It was my confirmed opinion throughout the last several years that Toby Keith was an obnoxious buffoon with very little talent. I thought that the man simply could not sing very well. There were probably one or two exceptions ("Should Have Been a Cowboy", "American Soldier"), but his vocals in the majority of his songs were substandard at best. A perfect example is probably his biggest hit, the stars-and-stripes wavin' ass-kicker "Courtesy of the Red White & Blue" (I think that was the title...I was lucky enough to avoid it fairly well). And some of the stuff that came after that was so commercial and contrived that my low opinion of Mr. Keith was cemented ("How Do You Like Me Now?", "Who's Your Daddy?")
It didn't help that he built a monsterously huge eatery in the heart of the burgeoning Bricktown district. "Toby Keith's I Love This Bar & Grill" may well serve a good meal and might even feature a halfway decent "local" band (though I think they import a lot of bands from Texas). I confess, I've never set foot in the place. My decision to avoid it was rooted in my excessive dislike for Keith.
But here's the deal, and it is something I'm just now coming to grips with...I actually really like Toby Keith's last couple of singles. A lot.
The first one, "High Maintenance Woman" is not all that far removed from the "contrived, comercial" stuff I eluded to earlier. But it's got a better melody, better hooks, and most surprisingly, much better vocals than the earlier songs. I wanted to hate this song at first (and the lyrics are, for the most part, pretty dumb) but in the back of my mind was a nagging suspicion that it might not be as bad as I was thinking it was. I did NOT want to yield to that line of thinking, but my resistance finally broke down when I heard the song a few times without having to see the accompanying video (most of the new country I hear is initially viewed on CMT). Now I love the song.
God help me.
It was Toby Keith's most recent single, "Love Me If You Can" that forced me to forgive all the musical sins of his past, up to and including his naming an album "Big Dog Daddy" (how ridiculous is that?). The song has the same high points that "High Maintenance Woman does (albeit it's not the same kind of song stylistically), excellent melody, good vocals...but unlike the last single, this one has very good lyrics. It has that stubborn conservative bent to it, but it's nothing like the bullying "Red White and Blue". It's a more personal song than that one, and is more or less an ode to self-confidence. It's going to be considered "classic country" in 15-20 years, I guarantee it.
I wouldn't be surprised if Keith's next release is so dismal that it swings my opinion of him back into the "abyssmal" range. It's very possible that he just got lucky with these last two songs (admittedly I am in the minority as far as the appreciation of Toby Keith, especially in there parts, where he is looked upon as the greatest thing to come from Oklahoma since Garth Brooks). I'm not trying to jinx him with low expectations, in fact I hope his quality song streak continues. Let's just say I wouldn't be surprised if his music veered back into what's become the typical modern Nashville muck.
We shall see.
A couple of other acts I generally hate who have put out songs I like recently:
Big & Rich: "Lost In This Moment"...Words have not the ability to describe how much I've despised these two bozos. It pains me to admit that this is a damn fine song. It won't wind up on a "Classic Country of the Early 21st Century", but to say it's the best thing Mr. Big and Mr. Rich have ever done is an unparalled understatement.
Keith Urban: "I Told You So"...I always considered Urban to be country music's pretty boy version of Bon Jovi (that was before Jovi's recent attempts to break into the country market himself...who knew?). Everything I've heard from him sounds like mainstream pop/rock with a banjo or something thrown in so it can be loosely be classified as country. Actually, "I Told You So" more or less follows the same formula, but it has guts, it doesn't try so hard to be country.
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