Toby Keith

Ten Years Later, and How Iraq Can Change a Generation's Trajectory

Every day after baseball practice, my Dad picked me up. Still clad in my dirt-stained pants, still too young to have a full appreciation for deodorant, I would toss my bookbags and gear in the back of our Volvo and jump in the front seat with him. He'd ask how practice was, and I'd tell him about th ... More >>

Better Know Your Muslim Music Genres

In 2010, writer and producer Javed Mohammed decided to get the ball rolling on World Day of Muslim Culture, Peace, Dialogue and Film. The internationally recognized holiday annually celebrated on March 15 is meant to spotlight the peaceful contributions followers of Islam make to society, and to art ... More >>

Last Night: Willie Nelson at Arena Theatre

Willie Nelson Arena Theatre March 10, 2013 For some artists, even superlatives aren't enough. Willie Nelson turns 80 next month. He's been making music -- and making a living off it -- longer than my parents have been alive. And while there are other country artists of similar vintage and pedigree ... More >>

Last Night: Toby Keith at Reliant Stadium

Toby Keith Reliant Stadium February 25, 2013 Toby Keith. That big galoot. Thanks to one song that he didn't even play Monday night, Toby Keith is still painted in much of the media as a frothing, flag-waving, rabid right-winger of Nugentesque proportions. In point of fact, he's much too laid-back ... More >>

Rocks Off's Rodeo Concert Guide For "Bros": Toby Keith

Date: March 25 Name: Toby Keith AKA: "That dude on the Ford commercials"

Match the Anticipated Crowds For Selected RodeoHouston Concerts

This week's RodeoHouston lineup announcement officially kicked off 2013 for Houston's party people and rodeo fans. The lineup is dependable as always, with your standard country acts, classic-rockers, kiddie-pop acts, R&B, and norteño offerings making up the month of music. Sadly, once again this ... More >>

Does Toby Keith Need an Intervention? His Top 5 Drinking Songs

Rocks Off was excited to hear that Toby Keith is scheduled to make an appearance at next year's RodeoHouston. We just hope he makes it here. Rewind: Saturday Night: Toby Keith at The Woodlands You see, we're starting to worry a little about Toby Keith's health. Not about the health of his career ... More >>

Toby Keith, Demi Lovato, Luke Bryan Kick Off RodeoHouston 2013

Moments ago, the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo announced its first four non-George Strait entertainers for the 2013 season: Toby Keith (February 25), teen stars Demi Lovato and Austin Mahone (March 3), Jason Aldean (March 11) and Luke Bryan (March 16). As usual, the rodeo is offering two pocket-si ... More >>

5 More Great 9/11 Songs

Rewind: The Top 5 Best & Worst Songs About 9/11 Looking at it now, 11 years to the day of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, the al-Qaeda-led terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, it's still difficult to underestimate how much the world changed that day. The real ... More >>

Saturday Night: Toby Keith at The Woodlands

Toby Keith Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion September 8, 2012 Toby Keith is America writ small: beholden to corporate interests, often hypocritical, prone to pursuing his baser urges while exhorting others to hold themselves to a higher standard. He is, in many ways, our exemplary artist for these m ... More >>

CMA Nominations Don't Forget Texans Miranda Lambert, Eli Young Band

Nothing says country music like Times Square. Or is that the other way around? Regardless, the 2012 nominees for the Country Music Association were announced by stars (and nominees) Luke Bryan and Jason Aldean earlier this morning. It helps that Times Square is the home of Good Morning America's st ... More >>

Pollstar: Woodlands Pavilion Now World's No. 3 Amphitheater

The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion, site of Sunday night's aromatic 311 show, has long been one of the country's busiest concert venues, usually ranking at or near the top in annual attendance. Now it's officially one of the busiest in the world. In concert trade publication Pollstar's new survey ... More >>

Don't Tread on Me: The Top 10 Musical Celebrations of American Might

Rock and pop music in the United States has earned a distinguished reputation for quality protest anthems and anti-war songs, from Country Joe and the Fish all the way up to friggin' Green Day. And that's great; it really is. Not only are many of the tunes timeless, but criticism of our society's m ... More >>

Who's Got the Power?: The Musicians On Forbes's Most Powerful Celebrities List

Fame and fortune might not be the ultimate goal for every person to ever write a song or learn an instrument, but it is for a lot of people out there. It would be lovely to believe that music is done 100% of the time for the "right" reasons, but most of us are cynical enough to know otherwise. Some ... More >>

Strait Bonin' Turns Our Beloved Icon Into King Of Porn Country

Of course you all know that today is George Strait's 60th birthday, and the King Of Country just announced that he is coming back to RodeoHouston next spring for a March 17th date with Martina McBride and the Randy Rogers Band. What a great end that will be to a torrid week at SXSW in Austin. This w ... More >>

Decoding Newt Gingrich Based on His Known Musical Tastes

The digital revolution is slowly killing our favorite form of amateur psychoanalysis. We've all gone through someone's CD collection at some point when they weren't in the room, and from the albums we found we were able to deduce something about their personality. Now, we don't even have a CD shelf, ... More >>

Eat It: Restaurants Owned by Musicians

​Hotlanta is so hot that they can even turn their airport into a club. Stay with us. A few days ago, Ludacris announced that he will close his Asian/Singaporean restaurant, Straits, and embark on a new "restaurateur" opportunity: opening a "Chicken and Beer" restaurant inside of Atlanta's Hart ... More >>

Goodtime Moonshine: 8 Brands Of Musician-Backed Booze

warmingglow.uproxx.comShirtless hillbillies, backyard stills, and Cletus from the Simpson = things we normally associate with moonshine.​Tuesday, representatives for Colt Ford announced the Georgia-born singer best known for 2010's Chicken and Biscuits would be the first country music star wit ... More >>

Toby Keith's "Red Solo Cup" And Other Household Items That Need Theme Songs

​OK, we've never been devout Toby Keith fans. At all. Our image of him changed though as we heard more of his politics, post-"Courtesy Of The Red, White And Blue" and he came out as a fan of gay marriage and gays in the military. Who says all country guys have to be right-wing torchbearers any ... More >>

30 Seconds With Reverse The Curse's Ed Starcher

Rocks Off sat down with Ed Starcher of Reverse the Curse, to see what we could find out about the vocalist/guitarist for one of indie-rock's biggest up-and-comers in 30 seconds. ​Rocks Off: What is the worst song in the world? Ed Starcher: Toby Keith's "Courtesy of the Red, White And Blue ( ... More >>

Who Will Write The First "Osama Is Dead" Hit Song?

​Now that more details are starting to emerge about Sunday's Navy SEAL helicopter raid that resulted in the death of Osama Bin Laden and several members of the al-Qaeda jefe's entourage - especially how the months-long planning and 40-minute firefight was planned in total secrecy, and executed ... More >>

Video: Jane's Addiction Announces Bin Laden's Death At Buzzfest

Last night during their Buzzfest 26-closing set at at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion, classic alt-rockers Jane's Addiction had the distinct honor of announcing to the nearly sold-out crowd at the shed that Osama Bin Laden had been killed by American special forces.

Mission Accomplished: Your Buzzword Is My Band Name, Part 2

​We're getting closer to a midterm election that, more and more, is coming to resemble two dachshunds we had as a kid who would lose their little doggy minds over a chew toy and attack each other in a weiner-dog whirlwind of until separated by a garden hose. The attack ads are a-flying, and e ... More >>

How Much Does Houston Like Rush? A Lot.

Photos by Groovehouse/ Click link for a slideshowRush's Geddy Lee: "Hmmm... looks like a sellout to me."​Rush's "Time Machine" tour was well-named in more ways than one. Not only did the Canadian trio perform 1981's Moving Pictures in its entirety, but the tour transported the concert industry ... More >>

Hands Up Post: Honky-Tonk Houston's Done Got Out Of Hand

​A recent thread on the Hands Up Houston message board found poster "honky honk" complaining (and mangling the English language): Dear Houston. Why are you excepting [sic] this right wing, overtly white genre of music known as honky tonk or country? Why do we have to travel that far back ... More >>

The Ten Worst Songs About Cowboys

​Sunday at noon, the Dallas Cowboys and our own Houston Texans face off at Reliant Stadium. The Texans are 2-0 and the Cowboys have not won one game at all this year. The Texans have won two games, and the Cowboys do not have any wins. At all. Understandably, spirits are high this week on bo ... More >>

Aftermath: Ford Shilling Aside, Toby Keith Ain't As Bad As He Once Was

Photos courtesy of Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo™​It would be an understatement to say Aftermath wasn't exactly looking forward to this show. Our previous experience with the esteemed Mr. Keith was limited to occasionally hearing his songs in bars and one night spent drinking at his restauran ... More >>

Rocks Off's Rodeo Concert Guide: Toby Keith, Ever The Angry American

Date: March 12 Name: Toby Keith AKA: "Mr. Boot in Your Ass" Genre: [This is our] country Best Known Song(s): "Beer for My Horses," "How Do You Like Me Now?", "Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue (The Ugly Angry American)" Key Demographic: Dick Cheney, ex-boyfriends of Natalie Maines, that surviva ... More >>

Bold and Fresh Tour: O'Reilly and Beck LIVE

These right-wing heroes take to the big screen

Happy Hour Scene: Shuck Daddy's

Photos by Paul Knight​Obsolete August, a cover band that plays live music at Shuck Daddy's on Wednesday nights, was in the middle of a rendition of Jimmy Buffett's "Margaritaville" when we walked in. To make matters worse, it was a slow-rolling version, almost like a love ballad. The song se ... More >>

RodeoHouston 2010 Entertainer Lineup Includes Mary J. Blige, Black Eyed Peas, Justin Bieber and Some Country Folks You Can Probably Guess

​Monday morning, the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo announced the remainder of its Reliant Stadium entertainment calendar for this year's rodeo, which begins March 2. Debuting on Reliant's revolving stage this year are Jason Aldean (March 6) and Texans the Eli Young Band (March 19). Returning fr ... More >>

Oh, Great: Nashville Songwriters Name Redneck Doofus Toby Keith Artist of the Decade

We beg to differ, jerkwad...​Sadly, it's official: Toby Keith, that big redneck doofus who is always threatening to put his boots up somebody's ass or feuding with the Dixie Chicks, has been declared by Nashville Songwriters Association International the top songwriter/artist OF THE DECADE. Man, ... More >>

This Week in Deliciousness

Pork bellies galore. They plump when you cook and/or tickle them.​Welcome back to Eating Our Words' weekly roundup, where we've already picked all those wonderful little brown rye chips out of the Gardetto's. This week started off with a story from another dimension: Conservatives are applaudi ... More >>

Artist of the Week: BetterLuck

Each Wednesday, Rocks Off arbitrarily appoints one lucky local performer or group "Artist of the Week," bestowing upon them all the fame and grandeur such a lofty title implies. Know a band or artist that isn't awful? Email their particulars to introducingliston@gmail.com.For some reason, back in 20 ... More >>

Saving Country Music Rides to Rocks Off's Aid

TK's atomic mullet is no match for Rocks Off and Saving Country Music's poison pens.This has been a fun week down in the Rocks Off foxhole, as Toby Keith's loyal minions have besieged us with comments taking issue with our review of the Big Dog Daddy's lackluster RodeoHouston performance Wedn ... More >>

Aftermath: Toby Keith at RodeoHouston

Photos by Mark C. AustinIt's easy to see why Toby Keith is so popular... until he opens his mouth to sing. The 47-year-old singer, actor and tireless Ford pitchman has the kind of easygoing, big-galoot charisma that would make him an ideal drinking buddy. No doubt that's why so many of his so ... More >>

Rocks Off Is Too Critical For CMT

Mark C. Austin Yes, CMT, we did enjoy Alan Jackson's RodeoHouston performance.If you've been following Rocks Off's rodeo coverage, which hopefully you have, you've probably noticed that we've found a few of the entertainers' performances to be less than stellar. Which is not to say we haven' ... More >>

Tonight: Toby Keith at Reliant Stadium

Just think, if not for September 11, Toby Keith would probably still be as bland as dry toast and just as exciting. The horrific events of that day, and our nation's rapid retaliation, suddenly sprung the Oklahoma-born Keith into action - he soon began a whole new career as a political fire ... More >>

What Are Houston Twitterers Doing For the Rodeo?

We don't know if you're heard, but there's something going on over at Reliant Stadium called the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo. We sent the call out over Twitter for Houston folks to tell us their plans, and they did. Y'all are cooperative that way. Houston Press comments are in parentheses. txky ... More >>

Could Alternative Country Work at the Rodeo?

A Super-Patriotic July 4 Playlist

Have You Forgotten?

Just Say No Más

In which we examine Cancuntry music

Year of the Concept

Green Day opens the Idiot-ic floodgates

Down-Home Delights

Ten of the best from Nashville and elsewhere

Austin Collins

Tuesday, June 21, at McGonigel's Mucky Duck, 2425 Norfolk, 713-529-9899.

Elephant Dance

Cuttin' a rug with the Dubya bunch at Wild West

Defending the Dirty Thirty

And coping with Yankee slander

Pats and Cats Bring It Back

The biggest of them all returns to Houston

The Mavericks

Saturday, December 6

Hissin' Dixie.

Country stars battle it out on the eve of war