LONGVIEW, Texas — Country music fans everywhere are mourning the loss of Toby Keith. The Oklahoma native left an impact on country music that can be felt nationwide.
"Because he had done all the things that everyone wanted him to do, and then he thought ‘I’ve earned my way now that I can say some stuff in my songs now’ and so we’ll just miss him, I miss him being out there," East Texas country music legend Neal McCoy said.
McCoy got to know Keith pretty well while they were rising to fame together as 90's country artists. McCoy says he admired the way Keith was unapologetic in delivering his messages, though he reveals that there was more behind the star’s dark and guarded onstage persona.
"I just think he had a great heart, he had a great spirit. And if you knew him, if you’d been on the startup and the come up with him, you knew that. He wasn’t always, he started to establish that as he started to have success, that gruff," McCoy said.
Keith amassed 21 hits throughout his career, sold more than 40 million albums, and has been given the Academy of Country Music’s entertainer of the year award twice. But before all that, he was just a country singer trying to make his way.
"And my manager and I were sitting eating breakfast just in a little small breakfast kind of thing, and Toby came over and he said ‘hey man you mind if I sit with y’all? I don’t really know a lot of people around here’ I think it was in LA somewhere. We said ‘nah shoot sit down’ and so we kind of became friends then," McCoy said.
Here’s to remembering Toby Keith – a star that stood tall for what he believed in, and didn’t waver for anyone.
"This is what I stand for. This is in my music, it’s what I sing about, this is the way I live. So if you don’t like me, go find somebody else you wanna follow," McCoy said.