Who knows what would have happened if the Academy of Country Music's 2003 Entertainer-of-the-Year (and Forbes Magazine's Top-Earning-Country-Star) Toby Keith had continued to play football in the semi-pros, instead of joining a band? Nobody, since the defensive end for the Oklahoma Outlaws opted to take his guitar, which he had played since the age of eight, more seriously than the football field. The rest is country music history and Keith is giving you a chance to be a part of that as he tours to promote his latest album! As one of the hottest acts around, tickets won't last long, so get them now!
Toby Keith Corvel was born in Clinton, Oklahoma in 1961 and, like other young men in his home state, he played football and worked in the oil fields. But the USFL went under, and employment at the wells ran dry, so he focused on traveling the nightclub circuit with the Easy Money Band. The lifestyle in which he grew to manhood is reflected in his songs, with lyrics honoring his strongly felt values: family, hard work, and the U.S.A. Another popular theme is getting into a little mischief with your pals on a Saturday night, as in 2002's single Beer for my Horses' with friend Willie Nelson!
Nashville's a hard town to impress, but Toby Keith became a favorite solo performer there in the 90s. His 1993 debut album Toby Keith featured an astonishing four #1 hits on the country charts: Should've Been A Cowboy, Wish I Didn't Know Now, He Ain't Worth Missing, and A Little Less Talk & A Lot More Action. The album went double platinum, and Billboard Magazine declared him Top New Country Artist - just a hint of success to come.
Over the next decade, Toby Keith released ten albums, most going platinum - and tickets to his concerts became a red-hot commodity. Dream Walkin' in 1997 featured a Grammy-nominated duet with Sting. For 1999's How Do You Like Me Now, he earned a CMT Male Video Artist of the Year award, and the video itself was voted #1.
2001 was another momentous year: Pull My Chain won ACM's Album of the Year award, and Toby Keith the ACM Male Vocalist of the Year. In the fall, his father, an Army veteran, was killed in a hit and run accident. Following that tragedy and the events of September 11th, he released Unleashed, which went triple platinum in part because of the hit Courtesy of the Red, White, & Blue (The Angry American). That's the ultrapatriotic controversial song that made Toby Keith a household name, becoming the subject of radio and TV talk shows for months. Unleashed earned an American Music Award for Favorite Country Album. The Flameworthy Awards honored it with a 'Cocky Video of the Year' award and Toby Keith for 'Male Video Artist of the Year.' He was also the #1 ticket seller in country music that year, according to Pollster.
Ticket holders to a Toby Keith concert see a grand show, starting from the moment he enters the stage - sometimes driving a pickup! Fans can expect raucous honky tonk, unabashedly redneck sing-a-longs, romantic ballads, and more from this big man's big ol' heart. But be warned by the title of his 2003 album release - Shock 'N Y'all!
