Keith Finally Settles In As A Country Star

Someday, maybe, they’ll call it the Saga of Toby Keith.

It’ll be the tale of a football-playin’, bronc-bustin’, oil rig-ridin’ country music-singing good ol’ boy from Oklahoma.

He’ll be big, burly and good looking. And when he finally gets down to making music full-time, he’ll burst on the scene like a big blow out of the Gulf.

And that’s just the way it’s happened for Toby Keith, this weekend’s featured performer at the Silver Mountain Amphitheater.

Keith dabbled with semi-pro football, test-rode bulls and broncos for a rodeo and worked in the Oklahoma oil fields. When the bottom dropped out of the oil business, he turned his weekend music gig into a career choice.

It was a good decision, though it took a while to pay off. The oil slump hit in 1983 and five years later, Keith and his band, Easy Money, had accumulated enough capital to buy a bus. He hired a manager in ‘88 and released an independent record good enough to get a nod from Billboard.

His first major-label record, “Toby Keith,” spun off two No. 1 singles, “Should’ve Been a Cowboy” and “Wish I Didn’t Know,” and two Top Five records and earned Keith the title of Top New Country Artist of 1993.

In 1994, “Boomtown” helped establish Keith as a songwriter and introduced several songs that would become concert favorites, including “Who’s That Man,” “Big Ol’ Truck” and “You Ain’t Much Fun.”

His latest is “Blue Moon” and, like the others, it marries rockers and ballads, though it leans toward the latter. Keith is one of those guys who can crank it hard and sing it sweet. His balladry has made him country’s latest heartthrob, but his concerts are packed with feel-good, stand-up and-sing country-rock anthems, too.

Songs such as “A Little Less Talk” and “Should’ve Been A Cowboy” inevitably turn into stand-up and sing-along rabble-rousers.

“There’s a time to be with the boys, and there’s a time to be with the girls” he says.

“With the boys I can be just as tough a blue-collar guy as any of ‘em, but you can’t be sensitive, and vice versa. ‘Boomtown’ was more my workingman’s album. ‘Blue Moon’ has more of a romantic feel.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: CONCERT Toby Keith performs Friday night at 7 at the Silver Mountain Amphitheatre in Kellogg. Tickets are $27.50 and $21.50, available at G&B outlets, 325-SEAT or (800) 325-SEAT.