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‘I’m Just An Old Country Boy': Luke Bryan Pays Tribute To American Icon Toby Keith For NBC Special
Luke Bryan paid a special tribute to late country music icon Toby Keith during the two-hour NBC special, Toby Keith: American Icon, six months after the country legend’s demise.
Trigger Warning: This article contains mentions of death.
Luke Bryan paid a special tribute to late country music icon Toby Keith during the two-hour NBC special, Toby Keith: American Icon, six months after the country legend’s demise. The ACM Award winner performed the late musician’s chart-topping debut hit Should’ve Been a Cowboy in honor of his memory.
Ahead of the performance, Luke Byran, who hails from Georgia, prepared a few words in remembrance of Toby Keith and his influence in country music. The 48-year-old country singer wore a special cowboy hat gifted to him by his late sister for the occasion and shared the accompanying story behind it.
The One Margarita musician talked about his Georgia days when he would continually play “about 10 Toby Keith songs a night” in bars before he got his big break. He recalled wearing his favorite hat every night until Bryan lost his sister in 2007, per Billboard. “This hat has been hanging in my closet for probably 15 years,” the songwriter revealed.
Bryan hadn’t put on the hat he was wearing for the Toby Keith tribute for several years but decided to wear it today, to honor his love for the Red Solo Cup musician, who will be posthumously inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2024.
“I was walkin’ out the house, and I said, ‘You know what? I’m just an old country boy from Georgia, but Toby Keith certainly made me want to be a cowboy.’ I’m going to be a cowboy tonight... This is for you, Toby,” Bryan shared before his performance, per Billboard.
Bryan, along with several other country musicians, the likes of Carrie Underwood, Eric Church, Darius Rucker, Lainey Wilson, and others, staged performances of the late icon’s greatest hits to honor him and his long career in the country music sphere.
Toby Keith was a notable presence in the music genre, having released 19 studio albums and an overwhelming number of chart hits—20 number-one hits, to be precise.
His debut single, Should’ve Been a Cowboy, reigned the country music charts in 1993 and vaulted as the most-played country song of the decade, raking in over 3 million radio performances, per the Songwriters Hall of Fame’s official site.
Unfortunately, the country music icon passed away in February of this year following his battle with gastric cancer for the past two years. He was 62. His demise was officially announced by his official website. “He fought his fight with grace and courage. Please respect the privacy of his family at this time,” a part of the announcement read.
Months before his death, Keith performed three sold-out shows in Las Vegas and at the People’s Choice Country Awards. He underwent several rounds of chemotherapy, radiation, and surgery to treat the disease. The former music producer first revealed his cancer diagnosis in June 2022, per a Today report.
Toby Keith: American Icon was held at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena in late July and was filmed as a two-hour NBC special that aired on Wednesday, August 28 at 9 p.m. ET.
ALSO READ: Carrie Underwood Honors Late Toby Keith With A Special Tribute To ‘This Incredible Man’
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