interviewsofrecordingartists.com
Country singer/songwriter Toby Keith doesn't like the new direction he feels the country genre has been headed over the past year. And the outspoken thirty-eight-year-old Clinton, Oklahoma native isn't afraid to say why. He sees the current crop of country newcomers as a bunch of one hit wonders and Keith despises the pop-oriented, acts who are more image conscious then music oriented. He views country music as a craft that requires years of honing the skills required to become a top songwriter and not something that can be manufactured by a formula that worked for the '70's bubble-gum pop acts. "You can get the newest Ricky Martin haircut," Keith said during a recent interview," then start wearing the leather pants and silk shirts. And then go and hire some high dollar image consultant who'll tell you to spend $200,000 or $300,000 on your video. Then your record company can run around Nashville telling everybody who'll listen that they've created the newest star. Then everybody starts saying,' This is where we are in country music now and this is where country music is heading.' Well, to me that's a bunch of bull shit." Why is Keith so adamantly against the trend sweeping Nashville that places an emphasis on youth and a hip, cool 70's influenced sound and fashion? He doesn't see any longevity in that at all and he's in it for the long haul, not the short term. "They say that the flame that burns twice as hot burns half as long," he said. "So if a guy or a girl comes out and sets the world on fire(in country music)at some point, if the talent isn't there, it's gonna catch up with them and pretty soon, before they know it, they're just gonna be a name that everybody knows and that nobody wants to pay their hard earned dollar to see. Then they (the artist) loose their record deal. And why? because what are they forgetting in the whole equation? The songs, that's what! By loosing their connection and that ability to be creative and relate to the fans, then it's just not going to happen for them in the long term. Because people (the fans) see through so many lies and even if the business pulls one off and fools and them on a big song and that song even sells million records for that artist, then it won't be long before that's all over." Keith, whose hits include, "Should've been A Cowboy" and "Getcha Some", has a new single "When Love Fades" from his new album titled, "How Do You Like Me Now?!". He believes that the music on his latest release, is a radical departure from the material that many country acts are scoring hits with at radio. "I'm not one of those mainstream clowns who just go over to the publishing company(on Music Row)and try and dig a hit song out for their next recording project," Keith said. Then you hear the same old nonsense. I've always tried to create something that is original and has more impact. Most of the songs that score hits in country music these days are forgotten about a year and a half after the release. My songs stay around long after the initial impact is over." Keith's strong sense of personal self-confidence is perceived by some industry insiders as cockiness. Yet, Keith is quick to point out that there's a difference between the two. (The following first three sentences of this paragraph of quotes, were said off the record.) /"Now," he said," there's a difference between confidence and being an asshole. Dwight Yoakum is an asshole. You understand?/ I'm confident within my abilities. There's just not very many singer songwriters (in country music) who are original right now. I get paid a lot of money for doing it right now. And that's just the way it is,(in the country music business) you get paid for doing what you do well and for what you enjoy. And, you do get confident whenever you know that you do well and everything that you do (songwriting-wise) becomes wanted by radio and the fans. Hey. When I started out I wasn't confident, but I've now built confidence over a period of time which encompassed seven successful albums. I've always gone with my gut feeling and every time I've gone with my gut feeling, it always works nine out of ten times." Keith's attitude has kept him at odds he says with many of his peers (recording artists). Keith lives in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma and he only travels to Nashville occasionally. (Whenever he's conducting interviews and personal appearances, recording, performing or working on new material for his songwriting catalog.) "I'm so far removed from playing the games that everybody else is playing, "he said," that I'm not even a casual observer of the game of country music and the business that it's become. Let me give you an example. I recently did a syndicated radio where I was a co-host and the MC (disc jockey) wanted me to comment on the current Top Forty country charts and who I knew on that Top Forty. He said,' Well here's this weeks Top Forty, now check the chart out and tell me who you know real well on there so we can talk about them on the show.' Well, I looked at the chart and I didn't know half of them. I had to go all the way back to Shania Twain. So, I told him how I came out in the same year on the same label as her, so I could say something about that. And I know Sawyer Brown so there was something there for me to say. (Toby Keith and Sawyer Brown are managed by the same management company.) But for the most part, I had nothing to say because I didn't know any of them on there! I didn't even know who most of the artists were on the chart! That's how little I'm connected with the business of country music in Nashville. I just go do what I do and it works for me and I haven't got time to attempt to change the business of country music around." Keith only wants to continue to release more of the same type of country music that he's become known for by his fans. "At this point in my career," Keith said," I'm not going to send anything out there(to radio and the fans) that's going to be lame-ass, middle of the road music. There's gonna have to be a reason that I'm releasin' it. It has to be something that I'll play in a guitar pool(a songwriter's circle). By that I mean if I'm sitting in a guitar-pool with Paul McCartney, Billy Joel, Bob Dylan and James Taylor and we're passing around the guitar, writing songs together. That's why, the kind of songs I'll release now (to radio and the fans) are the same kind of songs I'd play to impress my other songwriting peers."
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