There have been some interesting articles about country music star Toby Keith since his recent, unfortunate passing at the young age of 62. Have you ready any? Thought I'd share just a quick post about him this Friday because he's been on my mind (well, he and a friend named Joe Ruoto, who I may come back to later).
Like probably many of you, I didn't pay any attention to Toby Keith until the first Gulf War and the big blow-up with the Dixie Chicks. At the time I didn't like him at all. But over the years I realized that, like all of us, he wasn't nearly so simple. He performed for troops. He performed for Barak Obama. He performed for Donald Trump. To be honest, he sounded like most musicians I know…pretty stoked to get paid gig invites of any type. While he and I clearly had different views on a number of political issues (none of which I'll go into here), as musicians it seems we have much more in common in terms of attitude. I get the desire to play a song to raise the spirits of 18-20 year-olds who have just been ordered into war, and I'd do it in a heartbeat. I get the honor it would be to perform for a President. I get that a musician is more complicated than their songs.
I mean, I wrote Cascadia, which was in many ways about the break-up of America. If I were famous and wrote a song like, how would people have reacted? But to me, it was just a song.
One reason I enjoy making music with all musicians of any mainstream political view is because I feel like our bond as musicians is stronger than all the other stuff. I love the old Dixie Chicks music. I raise my glass to Toby Keith's big hits. I'm fairly sure the great dive bar in the sky is come as you are.