In Concert
What: Toby Keith
When: Saturday, 9:50 p.m., at the Sunfest Country Music Festival
Where: Laketown Ranch Music and Recreation Park, 8811-2 Youbou Rd., Lake Cowichan
Tickets: $120 at
Toby Keith is one of today鈥檚 most successful country music artists, with a run of 20 No. 1 hits and more than twice as many Top 10 singles that rivals most pop superstars. So why does it feel as if he is slightly underrated?
Keith, 56, has a laid-back manner, for starters. The former semi-pro football player is also big and bearded, with a teddy-bear appeal 鈥� hardly the stuff of heartthrob chart-toppers such as Sam Hunt and Kip Moore.
This has worked in his favour, however. Keith is the perfect foil for college students in the U.S., who have made some of his notable songs 鈥� Red Solo Cup, Beer For My Horses and Get Drunk and Be Somebody 鈥� enduring party anthems.
These and more will be in Keith鈥檚 set when he performs at the Sunfest Country Music Festival in Lake Cowichan on Saturday night. 鈥淗e鈥檚 a big-time entertainer, and he throws a party,鈥� said Sunfest co-owner Greg Adams. 鈥淗e鈥檚 not carrying six tour buses and four semi-trucks for nothing. There鈥檚 going to be a hell of a show here on Saturday night.鈥�
Keith embraces being an outsider, a trend that continues with Wacky Tobaccy, his pot-friendly new single. It鈥檚 another maverick move for a performer with an already tentative relationship with the mainstream country-music industry.
Keith, who still lives in his native Oklahoma, has not performed in Nashville in 13 years, and since 2006 has recorded for his own label, Show Dog. He has never won a Grammy Award, despite earning seven nominations. Keith Urban, on the other hand, has won four trophies from 18 nods.
A tireless worker and touring artist, Keith enjoys a dedicated audience outside the mainstream country-radio scene. His working-class attitude plays into that decision. 鈥淵ou鈥檇 have to be really lucky as a young guy to write a powerful life message that would hit people in the 25-to-30 age group,鈥� Keith said during a recent interview with the Regina Leader-Post.
鈥淏ut once you鈥檝e hit 40, you鈥檝e lived long enough to take some of that rubber that鈥檚 hit the road, and those callouses and the joys and pains of life will allow you to write about things you had no idea about when you were 25.鈥�
That鈥檚 where his everyman appeal starts and ends. Keith is incredibly wealthy, both from his music and some shrewd business decisions. He was an early investor in Big Machine Records, the label that discovered Taylor Swift, and owns a successful string of restaurants, I Love This Bar & Grill, named after his hit of the same name. He also has his own line of mescal liquor, Wild Shot.
According to Forbes magazine, Keith has earned $34.5 million US so far this year. He hit the big league in 2012 with a $65-million take, prompting Forbes to label him 鈥渃ountry music鈥檚 $500-million man鈥� four years ago.
A big misconception where Keith is concerned involves his politics 鈥� more specifically, his supposed endorsement of U.S. President Donald Trump. The prevailing belief is that Keith, who performed live at Trump鈥檚 inauguration, leans way right politically. But he is, in fact, a registered independent when it comes to voting, and has been an outspoken supporter of the Democratic Party in the past.
He has called himself patriotic, as evidenced by songs such as Courtesy of the Red, White, & Blue (The Angry American), American Soldier and American Made.
In a recent interview with Nebraska鈥檚 Kearney Hub newspaper, Keith remained unapologetic. 鈥淎ny big press things that have happened through the years, like when I played for the troops and the media bashed me, or you play for [George W.] Bush or you play for the Nobel Peace Prize for [Barack] Obama or Trump鈥檚 inauguration 鈥� anything you do where one side or the other makes a big deal about it, anybody you lose out of your fan base through that, well, you gain new ones.鈥�