Blake Shelton, Dolly Parton & More Remember the Late Toby Keith in Touching Tribute _ E! News

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00:00When I was just a, you know, a baby artist coming up in the music industry,

00:05Toby was the first major artist to give me a chance.

00:08And I think it was because I was a fellow Okie.

00:11I looked up to Toby and I learned a lot from being around him.

00:14Once you were in there, you were a lifetime member.

00:17There'll never be another Toby Keith.

00:20You know, they always call Merle Haggard the poet of the common man.

00:25I believe Toby picked up that title from Merle for the next generations.

00:30Toby, just know that we will always love you.

00:37Toby reflected the best of Oklahoma.

00:40A lot of people dream of making it big so they can leave their hometown.

00:44Toby wanted to make his hometown bigger.

00:48And when he made it big, he took the whole state with him.

00:52When I was around him, he was a badass country singer.

00:55But found out later on, he had a really big heart, big as Oklahoma.

01:00Well, I just want to say that me, along with millions of other fans, miss Toby Keith.

01:06He was such an influential artist, such a great patriot,

01:09and loved our military and wrote great songs about him and supported him.

01:13And God bless you, Toby.

01:16One of my first big tours was opening for Toby Keith back in 2007.

01:20Toby was the real deal and never made excuses.

01:23He just was really in his own lane.

01:25And that's always good for other artists to see,

01:28is somebody that just really knows who they are

01:30and really chases it with all gusto and is authentic to themselves.

01:35Toby wrote songs for everyone in every situation.

01:38Right before Super Bowl 50, a reporter asked me

01:42how I felt going into such a big game late in my career.

01:45I said, I feel like that Toby Keith song.

01:49I ain't as good as I once was, but I'm as good once as I ever was.

01:53That song and so many others spoke to me.

01:56Toby was a good guy, a good friend, a good songwriter.

01:59He wrote Beer for My Horses, and we had a great record out on that.

02:04And I just loved him a lot.

02:08My God, Toby Keith.

02:09How do you even start?

02:11Red Solo cup, I fill you up.

02:16Toby Keith was a patriot, a family man, an incredible songwriter.

02:20One thing that would surprise people about Toby is that we were friends.

02:26He'd say, I don't know why people don't think it's weird

02:28me and Carrot hanging out.

02:30We would hang out.

02:32He would come to my show with his family and his wife and his friends.

02:36And he sat there in my dressing room,

02:39and he performed.

02:41I don't even know.

02:42He did like an hour, just acoustic songs, storytelling,

02:48just unbelievably just had everyone laughing.

02:51He was a good man.

02:52I do want to give an honest big shout out to Toby Keith.

02:59Big dog.

03:00Love you, man.

03:04I am here with Hardy.

03:10You got to work with Toby a couple times, including his last studio session.

03:16What was he like in the studio?

03:17We all want to know.

03:19It's funny, no different than any other day.

03:25And I went back and I listened to, so I guess the last vocal in the studio

03:32that he ever did was ships that don't come in on the Hicks tape

03:37that we the tribute that we did for Joe Diffie.

03:40And what an amazing tip of the hat and just such a, you know,

03:48he's such a patriotic person and to sing such a song so gracefully and just

03:53with so much feeling and so much meaning.

03:55I'm just so thankful to be such a small part in such a cool moment in his

04:02career.

04:02And yeah, it was just amazing.

04:08Tonight.

04:32Toby Keith was more than just a celebrity superstar.

04:35He was my friend.

04:38My name is Matthew Bradford.

04:39I served seven years.

04:40I was injured on January 18, 2007 when an IED exploded underneath me.

04:45The first time I met Toby Keith in 2011, we were sitting there in Baghdad.

04:50We started talking, you know, from that moment on one of the coolest people

04:54ever met in my life.

04:55He didn't shy away from the danger zone.

04:57He put his Kevlar.

04:59He put his flag jacket on.

05:01He flew in those Blackhawks.

05:02He flew to wherever the military was located because he cared for us all.

05:06He loved us all.

05:07He was a proud American and he was going to do what it took to make sure

05:10that we noticed that and we felt that no matter where we are around the

05:13world.

05:15As times progress, you get more comfortable with coming over and then

05:19your attention turns more to just making sure you shake as many hands and

05:23thank as many people as you can.

05:24That's our job.

05:27To go over there and perform for these soldiers and the Marines, the

05:29sailors, airmen, the servicemen, put himself, put his bandmates, his crew

05:34in danger to make sure that we can take our minds off the danger that we

05:38face every morning when we wake up, you know, give us two hours of just

05:43freedom.

05:44Even if my career at home, if it was to ever hit the shore and be done, I

05:50would still find ways to come to this as part of my lifestyle.

06:04Howie! Howie! Howie! Howie! Howie! Howie! Howie!

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