Toby Keith: "My calling" to honor troops, U.S.
When it comes to country music stars, few shine brighter than Toby Keith.
Forbes magazine recently put him at the top of its list of the highest-earning country music performers. He's got legions of fans, 29 number No. 1 hits, and more industry awards than he knows what to do with. The outspoken singer/songwriter was in New York City recently, promoting his new album, "Clancy's Tavern."
He agreed to perform an acoustic set for service members on the hangar deck of the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum, and that's where correspondent Russ Mitchell caught up with him.
Toby Keith always brings a little bit of Oklahoma when he comes to town. And in New York City, he came with more songs inspired by his life, including the title track.
"Tell me about 'Clancy's Tavern,'" Mitchell requested.
"My grandmother had a bar in Fort Smith, Ark.," Keith explained. "She owned the hottest night club. So I took all the people that were in there and I just brought Clancy's, my grandmother's hot tavern, back to life again.
If it seems as though Keith is feeling nostalgic, perhaps he is. Twenty years ago, the fresh-faced Oklahoma native left home for country music's capital, Nashville. That first trip was a short one.
"Playing in those bars, just writing songs and then taking them in and getting rejected and (their) saying, you know, 'There's a thousand here just like you in Nashville' -- fortunately, they came to Oklahoma and found me. It takes finding somebody who thinks the same way you do to open that first door," he remembered.
A few years later, that door finally opened. And in 1993, Keith got his first taste of success with "Should've Been A Cowboy."
His vast catalog of hits covers all the familiar country themes: beers, bars, horses and heartache.
But it's the patriotic anthems, rallying cries for the Stars and Stripes, and concerts for soldiers that have drawn him into the political crossfire.
"Did you have any idea when you started in this business that, at some point, that you would be seen as political, as some people have seen you?" Mitchell asked.
"Nah, I didn't hang that shingle on myself," Keith said. "I wrote a song called "Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue.' I had extreme support from the Right -- 'Yeah, that's the right way to do it.' And then I had extreme anger from the Left. That was like I was caught in the middle."
Despite the political wrangling, Keith has always stood behind the men and women in uniform, and has visited American troops in every corner of the globe, playing more than 180 shows with the USO.
"I went more than ten years ago to honor my father who was a vet. You get to meet all of these true American heroes who get out and walk the beat every day. And I said, 'That's my calling and I'm going to do it,'" Keith said.
Last week, when Keith came to the site of the 9/11 Memorial, he reached out to the men and women on the front lines back at home. "Thanks for keeping it safe, boys. Godspeed, guys," he said, shaking hands with New York City police officers.
He had been to Ground Zero before, but he had not seen the finished memorial site. "This is remarkable. They've done a heck of a job; the families can always come here and remember their loved ones," Keith remarked.
In front of a small group of veterans aboard the Air and Space Museum, Keith played the title track from his new album, which is being praised by critics as one of his best.
The album's first single is "Made in America."
"That was a different time, when you could go in the bank, shake hands with your banker. He would have your back if you wanted a new car, buy a load of cattle, or whatever, your new home, and now it's so globalized that you don't have that one-on-one," Keith said.
At 50, Keith continues to be a powerful voice for his fans, who this week made "Clancy's Tavern" his ninth
No. 1 album.