New Toby Keith single – 35 MPH Town

[miranda3]

amp.twimg.com/v/09239046-8d2e-4292-8aad-9db485d8ba46

DISCUSS

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You know Toby is gonna be a heckuva grandpa one of these days. : )

The song is absolutely a smash for me. Been a while since Toby did a faith song. I'm glad to hear it.

[miranda3]

Toby already has two or three grandchildren! They belong to his other daughter Shelley.

I think this is the best radio single he's put out in YEARS. Usually he puts out the dumbest songs on his albums as singles, when the rest of the album will be full of great songs like this one. I'm glad he's showing people there is more to his music than Red Solo Cup, etc. because I don't think the majority of people realize it.

This song absolutely captures what is going on in Eastern Kentucky. We have a bad drug problem here with pills and meth especially. Young people would rather live on a government check than do something worthwhile. The people who want to work have to leave because there are no jobs. I suspect its this way in most small towns though. But toby has really struck a chord here IMO

I hope this is a hit for him, but for the most part his newer music is not being played on the radio.

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You can tell I don't follow Toby's family life. : )

Toby has always had one of the finest understandings of country music culture at it's core than almost anyone else out there. It's generational for him and he's lived it.

I'm crossing my fingers for him with this one. It's a great song.

[miranda3]

I think Toby understands the people in his audience, and I'm not sure a lot of other current mainstream country singers do. I saw him on television a few days after that tornado hit his hometown two years ago. He said, "We're going to be alright. They won't still be talking about us on the news five years from now. These people will pick up and move on with their lives because they are strong people" and that struck a chord with me after our own tornado disaster here. I was glad to see that true heartland pride coming through, same as the mountain pride here. Toby is super wealthy now, but i like that he's never forgotten where he came from.

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There are so many things I like about who Toby is.

He is super wealthy now but he got there by saving his money, sleeping on the bus with his band, and looking at his financial picture in the long view.

So many artists start spending money like crazy and their overhead can't be maintained unless they stay on the top every minute.

I've heard Loretta Lynn say that Tammy Wynette just had to keep working all the time because she never stopped spending money.

I'm trying to remember the size of the Dixie Chicks entourage for the Top of the World Tour and I think I'm gonna have to google it...but their overhead was massive.

[miranda3]

Oh yes. I admire frugality in a man. I think it is sexy LOL

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Link:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Top_of_the_World_Tour

The multi-tiered in-the-round stage was a feat of engineering complete with shifting hydraulic-lift levels, winding catwalks and walkways that extended over the heads of the audience. It weighed over 80,000 pounds and took up most of the arena floor. A crew of 120 traveled in thirteen busses and seventeen trucks. This show included the largest touring video show, with 1.5 million LED lights displaying graphics on video screens and on the floor of the stage. During the show, artificial flowers, grass, trees and a windmill sprung up from underneath the stage. It took over 2000 amps of power and 240 pounds of CO2 gas to run the special effects for each show.

....that's part of what it took for the stage and crew but there's more but you get the idea when it took 13 busses and 17 big trucks just to haul the stage setup and crew. Then each of the Chicks had their own tour bus, their own nannies, their own hair and makeup people, then there was an embedded bloggers...and special food, dressing room and flower requirements at each venue.

It's been years since I read this so it's fuzzy in my brain now. But with the overhead and the deal they'd made with their label to pay for promotional costs of the album in exchange for higher profits, they had a dynamic that paid them very well at the top of their game but if they didn't do that well, they'd lose money.

Toby netted more than the Chicks did that calendar year, according to the end of the year lists. They had much higher grosses but less profit.

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Apr 3, 2015 22:01:55 GMT -5 miranda3 said:

Oh yes. I admire frugality in a man. I think it is sexy LOL

I agree, about, you know, a million percent or so.

We spent so much of our married life broke and I'd do the bills and say to hubby, we're broke. He just gets a big ole grin on his face and says, let's go talk about it in the bedroom, lovin' is free.

Now that we've finally reached the place where we're not broke, our spending habits haven't really changed very much. We buy more music CD's but that's about it.

We know that it'll all roll around again and he'll lose his job or something else will happen. Gotta save for the long run when you get the chance. Make hay while the sun shines. : )

[miranda3]

The chicks were a pop crossover act from the time they got major record deal. Some of their music was country, but they themselves were never country. They were divas long before everybody hated them. When you think you are such a big deal it requires a grander presentation LOL

When I saw Toby in Cincinnati in 2010 they had all their stuff on just two trucks. The trucks and his bus were backed up to the stage and we watched them unload a lot of it.

I've never been a big spender. I can honestly say there is not much that I want.

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Last I read Natalie was still trying to work out her dislike for the parts of herself that used to be presented as part of the Chicks. She said, in the interview I read, she couldn't even stand to listen to her own accent on the old recordings.

Toby is the real deal. Always has been. Always will be. One of my favorites of his is "I Love This Bar" because it shows how much he likes country music fans with all their quirks. It's such a song of acceptance. A balm to my ears in a world that would really rather tell the quirky what's wrong with them rather than liking them for who they are.

Toby just needs to bring his songs and who he is and I'm good.

As for money, give me my family, books, music and the basic utilities of life and I'm happy. I don't care about the rest.

I don't know if I've mentioned my sister in law before. She's a nice enough girl but she's so different from my husband. She's always jetting around the world. She married a guy from the Netherlands and they are back and forth across the water all the time ...as well as other places. She wanted the art career early on so she moved to NYC as a young adult. She's been a graphic artist/book editor for decades though she's done it freelance the last few years instead of working for a book publisher. Seems like she's always working with someone who is well known. Her husband is a high powered type. He did something complicated on Wall Street until recently. Google recruited him so now he works for them. Seems like he's on vacation and traveling at least 3 months every year.

They're lives are so different from ours and I've always been good with that. To each his or her own.

Once in a while though they'll roll their eyes at us because they think we're missing out "on life" and "living". I don't suppose they'll ever truly understand that I love my life, just as it is.

Though it would be nice if there were more twin fiddles in country music. : )

[miranda3]

Natalie never wanted to be country. She was accepted into some cushy music school when she was younger and either dropped out or flunked out. After that her father tried to use his Texas music connections to buy her a career, and lead singer of the chicks was simply the best gig he could get for her within his network. He forced her on the other two girls and they were ordered to change their style. I was kind of glad to see that Charlie Robison got away from being associated with the chicks even though it was because his marriage broke up. He's not like them whatsoever. He is a straight shooter who does true, tell-it-like-it-is raw country. I loved him and his music before he got mixed up with the chicks. He's always been better than them.

I never realized it until recent years, but Garth Brooks was like Natalie Maines in that he hadn't originally intended to be a country singer either. He simply could not hit it big doing anything else. He sang rock and pop songs in college bars, not country. Capitol Records had a hole in their country program so they picked him to fill it.

Toby has always been country for the most part. Even the haters on the indie and trad country facebook pages grudgingly admit he is country even though they don't like him. It seems their main problem with him is not even his music. It's that he's made a lot of money from it. They dont approve of his corporate sponsorships and his pro-military message, mostly.

[Deleted]

Toby is a full fledged Okie...whats not to love?

Can't wait until the video!!!!

[Deleted]

Miranda,

I didn't know that about Garth but it doesn't surprise me. A lot of artists get slotted in. It's really why I like country music best when it's not as popular. The slots for people who don't bleed country go to some other genre. Country music has always been at it's most country when it's not the "cool" thing.

I didn't know you were a Charlie Robison fan. I read that Emily about bankrupted him before they broke up. The other two...Martie and Natalie...had megabucks husbands and Charlie just doesn't pull down the millions the others were pulling in. For a while there he was taking every gig he could get to try and keep her happy.

Charlie has quite a following of his own. Especially in Texas.

Just recently I was reading about Charlie...kinda by accident. I've loved Aaron Watson for years and years and years. His last album debuted at #1 on the US country chart so mainstream was showing an interest in him. Aaron showed up for a radio thing and Bobby Bones sent one of his staff (I think it was a producer) down to the lobby when Aaron got there. I don't know exactly what was said but Aaron used the word "sweetheart" when he was talking to her. He's a Texan...you hear "sweetheart", "darling", "ma'am" and the other usual words here all the time. If you know of Aaron at all, you know he's very definitely a family man who lives his Christian faith.

This is where it went bad though. The lady went back upstairs and told Bobby Bones that Aaron had called her sweetheart and instead of talking to Aaron face to face about it, he went on the air with the woman with a whole spiel about what a jerk Aaron is and how he used the word "sweetheart" while talking to a woman. Then, after he'd mocked him publicly, on the week his album was #1, he said he wasn't going to put him on the air because he felt it was his job to protect the woman. (As if that isn't a sexist statement all it's own Bobby).

Anyway, Aaron being Aaron, chose to turn the other cheek and tried to make it right. He called and apologized. He then apologized again on air so everyone could hear it (which Bobby also took great joy in). Aaron also made a donation to the charity of Bobby's choice. Like I said, Aaron lives his faith. He also asked his fans to let it go and I respect that so I haven't mentioned it until now. Aaron has moved forward.

Another brief note about Bobby Bones. Apparently this isn't the first time he's illustrated that he has a big ego and a small brain. He went after Kacey Musgraves a while back too. Edited a clip so it sounded completely different than the way it happened, along with commentary mocking her and replaying the same few seconds clip over and over and over again. Then he started a twitter war with her and she told him what she thought of him. He pushed it further and he must have got in trouble for that one because he made an official apology to her for it on the air.

The same week, Aaron had been asked a bunch of times about a comment (then) Sony Nashville CEO Gary Overton said in the Tennessean. He said “If you’re not on country radio, you don’t exist”. Aaron had answered, he was promoting his new album, saying that he wasn't on country radio but he had the #1 album in country music.

Charlie got in on the act and had quite a lot to say. You'd have been proud Miranda. Then Florida Georgia Line added in their two cents about Charlie speaking up. In an ironic turn of fate, Gary Overton, came to a "mutual agreement" with Sony to step down from his job as CEO last month. That was about a month after he made the comment about not existing if your not on country radio. Irony.

[miranda3]

Oh yeah, I have been a fan of Charlie for a long time. I have a couple of his albums and would like to get more. i followed that feud with FGL and the record exec. I was rooting for Charlie all the way LOL

These women who get mad over being called "sweetheart" etc. need to get over themselves. That is a southern thing and the majority of men mean no harm by it. A good friend of mine – a banker and a true old school southern gentleman if I have ever known one – always calls me "honey" or "dear" or "sweetie", etc. He means nothing by it. ALL men around here use endearments when speaking to women. Women also use endearments when speaking to men. That is just southern vernacular.