Watch 'Remembering Toby Keith' (Full Interview)

The following Oklahoma's own original production is presented commercial free by Oklahoma Proton Center PROTON CENTER MESSAGE: The Oklahoma Proton Center has treated hundreds of children with cancer since opening in 2009. Many of these pediatric patients travel from out of town for treatment in Oklahoma City, Toby Keith saw a need for these kids and funded the construction of one of the premier pediatric housing facilities in the country. The OK kids corral. Thank you, Toby Keith, for your generosity helping our patients.The impact you made changed many lives and your legacy leaves Oklahoma City a better place. ANNOUNCER: Remembering Toby Keith. ROBIN MARSH: Good evening. I'm Robin Marsh tonight. Toby Keith. In his own words. When I interviewed country music icon Toby Keith late last year. I knew he was in a tough fight with stomach cancer, but I never thought my interview with him would be the final sit down television interview he would ever give. Toby Keith welcomed us with open arms to his Norman home and tonight we wanted to share with you more of my conversation with the country music star. Toby was so ready to talk all about his career, his music, his love for Oklahoma and his faith during the storm of fighting cancer. Thank you. First of all so much because I know you're busy and I just want you to know that we're very grateful. First of all, for you talking with us. But how are you doing today? You feeling. Okay? Yeah, I feel good. You do? Yeah. You're busy. Toby, you don't stop, do you? TOBY KEITH: Well, I did for two years. Well. Yeah, and that's been a journey, hasn't it? It is. It's a it's a lot of dark hallways. Yeah. Are you doing okay? I am. How do you maneuver through those dark hallways? Faith. Yeah. You have to have your faith. It's. Thank God that I got it too, but it's in my DNA. I think I don't ever remember waking up one day and going. Oh, that's how all this got here. It's like as far back as I can remember. I was born with faith, but it's always carried me through the the darkest parts, but he's always there. The almighty's up and being almighty. He's been riding shotgun. And a lot of people aren't as blessed as I am. This this ailment is. Is devastating and you can. Sometimes you get you go and find out you have it usually by the time you find it, you have it. You know, by the time symptoms show up. It's usually too late or a lot of times too late. I know a lot of people, so it's been two years in October since I was diagnosed. This is a little over two years. And you just you take it a day at a time. It's a roller coaster and you really have to captain your own ship. You gotta get as much information as you can. And we could go on for hours about it, but it's, uh. You really have to captain your own ship and you have to. Lean on your faith. When you talk about leaning on your faith, has your faith deepened? Can you tell me how? I don't know if it's deepened. i understand it more. How so? It's. I haven't had to lean on it my whole life as much. There's been obviously times. That I've had to lean on it more than not, but it's like we take it for granted. And then. We only use it in the dark times. You know the old. Yeah. You see plaques around it say. You know, how come I looked at the footsteps of my life. And you always walk it with me until the darkest ones, and then there's only one set of footprints. And he says, well, that's when I was carrying you. It's that you. You take it for granted on days that things are good and you lean on it when days are bad and it's taught me to lean on a little more every day. Have you experienced a peace that passes all understanding? Oh yeah. Yeah, I finally got to a point in the spring. I was diagnosed in October of 21 and I was going through all the chemo and the first time I've been through chemo and radiation surgery and I just got to a point where I was comfortable with whatever happened. I had my brain wrapped around it and I was in a good spot either way. People without faith don't have that. It would be hard when you think it's just going to be flipping the light switch off. You know, but it it's. It's carried me a. Long way. What do you say to someone who might be watching this about your faith? Because sometimes it's hard for people to share their faith that you rely. I mean, you know, you're one of the most powerful people in country music. And I mean, I mean, just look around and I mean, all the success and everything, and then, you know, I'm hearing you say that you've had to Relinquish and surrender How do you? Well, how do you explain that to someone? Well, I've always prayed. I've always believed in a creator, you know, I was rolling down the road one time with a one of my musicians from the old bar band days, and we were dragging that old van and trailer all over southwest part of the United States. And me and him were only two awake. I was driving. He was sitting up front and. And all I cared about was I was hungry. I wanted to be a songwriter. And I was really fighting, you know, to get to my position and where I was going to end up had no idea I'd end up here. But but at the time I dreamed it And, We're going down the road, he said. The he started talking, he was agnostic and I said so you don't believe in a creator at all. I don't. You're not believing in God and he said. I'm he's never presenting himself to me. I've never seen him. I said really, and I remember hearing him talk previous about he believed in UFOs. I go. But you believe in UFOs. He goes, yeah. Have you ever seen one? He goes no, I go. touché, buddy. Yeah. Look around. I can believe that there was a creator that created all this energy from the ground. We have electricity in the ground we have. An ozone. We have an earth that's full of energy that you know, lightning strikes the ground somewhere in the world every second of our life, and it energizes this and the ozone, I guess, holds it in. And we have air. You don't have Air and Space, but something's holding that air in. Is this all just a natural occurrence? Or is this? Is this things talking to each other keeping us? I mean the thing spins for our gravity holds us on this Big Blue and green marble. There's just too many things. And the power of prayer when your prayers get answered. And you see the power of prayer. You know, there's a creator and it lives in your heart. It's not something that. It's not something that somebody. Cult you into thinking you know. Charlie Daniels said God save us all from religion. So there is a lot of stuff going on in the world due to religion. That creates a dark side, but. There is one almighty. You know, and if? If you can live through him, you can feel the feel the light. It's about a relationship isn't it. It is. It's all relationship. You said about having a prayer answered. Has there been a time that you've had a specific prayer answered that you could share? Oh, absolutely. The biggest one. And I can't say it's the biggest life or death one, but. When I was beating those bars up, I was literally making 250, two 130 bucks a week. We would get like 3000 play five nights somewhere. I dragged that trailer to Las Cruces, New Mexico. You know, we'd have a flat, have spent 10 bucks on an old tire and his, and then after five or six years of beating that road up. Up. I was at. I was getting in my late 20s. And every night, I always prayed. And I didn't ask for anything. I always counted my blessings. And I said, if there's one thing just guide me where I'm supposed to go, because if this is what I'm supposed to be doing. Please let me know and even got the point where I was like if I get to 30. And I haven't done this. I'm going to switch occupations. You know, because I can't do this. I had two kids at the time. I got three now, but at the time I had two children. I was like, I can't keep coming home and bringing 250 bucks and taking 30 and sticking my pocket and eating off that all week the rest of. My life. But I was young enough that I could do. Well, ironically, I'd gone to Nashville, been turned down. Yeah, you can sing. Yeah. You need to go back to wood shed and work on your songs. So I had a little six song cassette. And it had six songs I'd written on it.And I got a deal through the manager of the club I worked when I worked Oklahoma City every eight weeks. I worked at club in Oklahoma City. And his nephew played for straight. And he had written some songs. David Anthony and David Straight had played here, and David had come in the bar every time. And a couple of times at straight to play Oklahoma City we'd been in. And the band would come out and hang out with Uncle Freddie. And he said, hey, I'll take him, Jimmy Bowen and let Jimmy Bowen hear. Hear these songs and hear him sing. So they set up a meeting with Capitol Records. I went in. I didn't meet with Jimmy Bowen. I met with a flunky. And the guy fast forwarded through my songs and said we've got male singers. We don't need a band. And we do need a songwriter, but your songs and I was like, cool, I wasn't even upset. I was like, hey, I got my shot, came to Nashville. Kid in Oklahoma, got my shot. I went home. So now I'm 29 and the summer I turned 30. On July 8th, my parents, wedding anniversary is June 21st, and while I was in town I'd run into some friends and they said, hey, they used to see me out on the road, and now they're working in Nashville, and they came out dinner with us, and they got a hold of a, we went to have some music, so I gave them the cassette tape and, and one of them gave it to Harold Shedd, who discovered Alabama. KT Osland. He was vice president of Mercury. And he heard it and he goes. Who is this guy? And they said. That's Toby. He lives in Oklahoma. He wrote these songs. Yeah, he goes. I'm going to go see him. So on the morning of my mother on the 21st of June. 20 days till my birthday or something. You're 29. I'm 29. And here for six years, this has been my goal and I'm going to live to it. I've had my shot in Nashville. If I don't have my direction by 30. I may not just drop the ball today and quit because I got to keep some money coming in, but I'm gonna look for another occupation. Phone rings. Will you hold for Harold Shedd? I'm like God, yes. And then I'm coming in Friday to hear you play. Can you play these songs? And I said yeah, flies in. The owner let me sing Two 45 minute sets of original music I wrote. And, do you remember those songs? Oh, yeah. What were they? Well, let me tell you the fun. Let me tell you the fun part of this story. I had 245 minutes worth songs I'd written. OK, he heard them. They were these six songs on this cassette too. He signed me the next morning, he said. I'm going to sign you a record deal and I'm going to produce you. I'm literally days from my 30th birthday. On that cassette, that capital turned down should have been a cowboy. He ain't worth missing. Wish I didn't know. Now what I didn't know then. Does that blue Moon ever shine on you? All's number three number ones top five. It also had a song called close, but no guitar. And it had a song that Harold loved, ironically, Which is why I wanted to come hear me call Valentine. And, he absolutely loved Valentine. It was never a single, but that's the one that that made him come see me. Was that the moment you thought my life's changed? I've made it. Was that the moment that you thought, oh my gosh, this is. Well, I knew the door had finally been opened, cause in the music world, if you're a baseball player. And you're playing at Podunk High School and you're hitting fifty home runs, and you're batting 450. College will come find you, and if you're at a little college and you develop, the pros will come find you in the music world. If you go to Nashville, there's a guy like me on and everybody else on every corner of the town. So in the Internet world you have a better chance of getting heard. Best thing about music business is Internet. Social media streaming. But it's the worst thing too, because it's so muddy with the other stuff too. So you've got good and bad getting flooded. Well, we didn't have that, so somebody had to open a door for you. You had to. And if I lived in Nashville, I could network and and meet and maybe get in the door. But living here. And I wasn't going to live. I never lived in Nashville. I always stayed in Oklahoma. I didn't move out there. So I thought, if I'm going to do it, I need to do it here because this is where my roots are. Well, as as it goes on, I knew I had the deal, but it ain't up to us. It's not up to us whether we're going to be successful. It's up to the listener. you know, what can I put out there that they're going to make them want to pull over and stop and buy this? And my first. Big glow of WOW was they put me my first tour out was me and Shania Twain, and a guy named John Brannon and they were arguing amongst the label heads of who they wanted to put out as their new artist. And Harold had promised me a year and a half, he said. He said I'm going to have you out and we'll give you a year to work on your album. It's going to take six months from today. You signed me to get your contract signed. I'm going to work on your album and you're gonna put you out in January of 93, I said. OK. Well, by that time the president had been fired, they brought another guy in from New York. Harold had signed Shania and this guy like Shania, he didn't like me. And he liked this other edgy cat named John Brennan. So they're arguing over who we're going to put out. And Harold is the vice president, and he goes, I promise, this kid year and a half ago. So. They agreed to combine both budgets, put us all three out and say we're going to call it the triple play and send you guys to major radio major cities. You have one band, you're each going to do 30 minutes. And everybody agreed to do that. So we went in, we put the Three 30 minute shows together, we all got. Along had A and at the end the president comes in, he goes. You're opening. You're opening your Shania's in the middle. My guy John's closing, so I was mad. I was like, so I went to Harold. I go I wanna knock him out and he goes, don't worry pal, just do your thing. It's going to take care of itself. We did. We left town. We left Nashville, headed to Louisville, and the bus had two lounges on it. So it was me Shania John, a road manager. His wife, six, eight bunks, and a lounge in the back front. And we're rolling. We get to Bowling Green, Kentucky. Shania is in the back listening to the radio. Me and John are up here get to know each other. She comes screaming up. oh my God, you're on the radio. And we all ran to the back and Should have been a Cowboy's just blaring on, Louisville or Bowling Green radio the first day that we were all out and I was like, first time I heard myself on the radio, I was like, yeah, y'all get you some of that. Your opener, your openers, get some airplay. So, we made it about six shows, and that song was so popular and blowing up the charts and, finally John came to me and he goes, I want you, I want to open you need clothes. And I said, and I was so mad at Lucas and no, I said, I'm not going to do you like that, John. He goes where everybody stands in front of the stage till you and Shania get on and he goes and no one's out there for me, he said. If I open, they'll at least be standing in front of the stage and.So Luke called me and said I need. Head. Eat, eat crow. You know, head egg on his face because I need you to switch the fronts and no deals. A deal. I'm not doing John like that. So a couple days later, Harold flies into North Carolina. We're in Charlotte and he goes. I need you to do me a favor, pal. I said, yeah,...anything. Harold he goes. I need you to close this show. I said. Oh, sure, for you. I'll do anything. But that's how hard I was to. Work with, You know, I had so much pride. And I was like, you guys are going to treat me like this, and then I'm going to outrun you, and you're going to. Turn around and you've been running ever since. And that's right. Oh my gosh. Okay. So that was what you said like January of 93 or so. okay. So you did the channel nine song I did in November of 93. so you were on your way a couple of hits. Yeah. So can you tell me about the channel nine thing? How did all that come about? We, you know, we've seen Reba do it forever, you know? And so it's like hearing the BC Clark Jingle every Christmas. It was like when channel Nine came on, you know, and my family was raised up watching Gary England. So we we have so many storms here. It's like Gary, England's the man. We still do it because, you know, it's like we've been taught. When the woolly burger gets here, it's time to go on the frady hole. You better get on channel 9, you know, cause the technology and the how innovative he was. But so we would hear that Jingle. And all of a sudden now the blue one day they called me and they said hey. We're going to, we want you to sing the Jingle. And I was like, and silly as it is and fun as it was, it was like I was just glad to get on TV. I was like, sure, I'll sing it. It's the Spirit of Oklahoma..... ....and the best is yet to come.... ...TV-9 It was, that was 30 years ago. It was 30 years ago. do you remember how much you got paid to sing that jingle? Probably nothing, I don't remember. It didn't matter. I was going to do it anyway. Oh, my goodness, how far you've come? You have a big show coming up in Las Vegas. And with Covid, it was kind of no one could work. And then you got sick and that was a little bit of a derail for sure. And you know you're still fighting through things but you're like I'm getting out there and perform and I love, I watch that Instagram thing and I was like, you go Toby. Everybody's Toby Keith making a big announcement. I'm doing a little deal. And, thought I'd start in great Las Vegas, be at the MGM Dolby Live. I was going to sit around here and, do nothing like I have been. Or. Get up. Go outside. No, let the old man in. You know what I mean. Tell me about how all that came about. Well, I started, Well, I started feeling better. It's like, cancer's a roller coaster. So you're. It's like you just sit here and wait on to go away. It may not ever go away. and if it goes in remission, it's still in the back of your mind. You still have to do scans and stuff. But it was like I jump up, like in Kabul with Sammy Hagar. I'd get on stage with him. And I was like, I can sing. It didn't take that away from me. And then. And then I've got the Hollywood corners out here, my Roadhouse. So in the summer, I said, tell the bands that were there this weekend, that they're paid, but they're not working. And and they go. Why? And I go because I wanted to workout. I wanted to get up there, not take breaks every 45 minutes. We we probably do 2 hour shows on the road. I wanted to do a three hour show each night. Just see. And I said, I'll bring my band in and we'll just go out there and I know it's going to leak out and it's going to get fun and big, But let it be a surprise. Let it, let, let it blow up right. And they said, well, who's who's going to what's the entertainment going to be besides, the bands that were scheduled to play. And I said a group called the Greasy Weenies. oh my God. And so my manager goes the Greasy Weenies? And he's I see, I'm bringing them in. I don't want them to have the stage for frying, sir. And, well, that in and of itself alone was enough to intrigue everybody to go. Who the heck? Who the heck are the Greasy Weenies? So the night of the show. This is hilarious. So the night of the show, it's only three miles down the road from our ranch here. So I start down Franklin Road, and I get about a half a mile from Hollywood Corners, and they're in the ditches down both sides. I get to the corner. I look at far in each direction. As you can see, people are in the ditches. My whole six acres out back is full. My lot's full. It is slam. We pull in, I pull back behind the stage, we walk up on stage and we fire up. We played three hours. We did it. The next night. They were sitting on the roof. You know what I mean? It was crazy. And, And we just said, get on the bike, let's see what we got. And I cruised through both shows. And so I went to my manager, I'll say, how quick can we gear up and go? And he said, well, this your trucks and busses and all that got to production. You got to build production to the stage. You got to have semis and busses and you know, you got to get a crew. Crews are all out with other racks. So this ain't we can't do this in August. And so my promoter of years and years, Brian O'Connell, said I got a perfect spot. Let's put a couple shows on the show in Vegas. If they sell out, there's one more date we can put on that the room's not taken and they said, we're going to put these on. Well, they sold out like three minutes. Yeah, like two minutes. Two minutes. Yeah. And then you did the third show. And so put third on and bang it went. And I go, what are you gonna do. I go put some more on I go the room ain't available. So I go. Well. We can't work through Christmas, so let's just pick a spot January, February. Because I want to get through the new year with, you know, holidays. I want to go to the OU bowl game and get New Year's and Christmas all the way. And I said, Fire up and go, Here we are. And you're feeling. Good. Yeah. You can't let this define your future. I've said here probably hadn't done a handful of shows in the last three and a half year, and I worked every single year in my life. And. Never took off the way I amassed all that, all that stuff up the top songwriter stuff, a bunch of that in the middle, you know, song of the year, songwriter of. The year, all that. Is because I put an album out every year, and my peers and the colleagues I grew up with, you know, my buddies that broke out with me. Our class, you know, Tim or Kenny, they might put one out every sometimes every 2 or 3 years or Shania, they may put one out or five years. I was always for some reason stuck in, I had a label where their bottom line for the year counting on me to deliver. And being a songwriter, that's hard to do because you have to force out artistic creativeness. And and so it was. Like, how do you do that? How do you write? I mean, it's like you get an idea. I was going to ask you about that song, Don't Let the Old Man In because that like, can you share that story with me? How do you how does your mind work? You hear something, and then you're like, I can make this a song. You know, I've taught a class one day. at OU. The music class? Really? And I didn't know they bite me and they said, we want you to do an hour. So I thought, what am I going to do? I thought, all right, I'm going to teach them the national number system, which is for people who don't read music, can transpose a song. they play music, but they don't read music. So I taught the class the other 30 minutes I spent on songwriting, and I took the simplest structure of how to practice songwriting. So I live in Oklahoma. If you live in Nashville, there's a million songwriters. You'll come friends with them. You'll go over their house, you'll sit around, you'll co-write, you'll network, you'll learn, you'll glean off this guy and that girl. You know you'll learn. Where am I going to do that? Here. Where is that much talent? Here? There's not, you know. I mean, and anybody who is talented here usually moves there to Nashville. So I had to learn on my own. And the way I taught myself was I view it as a wagon wheel. And the hub is your idea. So I kept getting writer's block was sitting down here, and I'm going to write a song right now. So me and Robin are doing an interview's the first line I love it. Me and Robin are doing an interview when I get down the road. What's going to be the rainbow pot at the end of the gold at the end? The rainbow? What's going to be the money shot? What's going to be the payoff? See what I mean? And I got to find that when I get there, if I start there, I can back up here and write to it. It's laying there waiting. What's the pot of our interview? What what would our part of the interview. Well we we that we that's a that's why I hit the write.. Writer's block after the first line. Because I don't know where this is going. But if you give me don't let the old man in. That's the pot. [Music] And I go, what keeps you going? He goes. I get up every day. don't lay around. I'll get outside and I go outside. I don't let that old man in. I was like, wow, okay, so I thought, you know what? I love that old man. I'm going to go home, write him a song, send it to him. [Music] What's your favorite line from that song? My body's weather and worn, ask yourself, how would you be? [Music] I think that moment, though, of your wife, she was. You was wiping tears away. Yeah. What does she mean to you, Toby? Oh, she's been she's been a trooper. She's the best nurse. She? Absolutely. The first time we went to Houston, to the hospital, she. She stepped right in, and she just took control and said, we got this. Let's go. So she she's she's that we're going to get this and, don't worry about it. [Music] Every person in the room was just zoomed in and and then you just deliver that message and it got it's due. And then it went number one the next day it was like trending like album. So now they've released it to radio. I was like, Toby's got a new song out. No it ain't, it's four years old. You just didn't hear it the first time because they didn't play it. And your life was in a different time. Yeah. So the moment was perfect, but it found its home. [Music] You know, a lot of people don't know much about Trisha. I mean, she doesn't ever want the spotlight. No. what would you say? why do you love her so much? It's hard to stay with somebody this long. Yeah. How long have you been married? be 40 years next year. Really? Yeah. Yeah. It's crazy, but, I mean, when you. When you're a young couple and one of you has to be gone all the time, it's like the military's the same way, you know, that's why I, when I did those 240 USO shows in 11 years overseas, you know, I would see guys and girls that hadn't been home and they'd been on the third deployment. They might have been home six weeks over the last three years. They're just gone all the time. It just takes, you got to find that for you. You gotta find that perfect person. And it worked out for me, but it didn't work out for most. I don't think that's a really difficult, position to be in, but, it's it's, it's nice to find somebody. She's a great mother, great kids. And, that's all due to her. I was just a provider, you know, I just, I just kept believing in myself. And, I remember one time her father, he, she said, you know, when I was working, like, three nights in Tulsa, I'd be five nights in Amarillo, six nights in Las Cruces. The next week, I would have three nights in Tulsa, and next weekend I have three nights and I have four days off. She says, go make some money with dad. So I'd go work with her dad. He had a plumbing truck and he goes, you know what? You're pretty hard worker. Katie said, if you ever quit this music thing, he goes, come over here, work for me. I'll put a second truck out. And, came home and he'd call my wife, said, I like two favorite quotes, this music thing. It's a real job. He said, I'd like for for him to, become, you know, apprentice and then put a second truck out and build my company. so, I'm not cut out to be a plumber. I'll work, make more money now, this part of my plan. But I said I gotta. I gotta live my dream. You had to make that music thing work, right? But I'd have been a. Hell of a plumber. You ever write a song about that? No. I have a song idea. Yeah. Okay. It's called, the f word. Forgiveness. Oh. Love it. And that it leads to a four letter word free. And so, I don't know, like my mind always is twirling goofy things, but I'm always like, there's got to be something about forgiveness. It's a good one. It is a good one. Yeah. You can, you can, get ideas from different places, but the Wagon Wheel thing that I taught songwriters, that I teach songwriters, there's a million ways to write a song. And I've written a few from letter A to Z and got lucky, but it's more frustrating. And that's where you quit practicing is when you've, you get frustrated. And if you'll start with your pot of gold and build to it and practice that way every day, if you if you don't have a better idea that day, just take that the you have and run to it where it's waiting on you. You'll end up practicing more. And you know I wrote on was 14, 15. I wrote a handful of song, and then 17, 18, I wrote three handful songs. And as I went on, all of a sudden I wrote a decent one and somebody goes, that's a good song. And they say, I want to hear that. So we'd be in a beer joint over here, you know where my water tower.is? Oh, yeah. Yeah, right underneath that water tower. It used to. It's white and got my painting on it. Now I think it's finally quit working. I think I'm gonna tear it down and move. Move my move my name somewhere else. But, it was rusty and old. Right underneath that was a dark dive bar called the Feed Store. And we play in there right out of the garage. band days. And one of the guys smoked cigarettes. We go out on break and we were standing right there looking at water tower. Never in my wildest dreams could I imagine they're going to sandblast that thing and paint it some day and put my name on it. Had no idea. And I'm sitting there in that little dump bar, and it's literally on the other side of the gravel parking lot right there. But, I finally wrote a song they want me to play in that bar. And, and then I wrote a bunch of other crappy songs, and then I wrote another good one. And as time went on, that distance started to do this. The distance between good and bad started getting closer. And then I got hungry, and then people started saying, you're a good writer, you know? And so I was like, I can be a songwriter. I never even knew I would be an artist, but I'm going to be a songwriter. I just happened to have a flamboyant, outgoing, loud personality that could deliver these songs. And then that became another part of my life. For my first 3 or 4 albums, I would I was doing what they told me to. Do, And it was working and I was having some number ones and hits, but I was still kind of a B artist. And one day I just went in and they kind of critiqued my album a little bit and pissed me off. I was like, I was like, you know what? I'm going to start dressing out of my closet. I'm going to start singing my songs, and I'm going to captain my ship. And I have no problem in sinking this ship in me driving it. But I got a hell of a problem with you being the captain, and it's sinking right. And then my career went into the stratosphere. You've applied that to many areas of your life, even with your cancer journey that you shared. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That, having faith, captain, your own ship. Believe in yourself because you can sleep at night if you do it your way and you fail. But if you fail doing it somebody else's way, you. I can't sleep at night. Yeah, and you missed it. I did. It's like I'm not your poster child. Nashville. I don't live there, you know. Why did you always stay in Oklahoma? I mean, so many people, they might have a house here, but then they really have moved to Nashville. But you never did do that. I was raised right here in this six area. Six ma. My mom lives the farm I was raised in with my mom and dad. My mom still, is three miles north of Hollywood Corner. three miles east of Hollywood Corner. And I grew up fish the river that runs through my ranch here. fish crop. I'd come out here and park at that bridge when this was just woods and, fish that creek. This is where I was raised. This is where I come home to. So I can go to the house. Colorado and go to Cabo in the winter. I go to my lake house at Grand Lake. I'm going where in the world I want to go. But after 6 or 7 days, I'm like, I to get back to my ranch, you know, I get back to my to my home and, it's all fun to go when you go, but, it's, I just never felt good, and I was. I, I never felt good about living, moving to another city and living there. It was like, this is where I was raised. So I didn't care. And it cost me, not necessarily all the award shows and stuff, if it matters, but, I mean, there's 13 CMA Awards and if you're a male, you can get up for nine of them. And I have been up for nine of them. I've been number one ticket seller. I've been in a four week and a four year period, between 02, '03 to 06 '07 right in there. There's 208 weeks of Billboard charts, and I was 52 weeks sitting at number one in that four year period. Songs I wrote, not number two sitting at number one, you know, multiple number one. And I'm up for everything. And I would go over at the awards because there's only a certain amount of signed up voters in Nashville that vote on these awards, and they've all got their agenda, people that they vote for when we're not living there. I've just got my manager and my booking agent, my lawyer and my team, but I don't have the network that everybody else has. And here I'm I mean, Alan Jackson goes out there and receives male vocalist of the year, and I'm sitting on the front row. Go. I almost didn't come tonight. And one is worried over Toby sitting on the front row. He knew you know, he's like, but I didn't care. I was like, I'll sacrifice that to get to live here. Yeah, that makes sense. Yes, absolutely. I don't care about that trophy. I care about those songwriter awards. Yeah. But that voted on by the industry stuff. They knew who Big Dog Daddy was. They, I love it. I knew what kind of year I had. I wanted to talk with you a little bit about, the, corral center that you do. just how that means so much to families. And, you know, it's a tough time, and especially when it's children involved and going through similar path of the journey that you've been on, you know, just what does that mean to your heart? And, how do you keep that, you know, sustained every year after year? You know, what's amazing is the first thing I thought of when I got cancer was, who's going to take care of the corral? Really? Who's going to find the corral? Who's going to raise the money? Who will carry that torch? It was one of the first thoughts I had. So my guitar player, Scott Webb, had a two year old daughter, Allison, and she had Wilms. I believe it's called Wilms cancer. And supposed to be pretty curable, but they didn't get it for some reason. And all of my, donations at that point, my charity stuff had gone to Saint Jude's. So when they sent her in the hospice, I said, I'm gonna call Saint Jude. So I called in a favor. I'd been giving them money for years. I knew the connections. I said, I have a little girl. It's been put into hospice. Is there anything I said? Send us her her chart. They called back, said, there's a couple of things that that they don't have there that we got here that we can try. I told her mother, her mother didn't wait five minutes. She threw Allison in a car seat and drove to Memphis on a just on a drop of a hat She was gonna go. Well, they didn't they didn't have any luck. And, so at the funeral, we went to a church to eat afterward, and, she said, thank you for what you did. She goes, but the most amazing part of Saint Jude's that we didn't have here is I show up with nothing. She said, I don't have a I don't have a toiletry bag. I don't have any clothes, I don't have much money. I didn't grab anything. I just grabbed Allison and thought, every second counts. And I hooked it to Memphis. Well, if I don't knew she's going to leave, right then I'd have stuck her on my plane of center. But soon as I called or she she was gone before I even could call her husband, she took off. And she's an amazing thing they had. I got there and they put me in this house and I didn't want for anything, she said. I had Walmart cards, gift cards, soup and sandwiches, cereal, 24-7, three hot meals served shuttle service to and from our appointments. They would come get us and take us to her appointment. So this is the most amazing I. So there's our calling. We need to do one here. And she said oh that'd be great. And so it took me I started out here at Belmar Country Club. I had my first fundraiser 20 years ago. It took me ten years to get the money built up. It took me 7 or 8 years to acquire the property across the street from the Oklahoma Children's Hospital. Luckily, we're right across the street. It took me, ten years to get to that point. Then we built a beautiful facility. I got all of the oncologists and the doctors to get together, put them there. I formed a great. I put together a great board. Of doctors and attorneys and bankers and. And got this whole network and this machine running 16 rooms. With four, I think it's neutropedic. It's where you live behind the plastic in the bubble and you have immune. Neutral peaks were but. So you're going to need three or four of those rooms. So we've got one wing where you literally push the doors with the plastic back, and you have to really put on the stuff to go in there, you know, and then the other rooms. And then I said, I want it fun. So we brought some ex Disney, cartoonist stuff in, and we put the theme around route 66 and painted all these great pictures on the wall. It has a chapel, has a big dining room, it's Ritz-Carlton meets Disney World. And it's free. Yeah. But it cost money. I got I got to raise that every year. And each year we raise more money. Raised almost $2 million in one night last year. Wow. Right here in Oklahoma. I have 90,000 people living in Norman when schools and and I go to River Wind Casino, and I get on that stage, I bring it act in sing a couple of songs with them turn them loose. I do my auction people donate wonderful stuff. And the beauty of it is Juliet Bright is the mother of the place. She's. I couldn't even keep it open with that. Or she's so good, but she, she has people come in and cook for the kids, and so it's turned into, like an office building in Dallas. We'll pick a day out of their year and they'll do an office retreat and they'll stop, get groceries, food, come in, they'll be on a list, and they'll come in on their day, and the men will change out light bulbs and work on stuff, you know, ranches and stuff. The women and cooks, whoever the cooks are, will cook three hots for them and then clean everything up. Then and they drive back to Dallas, and I've got, I stay at about 160 days out on the waiting list for. For those to come. In that amazing. That's amazing. And it's it's my best gift I've ever given to the world. Wow. That's amazing. Toby, do you think, you know the struggle has been to go through cancer? I mean, when you see these kids, I mean, they're tough as nails, aren't they? I can't stand it. It is. I go out there and visit it, and it's. I just can't stand. It's the beauty in it is that some of them are so young, they just don't know. Yeah. So there's a blessing there. but the therapy that we bring is that everybody staying there has an affliction. So if you go to school and chemo is taking all your hair and you're in first grade, kids are going to be mean. They don't know any better. And that kid's got to put up with that. But in here, we all look the same. So there's family therapy there. You know, there's therapy in that. the kids have a good environment to, to live in. It's a great facility. And it's, in a lot of ways, you. Blessed so many people. Yeah, we do 300 families a year. Wow. It's unbelievable. How are you and your cancer journey? Do you mind my asking? Where are you today and everything? So it's it's always a roller coaster. I've had it two zero and five weeks later. Oh, you're storming back. but if you're going to live on with treatments and things, whatever, what have you find that works for you, that holds it at bay? All that you just do and as long as I don't shrivel up to a prune and and hit the dirt, I'm. And I have energy, I'm going to try to go and, you don't ever cure it. Everybody has it, and you don't ever cure it. You just. It just goes into remission. So you got to find again, captain your ship on your own deal. But I'm going to. I'm. I'm not going to let this define what my future. Or anything else you want to add, Toby? that might be important. just for people who are are going to watch this. Well, I would say, again, I can't, for people that are watching, cancer is an island that sits out in the middle of the lake with other islands. And we know that's Cancer Island. So you take your boat, you don't really want to look over there. You just act like it don't exist. And when you wake up one day and you're shipwrecked on that, there's a lot of boats on that island, and you find out how many people really have cancer, and you just need to, I would tell anybody to, especially if you're given a second chance to fight it. Some people don't even get that opportunity. You just walk in, they go... good news, bad news. You know, good news is you win the lottery. Bad news is you're not going to be able to spend it, you know, that kind of thing. And, doctors are like mechanics, you know, going, I got a leaky muffler. My mufflers make a sound. Yeah, your transmissions out too. So if they scan on you long enough and they look at you long enough, they're going to find stuff and you're going to get second opinions and third opinions, and they're all going to sound the same. And it makes it really difficult to the average person, especially somebody who don't have my resources. You know, I don't even know. I mean, I've got the best resources in the world. Most people don't have those connections and resources, but, all I can tell them is you really have to get in control of your ship. You have to be as well read as you can be and, do what's best for you. And and always chemo and then always radiation and always surgery. And that's the protocol. But, that's what they tell you to do. And that don't mean that these doctors and these physicians and these scientists are trying to kill people, that I'm not saying that what I'm saying is everybody's taught medical school residency and, they're placed in residence, and then they their practice, they've, they've they've got their own book of how they were taught, just like any other class in school. And there's good ones. And bad ones, and they're all working. And it's a tough road to weed through. But lean, if you have faith, lean on your faith. Make the best decisions you can for you, and, never give up. Keep just keep on cranking at it. You've had some really good friends. Bob Stoops is, you know, it seems like Bob and Barry and Becky and have kind of been on this journey with you. What is that close knit of friends mean to you? Oh. The love that poured out from the whole world. when I announced it was overwhelming at first, I was like, I didn't know anybody really cared that much. You know, I see somebody post something. I don't just drop it on my knees and start praying for every single story out here. But boy, sure felt like that when I did it. You know, they directed it right at me. So, I've always dealt with it. I always take for granted how big, my, fan base is. I've always called them warriors, and I kind of take them for granted, but they always show up. So when I first got in the business 30 years ago, you know, I took on haters like a wounded grizzly bear. I'd go get you, you know, I said, come on, bring it. Let's go. I got a platform, you know. What have you ever done? Change the world? and as you get older, you like. You remember Bosworth sold the shirts at the Denver game? And he. All the Denver people were wearing the stamp out ball shirts and then found out he was selling them outside? It's stuff like that. That makes you go, you need haters. They make you a lot of money, and they embolden. Your message and. Empower your your fan base. You know, the people who love you are empowered by haters. And when you embrace that, it's like watching wrestling on TV. You got a heel and you got a good guy, and the only way to make the ratings go up is to make the good guy jump over here with the hills and create something. You gotta be kidding me. Hulk Hogan's over here with these guys. You know what I mean? Yeah. So that's the way they make their money. It's like. It's, And when you learn that you've been around long enough, then you just smile at haters. You're not going, oh, I'm getting so paid. Right now. I love it. Hey, hang on a second. So, we thought about this, okay? And we got a gift for you, and we think you're going to like it, and we put a lot of thought to it. So, you just can take the lid off of it. It'll be easy to unwrap and we surprised Toby. Does it say the pay in here? Yeah. Oh, $6,000. With that old contract he signed back in 1993 when he sang the Spirit of Oklahoma song. Me and Channel nine have been bang in it forever. This is great. This ought to be framed. And I'm on frame is up. Oh, that's really nice of you Robin. Tell everybody. Thank you. [Music] This is a big deal for a local boy too. You. Bet. You know. And, 20 years later, I'm sitting on 60 minutes across from Dan Rather getting grilled about courtesy. Red, white, blue and all that. I'm ready for you. I did the channel 9 jingle, buddy. Bring it on. I love it. I love it, Toby, we are so grateful. Thank you. You're welcome. You're an inspiration. And, I mean, it's so impressive, everything that you've done. But just the man that you are and the man that you've become through a trial. I mean, you know, I've always heard that your test becomes your testimony. And this is part of your testimony. Yeah. What you're doing. Yeah. Well everybody he has a plan for everybody. And if this is my plan so be it. If it isn't, but whatever. You know, if, I could be a great spokesperson for him, I think. But, you go through whatever you're supposed to go to, through and through that relationship, you have to find the silver lining and count the blessings over there. You know, I know so many people who didn't get the opportunity to even fight it. And I'm sitting here today feeling good and and knowing what I'm dealing with. And I got my brain wrapped around it and, and my faith lets my light shine. You know, the light in the tunnel is, the Almighty. It's not a train coming. So. But you what I mean? And it's. either get on the train or get in front of it, but get out of my way. Did you have a have you do you have a scripture that you've clung to? is there one scripture that you've, you know, I always think of that, you know, God has not given me a spirit of fear, but power, love and a sound mind. And I'm like, sometimes I just got a call on a sound mind. John 3:16 is so simple that, you know, you don't go to church. You you do this, you drink wine, you, you know, it's like it doesn't say doesn't say if you do all of these things and you pay this much money and you go to this church this many times and you know that you go to heaven, it says, believe it. Whosoever believe it would not perish, but have everlasting. It's all it says, It's all says it doesn't say whoever believe it and does this laundry list over here, it says believe. That's the word that you gotta get through to everybody. And what's so hard about believing? What's hard is not believing. What's the result in that? What if I'm wrong and I believe and it really doesn't exist when I still ride the other train, right? And then once you believe in you start having a relationship and you start getting fulfilled. All of a sudden it turns around and you start to go, oh, I see. So newest treatment. I'm on a road floor to get a new treatment. I come home the next morning and you get numbness in your feet from chemo. So I've been off chemo 2 or 3 weeks. My feet had been numb for months and I was really worried about my feet. And I go get this new treatment and I get up the next morning not thinking nothing about it. I fly back in here and get in bed and my feet hit that cold floor, and I could feel my feet, and I could feel my sensors firing, and I could feel the balls of my feet balance in me and well. And I have a book that has my daily scripture in it. So look, down, this is the day it's dated. This one. I'm supposed to read this my morning scripture, and it says, now that you've chosen the path, the road less taken. Trust in me and your direction and my light will shine on you. That was my scripture for that day. Now, if I had went Tuesday and Wednesday, that scripture would have been that day when I wouldn't said that. Yeah, but the day I was chosen and I looked at the other scriptures around it, and other days none of them applied to this day, but this day it said. And I was on a I went to Florida to get a new treatment, come home overnight. I can feel my feet. And it made me go, wow, this is the best my feet has felt in over a year. Wow. Something happened in that treatment that Amen. And I go wonder what my scriptures can say. And when I wrote my little book, I'm thinking, I wonder what this is going to say here. And that's what it said. God orders your steps suddenly. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Thank you so much for sharing all this. We're really grateful. Well, thanks for doing it. Yeah, you bet. As I reflect back on our conversation with Toby Keith, the takeaway for all of us how to live. Toby was the best example of making memories, living life to the fullest, and loving the people he was around. The Toby Keith family has asked if you would like to make a donation, please do so to the Toby Keith Foundation. It supports the OK Kids Corral, which is a haven for families who have children fighting cancer. My Make-A-Wish gift to this kids what he wanted done. He wants to sing this song with me. JULIET NEES-BRIGHT: When I think about Toby, there's a gold lantern that's in the lobby of OK Kids Corral, and it's the biggest and brightest one there. And it has his name on it. And that's what Toby is to the foundation. He's that bright light. JOE CASTIGLIONE: A loving husband, devoting father and grandfather always there for his family. [Music] If he spoke to you, it had something to do in whatever he said, book it. He. It's not made up, but sincere. And that's way he thought he felt. Everybody can really see a part of themselves in him and his music. TIM MCGRAW: A great artist, you know, always respected how he did things his way. He didn't kill them by. STEPHEN COLBERT: Toby taught me not to prejudge a guest and to have my intention, but to keep my eyes open to the reality of who they are. And for that lesson, and for a lot of other things, I'm always going to be grateful. BOB STOOPS: Yeah he'd been a great friend, a great OU supporter to all the sports, not just football. And it's always fun through the years to see him on the sideline give him a bump right before the game. He left a mark on our heart that will last forever. GOV. KEVIN STITT: And just a beautiful guy, beautiful family. And, he'll be missed. No, they won't be another Toby Keith. There'll be some country music singers, which won't be a Toby Keith.