Toby Keith photo courtesy of Show Dog Nashville.
Aug. 6, 2008 — One of Merle Haggard’s very first hits was a song called "Branded Man" about a former convict who continued to pay for his crime even after leaving prison. It makes sense that Merle and Toby Keith are friends, because Toby now feels as if he’s been branded by the colors of the American flag.
It’s been six years since he had a hit with "Courtesy Of The Red, White And Blue (The Angry American)" — almost seven years since the terrorist attack on American soil that inspired the song. Despite the passage of time, and his continued ability to launch new material onto the radio, Toby is astounded to find that that song is still the one by which much of the media judges him.
"It's amazing that I can sell 35 million albums and have 50 million spins as a writer, and one three-minute song carries more weight than all of that combined," he told The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. "You realize that? You know what 50 million spins as a writer compares to? [John] Lennon, the Bee Gees and Billy Joel. I've got a 35 greatest hits in the store right now. There's one song called 'Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue.' Every other song is predominantly non-conservative stuff. It's drinking, womanizin', 'Weed With Willie,' partyin', it's 'Whiskey Girl,' 'Who's Your Daddy' — and 'boot in your ass' carries all that weight. You can imagine how much it meant to people who needed that song. Whether people hated it or loved it, it left its mark."
Toby’s perplexed, but he’s not complaining. It remains a crowd favorite in his concert set list. Truly dedicated fans in Scranton, Pa., can hear Toby sing that song live Friday night and see him on the silver screen the same day when his movie Beer For My Horses debuts. The rest of the weekend has him performing on the Biggest & Baddest Tour in Bristow,Va.; and Hartford, Conn.
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