Remembering Toby Keith

As 2024 comes to an end, we remember those we lost during the year. Kris Kristofferson, Joe Bonsall of the Oak Ridge Boys, and of course Toby Keith. Toby was special to us at CCUSA because his recording career began as we were in our early years as radio show. Toby was always happy to drop by and co-host, even if he didn’t have a hit in the Top 10. He always had something to say.

Toby passed away on February 5th. A few weeks later, we dedicated an entire show to Toby with comments from a broad range of artists. We also included archive cuts of Toby from his many times as Lon’s co-host. We did several live shows with Toby and his fans. At one show, a fan asked Toby if he’d run for political office. He said, “I would be smackin’ people in the grill. It’s easier to pull for someone. Tell me the truth and let me deal with it. It’s a never-ending stream of cover-ups. I don’t want to have anything to do with it.”

Many of our co-hosts talked about Toby when they came by. One of the first was Thomas Rhett, whose father, Rhett Akins, toured with Toby in the 90s. Thomas joined Toby in 2012. He told Lon, “The family aspect of his tour was for real. His band & crew loved each other. That tour taught me your road crew are like your family. There are too many stories I can’t tell from that tour. What a loss. The guy that could do it all, and did it all with grace and kindness.”

Keith Urban remembered touring with Toby in 2000 as part of Brooks & Dunn’s Neon Circus. “That was a wild tour. I was the opening act. I rode on Toby’s tour bus on his 40th birthday. AS we were rolling down the highway, Toby got hungry at 4 in the morning. So we just pulled into a truck stop and ordered food at 4 in the morning.”

George Birge was actually signed to Toby’s record label in 2018, so he got to spend a lot of time with Toby. “I got to learn from one of the greatest, I got to be on the bus with him and tour with him. I knew it was special at the time, but as that aged, it’s something I’ll carry for the rest of my life. A lot of people tried to tell him how to be, and he said no. He’s been himself, and made music he’s proud of, and I learned a lot from that.”

Tim McGraw was a contemporary: “Our first albums came out the same day. His took off, and mine went wood. He did a whole lot better than I did out of the gate. The first time I met him, we played a small club, and he opened for us. I watched him play Should’ve Been a Cowboy, and wondered why he was opening for us, because he was much better. I got to hang out with him, and he was a great guy. He didn’t let the industry change him, and I really appreciated that.”

In October, Toby was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. He had been voted in before he died, but unfortunately died a few days before he got the news. He was inducted by Alabama’s Randy Owen. Eric Church, Post Malone, and Blake Shelton performed at his induction. A week or so later, Blake co-hosted the Countdown, and told this story: “When I was asked to be a part of his induction ceremony, they told me the songs they wanted me to sing. It was I Love This Bar and Red Solo Cup, two of the hardest songs to sing. On something like that, you never know who that request is coming from. I’m glad I got to do that, it was worth it for Toby, and I think it made for a fun moment.”

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Category: CO-HOST