Toby Keith is a man of great mystery — a fact that might surprise fans and detractors alike. Sure, Keith’s songs are simple, sappy and sometimes gimmicky. But Keith, who plays Fiddler’s Green Amphitheatre tonight, is also the patriotic, Oklahoma- reared country singer with multiple Middle Eastern USO trips under his belt who happens to be a lifelong Democrat — one who registered as an Independent before the 2008 election.
Keith is the music mogul who bought property he never sees in Costa Rica because he can’t stop visiting (and writing songs about) Mexico. He is the straight-talking country boy who is also the savvy, intelligent businessman who isn’t afraid to take on some of the most established names in the game.
Keith — labeled a redneck by some, he’s sold nearly 25 million records on the strength of his own songwriting — is one of the great enigmas in popular music. And he’s humble to boot.
Well, almost.
“I understand that my recording career might not be there for me one day,” Keith said recently, “but I’ll still be writing songs — and they’ll be hits. I take a lot of pride in my writing, because I’m a singer-songwriter at the end of the day. I wear that as a badge of honor.”
Sure enough, each of the 11 songs on last year’s “That Don’t Make Me a Bad Guy” — including the single “God Love Her,” which is still dominating at radio — was either written or co-written by Keith. The country star is almost as proud of his songwriting as he is his 140 shows performed for troops in the Middle East.
This year was Keith’s seventh straight year performing in the hotbed military zone, and after rocking 15 shows in 14 days in May, the singer came back with more stories that make it all worthwhile. One commander recalled a story to Keith: “I told the guys once we set foot in this camp, ‘We might not get the supplies we want, but I sure hope we get to see Toby Keith.’ “
“I have an unusual deal with each of the bases I go to,” Keith said. “When I get to each place in the helicopter, I want 30 minutes of downtime, some water, and then I want the company commander to take me in and show me around and tell me about their mission. What are their goals? What are they doing?
“Some of them stop smugglers. They show us the such- and-such valley where weapons are brought in from Iran. Others are building school houses and paving roads. And when you see how good they are at what they do, it’s like, ‘Wow, I’ll go to the end of the world with these guys.’ ”
Going back to Keith as a modern enigma: One of his buddies, Stephen Colbert, recorded four episodes of his “Colbert Report” amid a USO tour in Iraq. Keith appreciates Colbert and his sense of humor. (The Iraq episodes were titled, “Operation Iraqi Stephen: Going Commando.”) And Keith has appeared on his show numerous times “making fun of myself.”
“Colbert laughs at himself as much as he laughs at anything, and everything becomes wide open as long as you’re willing to laugh at yourself,” Keith said. “And when I did his Christmas special, he wanted me to be able to make fun of myself, and I went whole-hog. It’s when somebody makes fun of you in angst, in some kind of a vile way with malice coming at you from an attack mode, that it’s not funny.”
Keith has a reputation for being a straight talker, but it surprises many to hear him talk about politics, industry gripes and critical issues with such frankness — even when it might get controversial. Case in point: Keith has been derided by critics for his 7-year-old sponsorship deal with Ford trucks. His current tour is called America’s Toughest Tour — and on top of that, it’s presented by Ford F-Series.
On his last tour, his gigantic drum riser was the supersize grill of a Ford truck. (It was as garish and distracting as it sounds.) In his music videos and movies? You guessed it. He’s driving a big ol’ F-150.
But to Keith, the deal has accomplished two things. It keeps his ticket prices low, with the top price at Fiddler’s tonight being $60 — an accomplishment for any star of Keith’s caliber. And it’s helped him build a nationwide family of fans — dealers and drivers alike.
“The second year I was with them, they sold more F-150s than they ever had,” Keith said. “We’re in Cleveland today, and dealers will come out to our shows. With Ford, it’s built Ford tough, and it’s America’s toughest truck. They sponsor my tour, which is a very lucrative endorsement. And that’s why the tour is called what it’s called.”
Keith is protective of his tour revenues for a reason. His past success had him selling back-to-back 5 million seller CDs, but in the industry’s current reality, he’ll be lucky to top the million mark with “That Don’t Make Me a Bad Guy.” The money is all in the touring for most artists today.
Keith talks about capitalism being circumvented by illegal downloads. He vents about the difficulties of what he calls a “free.99 world, where everything is free.99 — if you can’t get it for free, you can get it for 99 cents.” He says his label, Show Dog Nashville, will outlive the major labels that he shares bin space with.
“They’ll fold before me, because I’ll give the people three singles a year, and there’s a lot of room to explore and open the laboratory of running your own show,” he said. “Nashville knows it’s in a bad place.
“It’s like the guy who wrote ‘Achy Breaky Heart.’ That was the hit of his life, and before that, he hung wallboard for a living. Take a guy like that, hanging dry rock one day and the next day he has a song that sold 10 million albums. If that had been in today’s times, he would have gotten a third of whatever he made then. And that’s the truth of it all.”
Ricardo Baca: 303-954-1394 or rbaca@denverpost.com
TOBY KEITH.
Country music. With Trace Adkins. Fiddler’s Green Amphitheatre, Greenwood Village. Tonight. 7:30 p.m. $20-$60. 303-830-8497 or
