COUNTRY AND COMEDY
Craven headliner Toby Keith does it his own way
Q Many artists tour on the depth of their music catalogues, which is something you could easily do. Yet you continue to release new music regularly. What’s your motivation to keep writing and recording? A: First and foremost, I’m a songwriter so I always have an idea or a melody on my mind. After a period of living and not dying, you amass these songs. Then the artist in you wants to go and record them. It’s a pretty simple process.
Q Has the recording process changed for you?
A I don’t have to hunk it like I used to. For my whole career I was on some kind of secondary label. Mercury signed me but I was only there for one album and they put me over on Polydor. And then when I went to Dreamworks, they didn’t have any other artist selling records at all, just me. They had artists but they weren’t selling anything. And then I went to my own label in 2005 and I’m the only artist selling records there so it was always, from a business standpoint, necessary to pump out a new album every year so you could keep the bills paid.
I used to really have to pump them out but now since the digital world has kicked in, it’s kind of a singles world now. So now I just lay back and let them happen when they happen.
Q You’ve been songwriting for a long time. Has that process become easier over the years?
A Yes it has. Now I know when to quit and when to push, you know what I mean? That’s something I couldn’t do 25 or 30 years ago.
I’ve been writing songs since I was 15 years old. If you were 25 when you started writing, you might be better by the time you’re 35 but when you’re starting at 15, you think you know it all with any decision you’re making. And of course songs are about life so to write you’ve got to live some. There’s a catch-22 when it comes to songwriting: By the time you get old enough to live enough life to write the big powerhouse song, and I’m talking lyric-wise, not hit-wise, many of the fans that drive mainstream radio haven’t yet experienced what you’ve written about. You’d have to be really lucky as a young guy to write a powerful life message that would hit people in the 25 to 30 age group. But once you’ve hit 40, you’ve lived long enough to take some of that rubber that’s hit the road and those callouses and the joys and pains of life will allow you to write about things you had no idea about when you were 25.
Q You’ve got a bit of reputation for writing funny songs like Red Solo Cup, As Good As I Once Was and Weed With Willie.
Now you’ve got Wacky Tobaccy. Do you sit down with the intention of writing a humorous song or does the idea just pop up?
A With Wacky Tobaccy, just the song title made me write it. I’ve never heard a song called that and even if there is one out there, it’s probably not as funny as this one. There’s no way you can write a serious song called Wacky Tobaccy.
Q Do you find that people misinterpret these tongue-incheek songs, that they don’t see them in the same humorous vein that you do?
A I don’t care (laughs). They make me laugh and they make my audience laugh. I never really put one second of thought into what other people think about anything I do on that ... There’s just a handful of things you do
that drives your life. It’s usually faith and family, things like that, and music is one of those cornerstones of what I’ve done with my life.
Q You have a loyal fan base in Canada. Can you describe that relationship from your point of view?
A I’ve had a great time in Canada for the last 15 or 20 years but from ’93 to about 2001 it was hit or miss in the eastern part. But the western provinces, they feel like Montana and Wyoming and Colorado to me — there’s not much difference ... The northeast part of the U.S. and the eastern provinces all feel different than Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Alberta and Saskatchewan. Vancouver feels more like Washington and Oregon. I have always done well in the west and I think it’s just that western cowboy mentality. I came up with Should’ve Been A Cowboy in ’93 or ’94 and it was a smash. Then I played the (Calgary) Stampede and the other festivals in the west and they’ve always been big followers.”