The late Toby Keith will be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame later this year, but on Monday night (July 29) at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena, nearly two dozen of the Oklahoma native’s fellow country artists offered a stirring, life-celebrating party that was equal parts rowdy, tender and patriotic — as was Keith’s own slate of hits. The Keith-honoring event took place for the taping of the two-hour NBC concert special Toby Keith: American Icon, which will air August 28 from 9 p.m. – 11 p.m. ET/PT.
A cavalcade of his fellow country artists, including Eric Church, Jelly Roll, Lainey Wilson, Darius Rucker, Luke Bryan, Priscilla Block and Keith’s fellow Sooner State native Carrie Underwood, gathered to honor the multi-faceted entertainer’s career and towering legacy as a songwriter, singer, leader, performer, businessman, steadfast military supporter and philanthropist.
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Keith died in February at age 62 following a battle with stomach cancer. Keith worked in the oil fields before starting his Easy Money Band and playing bars around Oklahoma and Texas. After he moved to Nashville and landed a label deal in 1993 while in his 30s, he forged a three decade-plus career, becoming one of country music’s most successful artists — and ultimately doing so on his own terms, by recording his own songs, constructions that also made the most of his outsized persona.
He was known for his burly baritone, for writing or co-writing the bulk of his hits and for being as adept at crafting a heart-tugging ballad as he was at employing the clever wordplay that filled many of his up-tempo hits such as “I Love This Bar” and “As Good As I Once Was.” He amassed 20 Billboard Country Airplay hits, sold 44 million albums and earned 10 billion streams. He was inducted into the Songwriter’s Hall of Fame in 2015.
Underwood opened the show with Keith’s 1994 hit “A Little Less Talk (And a Lot More Action).”
“We are all here for one reason — this man, the big dog daddy. His music, his heart, his life. Everyone on this stage loves Toby. Tonight, we are going to have a party he’d be proud of,” Underwood declared.
And from there, those packing the Bridgestone Arena indeed proceeded to party, with the stage packed with revelers as well as the audience. A giant bar was set up in one corner of the stage, while the other — topped with an American flag set piece — gave several military members some of the best seats in the house.
Church recalled how Toby Keith invited him to play some shows with him, at a time when Church’s career was still in its early stages. “There is no way I’m standing here today without Toby Keith,” Church said, before performing Keith’s “As Good As I Once Was.” He added, “We help each other out, that’s what country music does.”
Wilson knew how to make an entrance, riding a horse through the Bridgestone crowd to the main stage before joining Jamey Johnson to sing “Beer For My Horses,” a 2003 hit for Keith and Willie Nelson.
Meanwhile, Rucker offered a full-throated, joyous rendition of “God Love Her,” recalling the support he received from Keith when Rucker prepared to release his first country project back in 2008. “He was one of the first people to reach out and let me know how welcome I am,” Rucker said.
Keith’s catalog was filled with up-tempo party songs, but especially early in his career, he was known for ballads, both heartbreaking and heart-tugging entries. Performing his 1994 hit “Wish I Didn’t Know Now,” Ashley McBryde said, “Anything he sang you believed it because he only wrote what he believed.”
Interspersed between performances were video tributes from his fellow country artists Nelson, Blake Shelton, Reba McEntire and George Strait, as well as other celebrities Keith had developed close ties with, including comedian Carrot Top and The Late Show host Stephen Colbert.
“There will never be another Toby Keith,” Shelton said in one video clip.
Elsewhere during the evening, Jordan Davis performed “I Love This Bar,” with help from Clay Walker, while Riley Green teamed with Ella Langley for “Who’s Your Daddy.” Luke Bryan donned a cowboy hat that had been given to him by his sister (who later passed away in 2007) as he performed Keith’s debut hit, “Should’ve Been a Cowboy.” Tyler Hubbard was joined by songwriters Warren Brothers and Jim and Brett Beavers, as well as Davis and Jelly Roll, elevating the party atmosphere and trading lines on the rap-tinged anthem “Red Solo Cup” (one of the rare Keith hits that Keith wasn’t a writer on), while HARDY and Brantley Gilbert teamed for the defiant, blistering “How Do You Like Me Now?”
Alongside his work as a musician, Keith’s support for the military was a cause close to his heart. Over the years, he did 16 USO Tours, visiting 18 countries and performing for an estimated 250,000 troops. A military band marched onstage during the concert to honor Keith, while chants of “U.S.A.” rose from the audience. During the tribute concert, Trace Adkins performed Keith’s heartfelt ballad “American Soldier,” and told the crowd, “Never apologize for being patriotic,” which drew another round of “U.S.A.” chants.
The evening also highlighted Keith’s work in supporting children battling cancer, through his OK Kids Korral, which started in 2014 and provides a cost-free place for families of pediatric cancer patients to stay while patients are receiving treatment at the Children’s Hospital at OU Medical Center. The Bridgestone Arena concert aided the OK Kids Korral, as well as Nashville’s Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt.
Furthermore, the evening also made it clear that Keith’s first priority was his family, including his wife Tricia, his son Stelen and his daughters Krystal and Shelley, all of whom were in attendance that evening.
Jelly Roll dedicated his performance of Keith’s “My List” to the late singer’s family, singing the tender song as photos of Keith with his family were displayed on the screen. Jelly Roll noted, “Toby inspired me to be a better American human and songwriter and inspired me to be a better father.”
Keith’s daughter Shelley took the stage to offer words of tribute to her father, saying, “My dad knew your worth isn’t measured by what you have, but by what you give,” before Krystal performed Keith’s “Don’t Let the Old Man In,” which Toby had performed in 2023 at the inaugural People’s Choice Awards.
Later on, one of the highlights of the evening was provided by Keith himself, as footage played of him in his final recording session, laying down vocals on a version of the late Joe Diffie’s “Ships that Don’t Come In,” which Keith recorded as part of HARDY’s Hixtape to honor Diffie.
“What an amazing tip of the hat and such a patriotic person and to see such a song sung so gracefully with so much feeling and with so much meaning, I’m just so thankful to be such a small part of such a cool moment,” HARDY noted.
The evening concluded as Texas native and “Pretty Heart” hitmaker Parker McCollum took center stage.
McCollum called Keith “one of the greatest country music singer-songwriters to ever live,” before welcoming the top-shelf lineup of artists back to the stage for an all-sing of another of Keith’s signature songs, the defiant hit that captured the fury many felt following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, “Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (The Angry American).”