Keith’s widow accepts the induction
Singer, songwriter, and entertainer Toby Keith was posthumously inducted into the Cheyenne Frontier Days Hall of Fame on September 5th. Keith’s inclusion in the 2025 class of honorees reflects his deep connection to the event and all it celebrates.
Along with this year’s eight other honorees, Keith was recognized for his “lasting impact on the legacy of Cheyenne Frontier Days. Inductees represent the spirit, history, and culture of the world’s largest outdoor rodeo and western celebration. Each year, new honorees are selected for their unique contributions that have helped preserve and promote the western way of life.”
Having played Cheyenne Frontier Days nine times during his career, Keith’s fondness for it preceded his career, as his wife Tricia Covel noted in accepting his induction on his behalf. She thanked the organization for the honor, as well as the people on his team who facilitated his dream of performing at CFD, and recalled how Toby loved performing at CFD, and the cowboy life he saw there. Something easily proven since he wrote “Should’ve Been A Cowboy” in 20 minutes.
As a teenager, he was testing bulls for a rodeo stock contractor when Toby witnessed cowboy singer Chris LeDoux win the Bareback Riding World Championship. Cheyenne was every cowboy’s dream. Toby lived the dream of headlining Cheyenne Frontier Days nine times; one year, he even did two shows. So much of Keith’s life was about rodeo; while working for the stock contractor, he heard a coworker say, “Whiskey for my men and beer for my horses.” Those words inspired him to write the song ‘Beer For My Horses,’ a duet with Willie Nelson that became a No. 1 hit for six weeks.
The Hall of Fame induction punctuates a big summer for the late superstar’s music. Keith’s catalog saw streams and plays skyrocket over the summer, with his 35 Biggest Hits album climbing into the Billboard 200 Top 10. Driving many of the summer’s milestones was his July 2002 No. 1 airplay single “Courtesy Of The Red, White And Blue,” which hit No. 1 for the second time in its lifespan by topping the Country Digital Song Sales chart 23 years later.
