Toby Keith 'Honkytonk University' album

Twelve years and 12 albums in, Toby Keith's run as a country singer, songwriter, musician and entertainer is entering a new phase. The first began with his 1993 signing to Mercury Records and closed with the 1999 release of his first greatest hits collection.

The second began with his subsequent move to DreamWorks Records and closed last year with the release of his Greatest Hits 2.

The third begins May 17 with the release of Honkytonk University, his 13th album. Where it ends...well, that story is still being written. Its first chapter, however, seems to foreshadow a music-driven progression. And so, the album confirms Toby Keith's place as one of the very few recording artists in any genre for whom artistic and commercial growth have been simultaneous, long-lived and completely self-directed.

Looking back, Keith's current stature seems almost inevitable considering his out-of-the-box double platinum debut and an ensuing succession of radio hits. But his rise has come with its share of difficulties -- creative control issues early on, followed by the long odds of a small label among giants. And though he has crested both mountains, this third stage of his professional journey is bound to reveal new challenges.

Toby Keith was born and raised in Oklahoma. As he sings on his new album's first single, his grandmother owned a nightclub on the Arkansas-Oklahoma line, and it's there he first got the itch for performing the country music he'd heard in his father's record collection. Early jobs included rodeo work, climbing oil rigs and semi-pro football, but music soon became his focus. His apprenticeship was served with bar gigs and independent recording projects.

Signed to Mercury by Alabama-producer Harold Shedd, Keith introduced himself to country fans nationwide with "Shoulda Been A Cowboy" in 1993. The No. 1 smash paved the way for three more hits, "Wish I Didn't Know Now," "A Little Less Talk and a Lot More Action" and "He Ain't Worth Missing," and Keith's self titled debut album went on to sell more than two million copies

His next three albums, Boomtown, Blue Moon and Dream Walkin' generated an enviable body of hit singles. Titles include "Who's That Man," "You Ain't Much Fun," "Does That Blue Moon Ever Shine On You," "Me Too," "Dream Walkin'" and "We Were In Love." Even with this level of airplay success, Keith's career was not progressing and his relationship with the label was increasingly tumultuous.

Problems came to a head as Keith was completing work on his next album. The title track first single "How Do You like Me Now?!" was flatly rejected by Mercury and he was released from his contract. Keith's producer James Stroud was running the Nashville division of startup DreamWorks, which soon signed Keith. And though the new company was competing in a market dominated by increasingly consolidated conglomerates, the move initiated an era of explosive growth for artist and label alike.

"How Do You Like Me Now?!" became a multi-week No. 1 and an anthem for Keith's emerging status as a true superstar. Subsequent single "Country Comes To Town" and "You Shouldn't Kiss Me Like This" returned him to platinum sales status. The next release, Pull My Chain, kicked out three huge hits in "I'm Just Talkin' About Tonight," "I Wanna Talk About Me" and "My List" on the way to double platinum.

Keith's next single release, "Courtesy Of The Red, White And Blue (The Angry American)" was written in response to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. The song became an emotional rallying cry in the war on terror, and the title was painted on tank cannons and warplanes during the hunt for Al Qaeda in Afghanistan.

"Courtesy" helped the 2002 release of Unleashed to a No. 1 country debut, and was followed by the hits "Who's Your Daddy?" and "Beer For My Horses," a duet with Willie Nelson. The album eventually surpassed four million in sales, and the national furor over Keith's patriotic anthem cemented his place not only as the genre's top superstar, but also as a household name.

The following year saw the release of Shock'N Y'all and its three multi-week No. 1s "I Love This Bar," "American Soldier" and "Whiskey Girl." The disc entered the all-genre album chart at No. 1 and is currently well past triple platinum. His Greatest Hits 2 collection, released late last fall, is already nearing triple platinum and established yet another hit in Keith's repertoire, "Stays In Mexico."

Along the way he became one of country's top live draws, regularly ranking as a top ticket sellers in any genre. The Academy of Country Music named him Entertainer of the Year in 2003 and 2004, representing just two of the literally dozens of peer-voted, fan-voted and industry achievement awards he has received.

The latest career retrospective marked another turning point in Keith's career, however, as the phenomenal five-year run at DreamWorks made the label an acquisition target. Now under the Universal Music Group/Nashville umbrella, Toby Keith finds himself back with the company that first signed and dropped him. And so the first studio release from his latest circumstance carries all the import of predecessors Toby Keith and How Do You Like Me Now?! Thankfully, it lives up to its lineage.

Honkytonk University is perhaps best described as a career album, in the sense that only a performer as accomplished and artistically mature as Keith could both acknowledge his past and look to the future in one cohesive release. The disc nods at different eras in his life and career on the title track, "I Got It Bad," and the Merle Haggard duet "She Ain't Hooked On Me No More." And yet he's never recorded anything quite like "Big Blue Note," nor been as boldly funny and slightly self-deprecating as he is on "As Good As I Once Was."

In short, Toby Keith has reached that hallowed place where everything he does musically seems so effortless. Except, of course, when you stop to consider how much work it took for him to get there.

Cut by Cut

Honkytonk U
Toby Keith
I want my kids to go to OU, and I'm tight with some of the people there. Over the holidays somebody asked me if I went there and I said no. They asked what school I went to and I said I graduated from the school of hard knocks. I went to Honkytonk U. It just sounded like a title. I went and wrote a mini bio. It just fell out. I'd written it in my head, so when I picked the guitar up and started playing it sounded like old school Waylon. I thought, man I haven't heard anything close to this in 25 years. I played it for my producer James Stroud and he said let's go get some of the guys that used to record on Waylon's albums and bring them in. So we did.

As Good As I Once Was
Toby Keith/Scotty Emerick
Probably my favorite song on the album. If I hadn't come out of the box with "Honkytonk U" I'd have come with this one. It didn't matter what order, they were going to be singles one and two. I can always tell when I've got a special one as soon as I get done. My dad used to say this line some. The first verse is about being with a woman, two is about fighting, and three is saying don't sell me short because I'll surprise you.

She Ain't Hooked On Me No More
Toby Keith/Scotty Emerick
We had the old habits die hard idea one night. We got done with it and I said, man this sounds like Haggard. I'd always wanted to do a duet with Willie and I've always wanted to do a duet with Merle Haggard. I got my duet with Willie, several times, but never with Merle. I thought, let's see if he'll do it. He loved the song when he heard it and said let's get it on. Great job on his part. I don't know if it's a radio song, but I know the fans are going to love it. This is probably the most old school album I've done. This just fits the tone really well.

Big Blue Note
Toby Keith/Scotty Emerick
I've never written anything quite like it. It's just one of those things that happens to you as a songwriter. You're going to write enough of them that one's going to end up psychedelic or something. It went where it went. It's a great "dear john" letter song. The title came out somewhere and it's kind of a recitation. The last verse just ties it all together. He folds that note up into a paper airplane and says if it don't come back he'll accept the fact that she's gone. I like to say on those that we happened to be the only writers up that night when that one floated by.

Just The Guy To Do It
Toby Keith/Scotty Emerick
You think you're able to fix everybody's problems and then you see this broken heart sitting in the corner and find out her lost love is a really cocky, disrespectful kind of person. You're stepping in saying he might need somebody to put him in his place and I'm just the guy to do it. Kind of a fix-it-up man.

She Left Me
Toby Keith
I wrote that about 10 years ago and always thought that was a funny title. The only reason you've got to tell anyone why she's not there is because she left me. There's no denying anything. We'd still be together, but. He goes through the motions to try to explain everything, but in the end he's only got one excuse for her not being there. Real hot picking on the tune. Really lands solid.

Knock Yourself Out
Toby Keith/Scotty Emerick/Dean Dillon
We kind of had a little bit of an idea, but couldn't get it to work. We were about to put it to rest and not do it, and then it all came out at once. Great melody, a lot of people like it. It didn't completely knock me out at first, but by the time it was finished it was pretty good. When I played it in the studio it just came to life. Fits in really nice on the album.

You Ain't Leavin' (Thank God Are Ya)
Toby Keith/Scotty Emerick/Dean Dillon
Dean told a story about his grandmother, they were very poor and got government assisted food. Lived back in the mountains. Whenever the truck would come by with their government food all the kinfolk would come down out of the mountains and eat her out of house and home for two or three days until the food gave out. Then they'd all head back home. She'd stand on the front porch and yell, "You ain't leavin' thank God are ya?" We sat down one night and wrote that, of course, about a girl.

I Got It Bad
Toby Keith/Chuck Cannon
We wrote that six or seven years ago and kept looking for a place to use it. That's a real dramatic setting and a wonderful, moody vocal on it. Really shows off my range. It's kind of an old school Toby song. It's got that big "We Were In Love" vibe, but see that was a Chuck Cannon song, too. It's always fresh to write with Chuck. He, Scotty and Dean are the guys I write with most.

Your Smile
Toby Keith/Scotty Emerick
It came off a little soft for the way I usually write. It's a little sappy, a little gushy. But I loved the idea of turn your frown upside down because you never know who might be falling in love with your smile. Again, Mr. Fix-It-Up coming by to fix all broken hearts.

Where You Gonna Go
Toby Keith/Scotty Emerick
Classic, sad country song. I've played it for some people who have teared up over it. It's a story about young love maturing all the way to where they've had a son and he grows up. She ends up saying some of the same things to her son she had to say to her husband. She's hard luck, always worrying about the men in her life more than herself. Pretty cleverly crafted, I'm very happy with the work in the verses.

You Caught Me At A Bad Time
Toby Keith/Scotty Emerick
The idea was he got out of one relationship but wasn't over it enough to start another one up. He's found a great girl, better than probably any girl he's ever found in his life, They both know he's still not over the last one. He's saying, you're the one, should be, and deserve to be, but you caught me at a bad time.

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Toby Keith - Honkytonk University