Haven’t officially recognized and said goodbye to Toby who passed on February 5th following a bout with stomach cancer. However, I just saw the following, so here goes.
It reminded me of the quip “death is a good career move”. I remember being a member of the Columbia Record Club and ordering Jim Croce’s Greatest Hits album after he died. I then had to wait 3-4 months to get the recording because the demand for it following Jim’s death far exceeded the supply of albums and tapes Columbia had on hand. I would imagine that in this, the digital music age, that whole supply/demand thing is non-existent as the supply is always readily available.)
It was Toby who first pulled me into listening to country music. Prior to hearing him, I was never a big fan. My son Shea liked country music however from his formative years of listening to it working on the water out on the boat helping Raymond McNeal. Around the house, Shea would have country music playing. I remember one day when this Toby tune (below) caught my ear.
First some background info for you. At the time I first heard this tune I had just quit drinking and the divorce shuffle with the first wife was in full stride. (It leads me to wonder if maybe women problems don’t tend to make you appreciate country music songs more because there are so many country tunes about that dynamic of breaking up and out-the-door-she-went. A joke comes to mind that goes “What happens when a country music song is played backwards? You get back your house, your dog, your truck and your wife.”)
So when this song hit the scene and I overheard Shea playing it, I asked him who it was. He laughed as he told me “Toby Keith. I can’t believe you have never heard of him.”
As I said, I was not into country music even after it became cool. However, Toby made me a fan as I listened to his CD’s that Shea had on hand and found myself singing along with and enjoying them. What I liked best about Toby’s tunes was the humor that he included in them. “Wanna Talk About Me” for instance still cracks me up every time I hear it.
And it goes without saying that Toby forever sealed the deal with me as one of his fans when he recorded the following about a bar that sounded a lot like another one I love and know fairly well:
Whereas Toby is no longer here to enjoy the bars he loves, the bar I am talking about is still around and features Buzzy’s Thirsty Thursday today. Drop in later and have one in memory of Toby.