Country Music Blog: Toby Keith

Cancel the babysitter. Tim McGraw's concert in Pelham, Alabama, tonight has been rescheduled for June 3.

The 9513 makes some definite predictions and observations on the fate of Kristy Lee Cook, this year's country-lovin' American Idol contestant who was booted off earlier this season.

Toby Keith has managed to find just the right groove to impress the unimpressable folks at Village Voice.

Hayes Carll creates a country album out of some banjo and some beat poetry. Listen to a few clips of the review of Trouble in Mind here.

Why doesn't Miranda Lambert write about angels, Jesus, happy days and kids? Parade's James Brady found out why.

Johnny Cash made him do it. And once Joaquin Phoenix learned to play guitar for Walk the Line, he's been pursuing his passion for music.

Toby Keith and the Dixie Chicks are making nice and teaming up for a public service announcement about the changing climate. Does that mean hell has frozen over?

OMG. Guess how CU and CC brk up? W/ a txt. So ttly not 4eva. Was it like c u l8tr, sry? Gtg. IDK, it just seems so sad IMO.

Before the Britneys and the Fergies, there was Bob Dylan. His influence on pop music and American culture has earned a special music citation Pulitzer Prize.

Although she wasn't at a Nashville casting call for the Hannah Montana movie, Miley Cyrus was recently seen signing a fan's arm so it could be tattooed. 

With a new album hitting stores tomorrow, James Otto is pitching for the Atlanta Braves, sort of. He can now be heard singing "The Braves Play Here."

Country's favorite songs are almost ready for bed. A new CD with lullaby instrumentals of some of country's biggest hits will be available April 22.

Can you prove that you are Keith Urban's biggest fan? If so, enter a new sweepstakes on his Web site.

Kenny Chesney rustles up his famous friends for this 40th birthday celebration. Check out the guest list.

Mindy McCready seems to have a lot going on, like filming a reality TV show and coming up with awful nicknames. ("Flem"? Accch.)

Toby Keith remakes the Barry White classic, "Never Gonna Give You Up," as a duet with former NBA player Wayman Tisdale.

Narvel Blackstock, Reba McEntire's husband, possesses a secret talent - interior design.

Boy, that Brad Paisley is pretty funny. I got a real good laugh out of his new single, "I'm Still a Guy," the first time it came on the radio. But after the laughter faded, I was left thinking much more serious thoughts. Like, "That is so hot."

If you haven't heard it, the essence of the witty little song is that Paisley's not about to get in touch with his feminine side. What he will do, though, is carry a gun in his truck, deck some guy who touches his wife and keep his "pair." Hot, hot and hot. In a world of men who highlight and flat-iron their hair and wear jeans that would fit me, Paisley now stands out as some kind of beacon of masculinity to me. And he's not alone. Trace Adkins has been shot. Tim McGraw's been arrested. Toby Keith has no filter. Kid Rock fights at the Waffle House. All very appealing traits. (But even I'll admit there's a swampy gray area where someone goes from being a borderline bad boy to just another stupid idiot.)

When men are OK with their gender, it's seriously cements their image as, well, men. Conversely, if an artist eschews his God-given male characteristics and starts to whiten his teeth and even out a farmer's tan with an airbrush, that has the opposite effect on his man cred. The metrosexual breed may be acceptable in some parts of the world, but in country music those "guys" stand out for embracing the feminine ideal a little too enthusiastically.

To me, the soundtrack for manliness exists exclusively in country music and in songs like Paisley's. Even with this tune's simple, carousel-like instrumentation, the "I've-still-got-a-pair" message comes through loud and clear. Which is enough to make me forgive Brad Paisley for those embellished designer jeans he wears.

I've been reading Three Dog Nightmare: The Continuing Chuck Negron Story, a book about the tragic fall and personal resurrection of one of the lead voices from the pop band Three Dog Night. In it, Negron makes a claim that the band was one of the first to pack stadiums with a rock show.

The Beatles had done it before, at New York's Shea Stadium, and there were other bands that played stadiums, though many of them fell far short of filling them out. But I'll bet no one in the Fab Four's mid-‘60s era -- or in Three Dog Night's early-‘70s prime -- ever thought country music would be capable of that.

So this week's anniversary of the first George Strait stadium tour is one worth celebrating. Strait brought in 56,000 fans on March 14, 1998, to Sun Devil Stadium in Arizona for a lineup that featured Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, John Michael Montgomery, Lee Ann Womack and others. And Strait continued doing stadium tours with massive talent rosters for several more years before pulling back to his traditional in-the-round arena format.

What's now amazing is that while the stadium date is still a country rarity, it happens much more frequently than anyone could have predicted in the past. Kenny Chesney is playing 14 of those dates this summer, supported by a rotating list of acts that includes Keith Urban, LeAnn Rimes, Big & Rich, Gary Allan and Luke Bryan, among others. Toby Keith has offered a handful of stadium shows as well.

Strait could likely pick up and fill out stadiums again, if he chose, and you can imagine Keith Urban, Tim McGraw, Brooks & Dunn and Shania Twain (remember her?) doing the same thing. In fact, when the Gridiron Bash -- a strange, college-football-related fan competition -- lined up stadiums across the U.S. for April, a surprising number of country lineups were employed: Alan Jackson in Alabama, Dwight Yoakam in West Virginia, Dierks Bentley and Wynonna in Kentucky, Montgomery Gentry and Taylor Swift in Tennessee.

At last week's Country Radio Seminar, one booking agent noted that outside of such longstanding classic-rock icons as the Rolling Stones and U2, there's no stronger genre for live shows these days than country music.

Considering that a lot of country artists were happy to play high-school gymnasiums and small county fairs at the time Three Dog Night was playing those stadium dates, it's tough to find stronger support for the upward transformation that's taken place in country music.

Parents first, superstars second. Tim McGraw and Faith Hill prove their love and devotion to their daughter Gracie at an Ensworth School basketball game. Looks like Tim's got some advice for the ref.

Kris Kristofferson has officially given his endorsement to Barack Obama, saying that the presidential hopeful has the diplomacy our world needs now.

A rock 'n' roll walk of fame in Australia honors Keith Urban with his own plaque, for his part in impacting the international music scene.

Move.That. Bus. And make room for Toby Keith when he performs on "Extreme Home Makeover" on Sunday (3/2).

Events are underway in Los Angeles as the Recording Academy prepares for the 50th annual Grammy Awards on Sunday (Feb. 10). A Grammy is one of the ultimate achievements in music, though if you listened to rhetoric in Nashville, most years someone writes it off as a lame exercise.Country artists have voiced opposition to the Grammys -- saying they don't present enough country awards or country performances on television -- for years. Tanya Tucker made such a claim in the early ‘90s, Toby Keith did it this decade, and practically all of Music Row got mad at the Academy last year when the only country artists on the show, Rascal Flatts and Carrie Underwood, were featured in a tribute to the Eagles and Bob Wills. They performed none of their own material.

The anger demonstrates pride in the genre, a good thing. It also shows a certain provincialism, not such a good thing, though realistically Music City fights a huge L.A. provincialism that's built into the process. The anger is also fueled by dollars, which is just a fact of life.

While viewers watch awards shows for entertainment, the industry gets behind them as a promotional tool. If your artist wins a Grammy or a CMA Award, it can mean more press, more sales and higher concert prices. If an artist performs, it can particularly fuel a spike in sales.

So country executives want all the slots they can get. But so do the classical, jazz, Christian and gospel folks. Somebody is always unhappy with the process.

Increasing the antagonism, the Grammys don't line up with the other country awards shows. More than any other genre, country relies on radio to reach its audience, and the CMA and ACM award shows reflect that very much. Most years, the Grammys throw non-radio hits into the nominations mix, giving space to artists whose current work doesn't get much radio play -- this year, that includes Willie Nelson, Ray Price, Vince Gill and the Time Jumpers -- and sometimes giving actual trophies to people without country radio hits, such as the Dixie Chicks last year, Alison Krauss & Union Station in 2006 and Loretta Lynn the year before.

I personally find it refreshing, but I probably come from a naïve place. I'm very aware of the bottom line, but I still care most about the quality of the product, which is what every awards show -- not just the Grammys -- should reflect.

If you read the CMT.com story on Blake Shelton this week, you probably got a hardy laugh out of Blake’s recollection of his favorite Christmas gift. His folks put a rifle under the tree for him 15 years ago. He took it as a sign that his parents felt he was mature enough to use it wisely, but the way he tells the story – “Get your kids a gun for Christmas!” -- lets you know he recognizes it’s an odd present.

In the spirit of the season, here’s a look at how some early holiday gifts resonate today:

50 years ago: Elvis Presley gave a red sports car to his manager, Colonel Tom Parker. This one moment tells you a lot about why the King's finances were a mess when he died. Elvis went from dirt poor to filthy rich and spent lavishly, leaving comparatively little in his estate, though Priscilla eventually made something of it. Of course, Colonel Tom was much more interested in the bucks than the art. You can bet he enjoyed the bling.

40 years ago: Vince Gill and Brent Rowan each received their first electric guitars. Vince loved his Christmas present so much that he continued to use it even after he went pro. Brent? His guitar was a building block. He's now one of Nashville’s top session musicians, earning Top Guitarist honors from the Academy of Country Music twice and appearing on hits by Josh Turner, Shania Twain and Toby Keith.

30 years ago: Teenage Lorrie Morgan accepted a diamond engagement ring from her boyfriend. A year later, the relationship dissolved -- he couldn’t deal with the music business. Lorrie’s usually gone for music-related men since then... Keith Whitley, Jon Randall, Sammy Kershaw, Clint Black’s bus driver. Maybe her high-school sweetheart understood the business pretty well!

20 years ago: Kenny Chesney unwrapped his first electric guitar. He only plays a six-string during a portion of his shows, but his repeated victories as Entertainer of the Year suggest the gift was a good investment. That same year, Reba McEntire accepted a gift from future husband Narvel Blackstock: a horse named Little Bit. Since then, she’s played Carnegie Hall, had her own sitcom, developed a line of clothing and conquered Broadway. Maybe Narvel should give her another horse and name it... A Lot.

When people find out what I do for a living, they inevitably ask me what my favorite country song is. And they’re always surprised when my answer is a song they’ve never heard of. Do they honestly think my all-time favorite will be on top of the charts right this minute, just because the people at Billboard say so? I am so not that predictable. My love of country goes way deeper than whatever is getting the most spins on the radio. In fact, I almost prefer the unreleased stuff. You rarely tire of a song when its rotation, heavy or otherwise, is in your hands.

When people ask, this is the top-ten list I rattle off: Garth Brooks’ “Cowboys & Angels,” Tim McGraw’s “Give it to Me Strait,” Toby Keith’s “If I Was Jesus,” Miranda Lambert’s “I Can’t Be Bothered,” Rascal Flatts’ “Ellsworth,” Gretchen Wilson’s “One Bud Wiser,” Dierks Bentley’s “Prodigal Son’s Prayer,” Faith Hill’s “Dearly Beloved,” Brad Paisley’s “You Need a Man Around Here” and Keith Urban’s “Used to the Pain.”

I have a not-so-scientific theory on why I like these underdogs. They’re good songs. Really, they are. But it also has something to do with how I was raised -- with cassettes. Unlike the short-attention span music lovers of this generation, I couldn’t just jump to the next song. (At least without ruining my Aiwa boom box, or worse, having the boom box devour the long brown tape itself.) I literally had no choice but to listen to an artist’s entire collection of tunes. Although technology has now shown me otherwise, I still feel an obligation to listen all the way through.

Isn’t that the sign of a true country lover? One who has a mind of her own and listens to more than just what the radio feeds her? One who endures the occasional mediocrity within the masterpiece? And one who knows that there really is a song where Tim McGraw glorifies the music of George Strait?

I'm very sad to say that we wrapped up the Toby Keith Big Dog Daddy tour this weekend in Texas. We were a little nervous about playing the last show because we had been hearing about the pranks they like to pull. We got very nervous about five minutes before show time. When we were about to go on, we noticed that several crew members, the Easy Money Band, Miranda Lambert and her band were all standing around the stage looking at us with sly grins on their faces. Oh, how the fun did begin...

It started when they played our intro disc. We have an intro to our show that is a compilation of excerpts from “train” songs. Well, they replaced all the songs with 80's boy band songs. The crowd, most of whom had never seen us, was wondering what on earth they were about to see. Next, I sat down behind my drums and looked down to see a picture of Keith (Miranda's drummer) taped to my bass drum. Chris (the keyboard player) is very good at Photoshop and took a picture of a male stripper and put Keith's head on the body. It was hilarious and disgusting all at the same time. We hesitantly kicked off the show wondering what's gonna happen next. We got through the first song and nothing really happened besides some of the crew members standing at the side throwing picks at us. The second song is when Brian plays the washboard and Joey (Easy Money Band) comes out on stage dressed as Brian wearing the washboard. He jammed with us through the whole song as the crowd went wild.

After Joey left the stage, he and a couple of his friends, Mica and Willie (of the Easy Money Band) decided to talk to us in our ear monitors throughout the whole show, telling jokes and cutting up. That sure makes it hard to concentrate so we had to pull out the monitors just to get through it. All the while they were letting smoke bombs off on the stage so we couldn't even see each other. The best came on the last song though when Kirby came out on stage with a long-haired wig and a guitar strapped over his shoulder to jam with us. We were laughing so hard it was difficult to function.

It was all in good fun and we had a blast. I'm out of room this week to tell you about our retaliation so you'll have to check it out next week. Until then, Tommy Bales