legend
Story by Mitchell Smith
Well hello everyone. Today we take a look at country star Toby Keith. Keith was born in 1961 in Clinton Oklahoma and sadly lost a battle with stomach cancer on February 5th 2024. In high school he played football and went to work in the Oil fields after he graduated high school . Keith got a guitar at age 8 and took an interest in performing while working at his grandmothers club The Billie Garner’s Supper Club. There he would enjoy watching various bands and would sometimes perform with them. At age 20 Kieth and his friends formed the Easy Money Band. He would get called into the oil fields sometimes and would be forced to leave the performance on any given night.
The oil industry went sideways in Oklahoma and Keith was left unemployed. After a stint of playing football for the semi pro Oklahoma City Drillers Keith would find himself once again unemployed. He decided to take his band on the Honky Tonk circuit in Oklahoma and Texas. After years of sticking with it Keith released “I Should’ve Been a Cowboy in 1993 and it went to #1 in the Billboard Hot Country charts. His hard work was finally starting to pay off. Over the next 2 decades Keith would release 20 #1 hits and an additional 22 top 10 hits. Some of his hits include “I Want to Talk About Me”, Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue, Red Solo Cup, and “How Do You Like Me Now.”
I remember when I Should Have Been A Cowboy came out. I was into a lot of Classic Rock, Grunge, and Alternative music at the time. Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and Aerosmith were cranking out hits. The pop scene was very active with hits from Maria Carey, Boyz II Men, and TLC among the young exploding pop scene at the time. Garth Brooks, Allen Jackson, and Toby Keith reinvented Country and exploded into the nineties. It was just a great time to be an artist and Keith took advantage of the growing country fan base by writing and performing songs from his hard working background. Over the years he has created so many great songs and the world lost one of the best artists of our time. His legacy will live on for years to come with the many hits he created. Rest In Peace Mr. Toby Keith.
