The big dog is back.
Back in June, Toby Keith revealed that he’d been battling stomach cancer for the past six months, sharing the news on social media:
“Last fall I was diagnosed with stomach cancer. I’ve spent the last 6 months receiving chemo, radiation and surgery.
So far, so good. I need time to breathe, recover, and relax.
I am looking forward to spending this time with my family. But I will see the fans sooner than later. I can’t wait.”
Although he initially left the remaining tour dates up on his site, which included a few festivals, the diagnosis ultimately led him to cancelling the remainder of his shows in 2022.
However, Keith had a bittersweet moment here recently, as he returned to the big stage for the first time since before his cancellations at Jeff Ruby’s Steakhouse in Lexington, Kentucky.
Jeff Ruby Culinary Entertainment CEO Britney Ruby Miller shared on Facebook:
“Toby Keith is on the mend!! After a year of fighting stomach cancer, he chose Jeff Ruby’s Lexington stage to sing with Jeff Ruby. His first time singing in over a year… Toby sang for an hour.”
Miller is the daughter of restaurant owner Jeff Ruby, according to the Lexington Herald-Leader.
You gotta love it.
He performed a rendition of “I Love This Bar,” before bailing mid song for something the crowd was familiar with… apparently it wasn’t your standard Toby Keith crowd:
“Hey, fuck this… let’s play something y’all know.”
One of the biggest country music stars of the 2000s making a return to the stage after an incredibly difficult year.
“Johnny B. Goode”
“Keep Your Hands To Yourself”
Toby Keith On Never Smoking Weed With Willie Nelson Again
It’s no secret that Willie Nelson is the definition of a weed connoisseur.
Hell, I’m not even sure if Ol’ Shotgun Willie can even remember the last time he wasn’t stoned off his arse. We’re talking about a guy who can smoke Snoop Dogg under the table, and the rapper even has a guy he pays more than $50,000 a year to follow him around and roll blunts for him.
Needless to say, he is, and always has been, a major advocate for smoking the devil’s lettuce, and he’s not too afraid to share either.
I was listening to some early 2000s country music today, and forgot about this old hidden gem of a song by Toby Keith, called “Weed With Willie.” It’s pretty much about how Toby got so zooted with Willie one night, that he completely forgot how to function.
Now you may be wondering if this actually happened, or if Toby made an assumption and wrote one helluva fairy tale about it.
With that being said, I’m here to set the record straight:
It did indeed happen, and here’s the proof.
I was digging through the vaults after hearing the song, and discovered this old gem of an interview of Toby back in 2009, where he discussed the first (and last) time he ever smoked with Willie, and how it inspired him to write the song.
Story has it, Keith was in Vegas for Charles Barkley’s birthday party. While he was there, he played a few songs with Willie on stage of his show that night, and Willie asked him to stick around for a little while after the show.
Keith continued:
“Willie’s got that real chronic, medicinal stuff. I’ve never smoked much pot in my life, it’s not my high… we set down and he starts rolling one up, so when in Rome, you know? We burn one, and I couldn’t even function.
It was like, the most hardcore weed that I’d ever had, and I’d only hit it like three or four times, and unlike Bill Clinton I did inhale.
I stood up and said ‘Man it’s time for me to go,’ he was just looking at me and I remember my ears were burning, my head’s throbbing, I was breathing different, and he was sitting there grinning at me.
He knew he got me right. I said I had to go and he says ‘Good timing.’ So I had a car take me to my room, I missed the whole Charles Barkley thing, I went down to sleep.”
So there you have it. That’s the story of the night that Willie Nelson sent Toby Keith to Mars for free, and birthed the song “Weed With Willie.”
Check out the full video here:
“Weed With Willie”
They also teamed up for “Wacky Tobaccy”
Toby Keith’s Monday Night Football Intro From The ’90s Is GOLD
Is it football season yet?
Granted I know we have the final round of The Masters on today, baseball is back and NASCAR is in full swing, but there’s just something about football season that hits different.
And there’s something about Monday Night Football intros from the ’90s that hit WAY different.
Man, can we just spin it back to the ’90s, please? We’re talking the good ol’ days of permed mullets, flannels with the cut off sleeves, the radio actually played country music, and oh yeah… the Dallas Cowboys were actually America’s team.
Speaking of the Cowboys, I struck gold this morning by finding this legendary Monday Night Football video, that has been lost in time.
And who does the video feature?
Toby Keith himself.
Coming off his 1993 hit “Should’ve Been A Cowboy,” the NFL and the Cowboys took the bull by the horns and saw a great opportunity to feature the hit song in their Monday Night Football intro.
In the video, Keith, rocking a badass permed mullet and a sweet vintage Cowboys jacket, twists the lyrics to his own song, as he sings about all the Cowboy greats at the time.
We’re talking Emmett Smith, Troy Aikman, Roger Staubach, and every other player who made the organization the most fun to watch in the league at the time.
Simpler times man, simpler times.
