That Don't Make Me a Bad Guy

iTunes Review

Toby Keith — the brand, if not the artist — took a hit when his film Beer For My Horses failed to become a runaway success. But Keith certainly shows every sign of sticking around in the Nashville music game for some time to come. 2008’s That Don’t Make Me a Bad Guy covers just about all of the bases that this resilient artist has been known for. Keith plays the rascally Romeo to the hilt on brash tracks like “God Love Her,” “Time That it Would Take,” and the title tune. He bears his romantic scars in dramatic country arias (“Lost You Anyway,” “She Never Cried in Front of Me”) and smolders with bluesy yearning in a Memphis-style setting (“Missing Me Some You”). “Hurt a Lot Worse When You Go” lets him wrap his manly, resonant tenor around a tormented confession of weakness. There are a few missteps here (most notably the tepid “Cabo San Lucas”), in general though, Toby keeps the songwriting quality high, serving up sure-fire hooks with rebel attitude. That Don’t Make Me a Bad Guy should make up for his cinematic project disappointment — and then some.