Because filling venues nationwide in 2016 wasn’t enough, the Toby Keith Interstates & Tailgates Tour is back for a full course of music-fueled partying in 2017. Kicking off this year’s leg with sold out shows in Oklahoma and California, the singer-songwriter and entertainer is set to return to Nashville on July 20th at the Ascend Amphitheater for a headlining show after a 13-year absence.
As the tour started, Keith stayed in his native Oklahoma to attend to the important matter of his 14th Annual Toby Keith & Friends Golf Classic in Norman, Oklahoma that raised $1.6 million, a record breaking amount for a single event in the Toby Keith Foundation’s history.
The new tour follows a busy 2016, which included major media appearances and performances like the 10th Annual ACM Honors on CBS. That performance honored his friend Glen Campbell, while Keith’s performance on the American Country Countdown Awards honored his hero, the late Merle Haggard. Meanwhile, the original Harrah’s Las Vegas location of Toby Keith’s I Love This Bar & Grill celebrated its tenth anniversary with a multi-million dollar renovation and grand reopening party, which Keith attended.
Toby Keith announces The Bus Songs 12 song LP
Most recently, Keith performed at Sing Me Back Home: The Music Of Merle Haggard April 6th in Nashville, and at Carnegie Hall for The Cake And The Rain: A Celebration Of The Music Of Jimmy Webb May 5th in New York City where he performed Webb’s classic, “MacArthur Park.” Keith just returned from performing in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. This marked the first trip for Keith in the country, where he was also the first non-Arabic artist to perform a public show.
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.
Keith recently announced that his next album, The Bus Songs, will be released on September 8th. Pre-orders begin on July 21st for the 12 song project that features his latest single, “Wacky Tobaccy,” for which the video was shot, appropriately, on a tour bus. Already viral with more than eight million views, the clip also features the namesake of another of the album’s tracks, “Weed With Willie.” “Shitty Golfer,” along with new versions of “Running Block,” “Ballad Of Balad,” “Hell No” and “The Critic,” and more.
