Toby Keith

SHOCK’N Y’ALL
THE HISTORY:

Toby Keith is the reigning Academy of Country Music Entertainer of The Year; United Stations Radio Networks named him the most successful country artist of the new century; and he was 2002’s #1 concert-ticket seller in county music, according to Pollstar. His achievements in songwriting (12 of his 16 # 1 hits have been self-penned), radio airplay (eight Billboard country #1’s and eight R&R country #1’s from his DreamWorks Records alone), and sales of more than 13.5 million speak for themselves.

SHOCK’N Y’ALL (DreamWorks Records), Toby’s latest offering, hit stores Nov. 4, 2003. It’s classic Toby: real, honest and heartfelt, with a dose of his trademark humor.

Like his three previous albums for DreamWorks – How Do You Like Me Now?!, Pull My Chain and Unleashed – the disk was co-produced by Toby and his longtime producing partner, DreamWorks Nashville principal executive James Stroud.

SHOCK’N Y’ALL was recorded at Shrimp Boat Sound Studio in Key West, Fla., Jimmy Buffett’s home base. “Jimmy doesn’t rent it out much, but he kindly opened it up to us,” Toby explains. (The singer-songwriter-producer was only interrupted in the studio once – when President George W. Bush invited him to an address at MacDill Air force Base in Tamp, Fla., site of U.S. Central Command and headquarters of General Tommy Franks. Toby performed a short acoustic set there for the troops and their families.) Surrounded by musicians, Stroud and tropical isolation, Toby roared through recording the album.

“We were writing songs on the road, and there’s real attitude and a rockin’ edge driving this album more then anything else,” Toby explains. “There’s not an honest-to-God ballad on the whole thing.”

What there is on SHOCK’N Y’ALL are a dozen of these rockin’ tunes, including first radio track “I Love This Bar,” which is currently in the Top 5. It debuted on the R&R country chart with 103 adds and was the most-added country radio track in 2003. Also included are two of Toby’s infamous – and long awaited – “bus songs,” “The Taliban Song” and “Weed With Willie.” Written with Toby’s guitarist and frequent songwriting partner Scotty Emerick (a sols artist in his own right), the bus songs are humorous pieces the two concoct on the road for their own amusement. These tunes have proven to be a hugely popular part of Toby’s live set. “I’ll never smoke week with Willy again,” Toby laughs, citing the song’s chorus. “I think every time I’ve stepped on Willie’s tour bus I’ve heard someone say that.”

The album’s title is equally tongue-in-cheek. “We were looking for album titles while the war was going on,” he relates. “Then the ‘shock and awe’ campaign started, and it became such a famous phrase; I thought it would be funny to take that, add a ‘y’all’ on the end and throw a little hillbilly at ‘em.”

Toby has always had a knack for combining his oft-noted sense of humor with honest, piercing insight. On tracks like “American Soldier,” “Don’t Leave, I Think I Love You” and “Nights I Can’t Remember, Friends I’ll Never Forget,” he showcases his considerable, markedly sophisticated shops as a storyteller.

Growing up in Moore, Okla., Toby first picked up a guitar when he was eight. During stints working at the rodeo and in the oil fields, he formed a band called Easy Money to gig at local honky-tonks on weekends. When the oil industry his a slump, he played football for the Oklahoma city Drillers, a semi-pro team, still playing with his band all along. While on the Drillers’ roster, he tried out for the Oklahoma Outlaws, of the ill-fated USFL.

When the league went under, Toby took the opportunity to focus all his passion and determination on his music career. He hit the road with Easy Money, touring the circuit exhaustively and shopping this demo until he landed a deal with Mercury Records. At Mercury, Toby released his self-titles debut and earned three #1 hits: “Should’ve Been A Cowboy,” “Wish I Didn’t Know Now” and “A Little Less Talk And A Lot More Action,” as well as the #5 hit “He Ain’t Worth Missing.” Toby Keith went double platinum.

Toby kept on touring and winning fans across the country. He recorded two more albums – Boomtown, which went gold, and the platinum Blue Moon – while racking up hits like “Who’s That Man,” “You Ain’t Much Fun,” “Does That Blue Moon Ever Shine On You” and “Me Too.”

Then he met James Stroud. The two recorded Dream Walkin’ together, which yielded the #1 hits “Dream Walkin’” and “We Were In Love,” as well as “I’m So Happy That I Can’t Stop Crying,” a Grammy-nominated duet with Sting that hit #2. When Toby made the difficult decision to leave his record label, he sat tight until the right opportunity came along.

That opportunity presented itself in 1999, when he signed with the Stroud-led DreamWorks label. (It’s worth noting that the ACM named Stroud Produced Of The Year in 2001 and that albums he’s produced have sold more than 50 million copies; he can also boast more than 70 #1 country singles.) That partnership has never flagged, and it has perhaps shone most brightly with Toby’s previous, and most successful, album to date, Unleashed, which went triple platinum based on #1 hits like “Courtesy Of The Red, White And Blue (The Angry American),” “Who’s Your Daddy?” and the Willie Nelson duet “Beer For My Horses.” Rolling Stone opined, “Unleashed puts the grits and gravy back into mainstream country” (Aug. 22, 2002), and the Associated Press asserted, “With his name on every song, Keith underscores his diversity as a compelling writer and singer who delivers the goods” (July 24, 2002).

“I had to work hard to get here,” Toby says of his long and steady climb to the top. “I appreciate it a lot more for all the hard work it took.” He readily admits he’s hit his stride – but not his peak. And with SHOCK’N Y’ALL, he has no intention of slowing down. “When you write your own music and have a personality people can sink their teeth into as much as your music, you can stick around for a long time, he reflects, before adding with a grin: “That’s just what I’m planning to do.”

SHOCK’N Y’ALL IN TOBY’S WORDS:

Toby Keith recently discussed the tracks on his new album, SHOCK’N Y’ALL. Released Nov. 4, 2003, the disc was co-produced by Keith and James Stroud.

“I Love This Bar” (Toby Keith, Scotty Emerick): I was sitting on the bus with Scott [Emerick, Keith’s friend, guitarist and songwriting collaborator] one night after a show, and we had a little groove going. We were talking about all the characters you see in a bar and just started writing it. It didn’t take very long. It just felt like a real good redneck sing-along song.

“Whiskey Girl” (Toby Keith, Scotty Emerick): In my opinion, whiskey is a man’s drink; you don’t hear many girls order it. So I wanted to write a song about a girl who happens to like whiskey. She’s a little rough around the edges and a lot of fun to be around. The chorus says it all: “She ain’t into wine and roses/Beer just makes her turn up her nose/ and she can’t stand the thought of sippin’ champagne.”

“American Soldier” (Toby Keith, Chuck Cannon): I get accused of banging the war drum by the media – I’m all for peace, but from time to time we have no choice but to fight for our freedom. So I support our troops. They’re working people – they get up every day and put their boots on and go to work; like every day they defend our country overseas. But in this song, you don’t realize the working people I’m singing about are soldiers until the end.

“If I Was Jesus” (Chuck Cannon, Phil Madeira): Chuck Cannon and Phil Madeira co-wrote this, and I fell in love with it the first time I heard it. I am a follower of Jesus and I’ve always looked at Him as one of us, even though he’s the Son of God. I believe he had a sense of humor and let people be who they were, not who He wanted them to be. If I could be Him – who I can’t – these are some things I would do. This song might be a little controversial; people will say, “You can’t say that about Jesus!” But I played it for my pastor to hear what he thought, and he said it’s okay: These words are straight out of The Bible.

“Time For Me To Ride (Toby Keith, Chuck Cannon): This is a rockin’ song. It fit the album really well, and I like the groove.

“Sweet” (Toby Keith, Chuck Cannon, Scotty Emerick): It’s about a hot girl in a meat market [laughs]. You know the yell: “Sweet!” Guys do it at sports and stuff. We tied it into a song about these guys sitting in a bar who see a hot girl walk in. One of the guys ends up lucking out and getting with her, and as he leaves he says, “Sweet!”

“Don’t Leave, I Think I Love You” (Toby Keith, Ronnie Dunn): I had a #1 song a few years ago called “I’m Just Talkin’ About Tonight,” and Ronnie Dunn of Brooks & Dunn loved it; he loved the chord structure, said it was really honky-tonk. Well, we all went out and had a few drinks one night, and we heard this guy shout, “Don’t’ leave – I thing I love you!” as a woman was walking out the door. We said, “We ought to make a song out of that.” A couple of weeks later, Ronnie called me over to his bus, and he’d used a version o that chord structure and mad this honky-tonk thing. We finished it that night.

“Nights I Can’t Remember, Friends I’ll Never Forget” (Toby Keith, Scotty Emerick): I had this idea for a long time. Scott and I were talking on night and I said those words – “I had a lot of nights I can’t remember, but I was with friends I’ll never forget.” So we were in Vegas for a few nights, working on some songs, and we turned it into a story song about a group of guys in a band who were closer than brothers. It’s a good story song.

“Baddest Boots” (Toby Keith): I wrote this six or seven years ago but never recorded it. We recorded it for this album, and it turned out real nice, so it was time to put it out there. It’s about how much money and devotion a person will put into a pair of cowboy boots when really, they’re just protection for your feet.

“The Critic” (Toby Keith): Now that’s my favorite song on the album! It’s written for anyone who took a nasty shot at me and didn’t have to answer for it. If I was a critic and somebody’s album sucked really bad, I just wouldn’t review it. You’re burning down someone’s dream right there, and that pisses me off. This song is written for all of ‘em, not one in particular – especially for the ones who don’t think it’s for them! 

“The Taliban Song” (Toby Keith, Scotty Emerick): I was watching CNN and thinking about those everyday people surviving the bombardment in Afghanistan. You know, what if you’re a peace-loving guy in Afghanistan and you’re watching Taliban TV, and they’re trying to tell you, “It’s all under control” while American planes are dropping bombs? You don’t want any part of that. So it’s a “get the hell out of Dodge” song for an Afghan man. We recorded it on the road in Alabama.

“Weed With Willie” (Toby Keith, Scotty Emerick): We recorded this in Alabama, too. I’ve never stepped on Willie’s bus without hearing someone say the words to this song: “I will never smoke weed with Willie Again.” Someone was interviewing Willie recently, and he said the funniest thing I’ve heard him say. They were talking about how he’d cut back on weed, and they asked if he’d done it for his health. He said, “No, it’s just getting harder to find the good stuff.” Funniest thing I’ve ever heard! Trust me, you don’t even want to mess around with that stuff if you’re not a professional, which I am not. 


SELECTED DISCOGRAPHY

Toby Keith, Mercury, 1993
Boomtown, Polydor, 1994
Christmas To Christmas, Polydor, 1995
Blue Moon, A&M, 1996
Dream Walkin’, Mercury, 1997
Greatest Hits, Volume One, Mercury, 1998
How Do You Like Me Know?!, DreamWorks, 1999
Pull My Chain, DreamWorks, 2001
Unleashed, DreamWorks, 2002
SHOCK’N Y’ALL, DreamWorks, 2003

TOBY KEITH: www.tobykeith.com
DREAMWORKS NASHVILLE: www.dreamworksnashville.com

Thanks For The Music
January 2004