On
That Don’t Make Me a Bad Guy, his fourteenth studio
album, Toby (still proving his way is the best way)
Keith, demonstrates his songwriting skills are on par
with his vocal acuity. Once again he serves up eleven tracks
that are cut right from your every day life and delivers the
lyrics with so much sincerity that you know, without a
doubt, he is singing from his heart.
The album kicks off with the
title cut; a rowdy, rockin’, quick steppin’, boogie that is
a typical feel good Toby tune. The first three tracks
maintain a high energy and feature some fantastic
instrumental riffs that will make it impossible to stay
seated and then “Lost You Anyway” resonates from the
speakers. As that familiar vocal tremor, that is uniquely
Toby Keith, reaches your ears, you feel yourself being swept
away by the heartfelt lyrics and genuine emotion in his
voice. This cut is pure country perfection.
“
Missing
Me Some You,” the only song on the album written solely by
Keith, is an incredibly soulful and truly bluesy composition
with sweet and simple lyrics and the instrumentals on this
cut are absolutely superb. I had read that this song was
inspired by a conversation Keith had with a soldier he met
while entertaining our troops in Afghanistan so, as a
military spouse, I was eager to hear it and I wasn’t
disappointed. The song is a tender proclamation that
illustrates the genuine empathy Keith shares with our
soldiers and you can’t possibly sing with that much emotion
if your heart isn’t full of sincere feeling and true
compassion.
Of the remaining ten tracks on
this album, Eddie Raven co-wrote on “Cabo San Lucas”
and another award winning songwriter, Vicky McGeHee,
was Keith’s co-writer on “God Love Her.” The remaining eight
tracks were co-written by Keith and the award winning singer
and songwriter Bobby Pinson. Pinson’s bio states that
“his songs are colored with wit, stained with whiskey and
framed with hard won ‘wisdom by default.’” This is clearly a
profile that is recognized and respected in the Keith camp
and That Don’t Make [Toby] a Bad Guy, that makes him
the successful all around entertainer that he is.
