Toby Keith- Honkytonk U (WWWWW)
(Dreamworks/Universal)
To many, naming a country album
“Honkytonk U” might sound like a statement of cockiness for the artist in
question- I mean, really, how could someone be so bold as to not only admit
that they’re great at honky tonk but also be so great at it that they can teach
it? That is, unless you’re Toby Keith.
“Honkytonk U” represents Keith’s
fifth studio album for Dreamworks Nashville and fifth since he really broke out
with 1999’s “How Do You Like Me Now?” Since then, Keith’s popularity has soared
with his bravado, creating a star that was instantly larger-than-life but also
someone that could be very easy to relate to. The hallmarks of Keith’s success-
a tough-as-nails, uncompromising demeanour who speaks his mind quite liberally
(even if some of his views are not) but is also one of the most laid-back and
down-to-earth people you could think of, with a penchant for really capturing
the everyday feelings of his extremely wide fanbase (either directly or indirectly)-
is present quite extensively on “Honkytonk U”, which is as tough and as “honky
tonk” as it claims to be.
The most striking feature of
“Honkytonk U” is his phraseology, which, besides his emotive and expressive
voice (still tops in the music industry by a mile) are among his greatest
strengths. In “Big Blue Note”, for example, Keith whimsically details the story
of how he keeps “a big blue note” an ex-girlfriend left him when she exited his
life, with a retention that borders on obsession (until it becomes a “big blue
note paper airplane” that has “a crash landing”). In “She Ain’t Hooked On Me No
More” (with Merle Haggard), Keith and Haggard talk about how their bad habits
return after their girlfriends left them, and, in “Knock Yourself Out”, Keith eggs
his girlfriend on to hit him and “go back to her other man”. Finally, in “You
Ain’t Leavin’ (Thank God Are Ya)”, he says in a line, “she just started
packing, and I’m thinkin’ this could suck”, which may not sound poetic but
better captures the way many people might think in a situation like that. Sure,
they’re topics that have been done before, but nobody really captures their
essence and makes them as relatable as Keith does. Of course, don’t think Keith
has gone all mushy- the lead single and title track has a macho Keith talking
about how he’s “oilfield trash and proud as I can be”, “(sells out) every
basketball arena”, and “gets down with my boys in Afghanistan and Baghdad City
too”, allowing him to declare that he’s officially graduated from “Honkytonk
U”. Of course, here, he’s not just a graduate, he’s the professor too.
The best song here, however, is
“You Ain’t Leavin’ (Thank God Are Ya)”. I remember when I first listened to it,
I rolled my eyes in the beginning because the first verse had a contrite Keith
talk about his girlfriend leaving him, and all I could think about was “oh no,
not another one of these”. Then the chorus hits- “you ain’t leavin’ thank God
are ya/You can’t be gone fast enough”, delivered in a rapid-fire sequence
that’s every bit as refreshing as it is funny. It’s songs like this that show
that Keith really enjoys making music, because he’s having a lot of fun making
it.
True, most hardcore leftists may
not exactly like Keith or this album, but Keith doesn’t talk to them- he talks
to the rest of the populace, the ones who really only care about getting
through all of life’s challenges everyday. He is an everyman who wears his
heart on his sleeve, unafraid to speak his mind even if you disagree with it
and that is what makes him a star. He may understand that “a star can’t shine
forever” in the title track, but in his case, his star still has a lot of
shining left to do.
-DG