A raging response to the September 11 terrorist attacks, the song struck a fierce chord with aggressively patriotic listeners, while others condemned it as knee-jerk jingoism. Keith was axed from the guest list, and the ensuing media flap proved to be a publicity coup. Meanwhile, the song went to number one on the country charts and crossed over into the pop Top All of this set the stage for Unleashed , which sold like hotcakes upon its release later in , debuting at number one on both the country and pop charts.
In , Keith released Shock'n Y'All , which, despite its title, was chock-full of enough rough-and-rowdy hits to once again connect hugely with heartland America. Honkytonk University followed in May , the same year that Mercury released Chronicles , a collection of three of his biggest albums: Toby Keith , Boomtown , and Blue Moon. After departing from Universal and longtime producer Stroud , Keith established his own company, Show Dog Nashville, and in released the label's first record, the number two hit White Trash with Money.
A year later he released Big Dog Daddy , the first album he produced himself, and also a holiday album, A Classic Christmas. Clancy's Tavern , which appeared in , was inspired by his grandmother's club, which he visited frequently as a child. Released almost a year to the day after Hope on the Rocks , Drinks After Work appeared in late October ; it was preceded by the single release of its title track, which peaked at number 28 on the country charts.
The follow-up, "Shut Up and Hold On," made it to number Keith released "Drunk Americans," the first single from his forthcoming album, in October but it took another full year before 35 MPH Town materialized, preceded by the title track as a single in the spring of Keith toured 35 MPH Town through and returned in September with The Bus Songs , a collection of the ribald tunes he'd tucked away on his albums supplemented with two new songs. AllMusic relies heavily on JavaScript.
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One by one, his friends dropped out, and Keith made a fateful business decision: He replaced them with musicians who'd play for a salary instead of a share in the take.
Getting a record deal was a different story, as rejections piled up, most notably from one flunky who told Keith his songs needed to "go back to the woodshed. Keith's lyrics have always been jingoistic. The son of a veteran, he neither apologizes nor minces words. After Sept. His self-titled debut hit stores in and quickly went platinum. The album contained four No. Releasing his major label debut at age 32, Keith made up for lost time.
Starting in , Keith released a new album every year through , with each selling at least , copies. In Shedd launched Polydor Nashville and took Keith with him. But Shedd was eventually succeeded by Luke Lewis, who didn't share his predecessor's enthusiasm. After two more songs were rejected, Keith went on the attack, displaying a shrewdness and willingness to bet on himself that's remained a constant since the oilfields of Oklahoma.
The saga wasn't over. In the end Keith decided to stop being a well-paid employee of others and instead go into business for himself. In exchange for giving Universal a half-stake in his next album, plus a greatest hits compilation, Keith would be free to open his own label, Show Dog.
Universal would distribute it. Perhaps mindful of those precedents, Keith decided to share staff with another nascent label, Big Machine, run by an up-and-comer named Scott Borchetta. The singer bought a building in Nashville to house both labels. It was one of the great investments in recent music history. Now Keith gets paid whenever Swift does.
Keith's evolution from music act to entertainment mogul deepened when casino executive Don Marrandino came to him with a proposal. As Marrandino prepared to open the first location, Keith gave the chef a list of his favorites for the menu: hand-cut French fries, hush puppies, corn bread--and, most important, fried bologna sandwiches.
But when he arrived to preview the restaurant with a dozen suits, the bologna had been replaced by fancier fare. Keith understood his market, and the menu was fixed active military members get a free burger and beer. The restaurant tripled its opening month's revenue target; by the end of the eatery was among the topgrossing restaurants in the U. Others followed in Phoenix, Minneapolis, Tulsa and 11 more cities.
For some, like the one in Oklahoma City, 20 minutes from his house, Keith owns a big chunk of both the land and the eatery. For others he strikes licensing agreements with large operators for a flat fee, a cut of revenues or both. The number-one menu item? The fried bologna sandwich. The success of the label and the restaurant gave Keith the confidence in his business judgment that he'd always had in his lyrics. So over the past five years he's embarked on a whirl of entrepreneurship.
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