Toby Keith knows how to have a good time and write funny songs. The man whose songs have amassed more than 90 million broadcast performances is also beloved for his “bus song” album cut “Weed With Willie.” And his “Red Solo Cup” became a viral sensation long before radio took notice. Next up, “Wacky Tobaccy,” out June 23rd.
That old Wacky Tobaccy/When you feel it creeping up on you/That old Wacky Tobaccy/Kick back and let it do what it do,” the chorus sings.
“Wacky Tobaccy is a slogan, a saying that’s been around forever and no one has ever put it in a song,” says Keith. “When we were working on it, somebody asked if the saying has ever been written in a song and I said, ‘no, but they will now.’ We recorded it and shot the video in Nashville. We got a cameo from Willie Nelson. We have a long-standing friendship. It’s fortunate that we got him. ‘Wacky Tobaccy’ is written to the screws, and it fits in with what we do every night with the party crowd.”
Written with longtime collaborator Scotty Emerick, “Wacky Tobaccy” will be available at all major digital music retailers and services. Keith has penned many bus songs that have frequently appear on his albums. They are crafted when he and his buddies are sitting around the bus and have fun writing something a little different. Keith loves to perform the humorous songs to military personnel on his USO Tours. Most rewarding is being able to put smiles on the faces of soldiers from all over the United States who are serving their country.
Toby Keith Interstates & Tailgates Tour
Making a guest appearance in the video for “Wacky Tobaccy” is none other than the namesake of “Weed With Willie,” Willie Nelson, who also collaborated with Keith on the song “Beer For My Horses.” “Weed With Willie,” fired up way back in 2003, is ranked on Billboard’s list of “weed anthems.” The song has more than ten million streams, and video versions have amassed more than 15 million views.
The release heralds more new music from Keith this year, which also sees the continuation of the Toby Keith Interstates & Tailgates Tour that filled venues nationwide throughout 2016. Keith recently performed at Sing Me Back Home: The Music Of Merle Haggard in Nashville and he took the stage at Carnegie Hall for The Cake And The Rain: A Celebration Of The Music Of Jimmy Webb in New York City where he performed Webb’s classic, “MacArthur Park.”
Last month, the Academy of Country Music announced Keith as an honoree to receive their Poet’s Award for songwriting in recognition of his outstanding and longstanding musical and lyrical contributions as a songwriter throughout his career, his songs’ impact on the culture of country music. Also receiving the award this year are Willie Nelson and the late Shel Silverstein.
And the Songwriter Hall of Fame Inductee’s 14th Annual Toby Keith & Friends Golf Classic, to benefit the Toby Keith Foundation and its work with OK Kids Korral (a cost-free home away from home for sick children and their families seeking treatment in Oklahoma City), just raised $1.6 million, a record-breaking amount of funds for a single event in the Foundation’s history.