Toby Keith

Think you know it all about Toby Keith? Odds are you don't. For all his working-class-hero country hits and beer-buddy charm, he's a deceptively complex guy. The same Toby who promised "we'll put a boot in your a**" on the platinum-selling, post-9/11 patriots' battle cry "Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (The Angry American)" summoned up an almost prayer-like humility on "Love Me If You Can," singing out against "angry words and hate." And the honky-tonkin' hell-raiser behind the barstool bravado of "Get Drunk and Be Somebody" is just the flip-side of the bittersweet balladeer serving up the Sunday-morning-sober [i]sayonara[/i] cocktail "A Little Too Late."

In Next Steps, Toby chases down a high-class hottie and slugs it out with Sting.

Toby Keith's supersized personality and cocky charisma may be part of the superstar package, but without his gifts as a singer, songwriter, and producer, he'd just be another good ol' boy with a gift for gab. Sure, he can turn out bottle-clinkin' drinkin' songs like the rowdy "Get My Drink On" with the best of ’em, but he captures class clash with pop panache on "High Maintenance Woman," taking Billy Joel's "Uptown Girl" to the country. Toby takes a sort of down-home Sinatra stance on "Crash Here Tonight," crooning over crying steel guitar and sweeping strings. And he's surely the only country he-man [i]we[/i] can think of who sounds completely at home swapping sob-filled verses with Sting ("I’m So Happy I Can't Stop Crying") and sidling up to smooth-jazz kings Dave Koz and Marcus Miller on "Cryin' for Me."

In Deep Cuts, take a trip to Mexico and stop along the way for some sweet Southern soul.

Toby Keith didn't become a hero to millions by acting like something special. Just the opposite — it's his guy-next-door, grease-monkey-made-good vibe and Jimmy Stewart-with-a-six-string all-American honesty that connects with country fans. So whether he's inviting an old flame to come stir things up south of the border on the Mexicali-flavored "Cabo San Lucas," or working up a Solomon Burke-worthy sweat on the slow-burning soul sender "Missing Me Some You," it's obvious he's putting his [i]all[/i] into every word. And this Okie rabble-rouser makes no secret of his rock 'n' roll roots, either, conjuring up images of a three-car pileup between Chuck Berry, Bob Seger, and Lynyrd Skynyrd on "If I Had One."

Toby Keith never courted the kind of controversy that kicked up around his outspoken views, but he's not one to walk away from a fight either. Keith's the kind of patriot who puts his money where his mouth is, performing for U.S. troops all over the world, and an uncompromising country outlaw in the tradition of Nashville rebel Waylon Jennings — he's one of the only country superstars who doesn't live anywhere [i]near[/i] Nashville. The former Oklahoma oil-field worker and semi-pro football player is among the very few stars to gain country fame by doing it [i]his[/i] way, and from the lineup of lovers, losers, and late-night cruisers in "I Love This Bar" to the fiery Cajun queen of "Creole Woman," we've set up one [i]wallop[/i] of a welcome to Toby's world right here — all you've got to do is start living in it.