By: Brooke Johnpier, Music Department Member
In honor of his untimely passing, I will be doing the late, great Toby Keith this week.
Toby Keith, born Toby Keith Covel, was an American county singer, songwriter, record producer, actor, and business owner. He was born on July 8, 1961, in Clinton, Oklahoma. After high school where he played as a defensive end for the football team, he worked in the oil fields. Unfortunately, Keith would find himself out of a job in ‘82, due to the decline of the oil industry in Oklahoma. He fell back on his small-town band and football career, only to be discovered by Mercury Records.
Keith’s debut album, Toby Keith, was released on April 20, 1993. I don’t know any of the songs on this album, but it made it up on the Billboard 200 chart, at number 99.
Keith’s second album, Boomtown, was released September 27, 1994. Again, I don’t personally know any of the songs on this album, but it did better than his first, peaking at number 46 on the Billboard 200 chart.
His third album, Blue Moon, was released on April 16, 1996. This album was his first with A&M Records and would be his only one with the company. Once again, I don’t know any of the songs on the album, but it would land number 51 on the Billboard 200 chart. Not as good as his previous album, but still a pretty good ranking.
A year later would see Keith’s fourth album, Dream Walkin’, be released. Flopping compared to the prior albums, this one hit number 107 on the Billboard 200 chart. However, the album did have a song that would be used in the same movie that Keith started his acting career in. The song “Jacky Don Tucker (Play by the Rules, Miss All The Fun)” was featured in the movie Broken Bridges.
Keith’s fifth studio album, How Do You Like Me Now?!, wasn’t his most successful to-date, only landing at number 56 on the Billboard 200 chart but contains the titular hit song that I actually know.
His ninth studio album, Pull My Chain, was Keith’s most popular album to date, landing a top 10 spot on the Billboard 200 chart at number nine. I also only know one song off of this album, “I Wanna Talk About Me,” which shockingly enough, wasn’t written by Keith. The album was also released on August 28, 2001.
Keith’s next album, his 10th, would be a number one album on the Billboard 200 chart. Released a year after his former album, Unleashed contains three major hits that I know of: “Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (The Angry American),” “Who’s Your Daddy?,” and a duet with Willie Nelson, “Beer for my Horses.”
November 4, 2003, saw the release of Keith’s 11th studio album, Shock’n Y’all. This album followed the path of his 10th, being number one. This album has two hits that I know on it: “I Love This Bar,” and “American Soldier,” the latter being my favorite Keith song of all time.
For the sake of space, I’m not going to list the rest of Keith’s albums, as he has at least 10 more. But I will list his other hits and talk about his personal life a little bit.
Some of Keith’s other greatest hits include “Red Solo Cup,” “As Good As I Once Was,” and “Honkytonk U.”
As for his personal life, Keith got married to his wife, Tricia Lucus, in 1984. They had three children together and would stay together for the rest of Keith’s life.
Sadly, Keith was diagnosed with stomach cancer in 2021. Due to complications from the cancer, such as chemotherapy, Keith passed away in his sleep on February 5, 2024. May he rest in peace.
Even if you don’t like country music like me, give Toby Keith a listen. Some of his stuff is pretty good, and if you like the military, you’ll resonate with some of it too. I promise you that you’ll like at least one of his songs.
Want to share your thoughts? Have a band/artist you want to be featured? Email Brooke at johnpibl23@bonaventure.edu!
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