‘Catch of the Day’ – Toby Keith – “A Few More Cowboys” [AUDIO]

Today we turn our focus to a native son of Oklahoma, a singer, songwriter, producer and record company executive who is Sooner through and through. Having played football at the University of Oklahoma and for the Oklahoma City Drillers, a development team for the Oklahoma Outlaws of the USFL, this artist is a true s.

Born in Clinton, OK, Toby Keith Covel was raised in Ft. Smith, AR while he was in early grade school, but the family moved to Moore, OK while he was still young. Toby Keith began performing at his grandmother's supper club in Ft. Smith, where he would visit during summers, and work at the club doing odd jobs and began climbing up on stage with the house band.

After leaving the University of Oklahoma, Keith began working in the Oklahoma Oil fields, beginning first as a derrick hand, and eventually working his way up operations manager. It was during this time that Keith and friends Scott Webb, Keith Cory, David Vowell and Danny Smith formed the Easy Money Band, playing in local bars and honky tonks. By the early 1990's, Keith decided to go all in and headed to Nashville. He hung out on Music Row, distributing copies of his demo to record companies and play local venues. After getting absolutely no response from record companies, Keith returned home to Oklahoma depressed. He made himself a promise to have a recording contract by the time he turned 30 or give up his dream. As if he was in a Hollywood movie, Keith would land that contract just prior to his 30th birthday, when his demo reached the hands of Harold Shedd, an executive at Mercury Records Nashville, who flew to Oklahoma to hear Keith play live and signed him immediately after watching him perform.

Keith would record for Mercury Records Nashville from the release of his self-titled debut album in 1993, until a conflict between Keith and the company over the content of a never recorded 5th album in 1998. The conflict stemmed from the songs "Getcha Some" and "If A Man Answers", which Keith submitted for the project, but the company instead put them on a Greatest Hits package, telling the singer to go back to work on another album. After the next two songs Keith submitted were completely rejected by Mercury, Keith asked to be let out of his contract, and the company agreed.

In 1999, Keith signed with DreamWorks Records Nashville, signed again by Shedd, who was now that label's president. Right off the bat, in a show of defiance, Keith would release one of the singles that had been rejected by Mercury, as a response to the company's earlier snubs. "How Do You Like Me Now" would go on to spend 5 weeks on the top of the country charts, and Keith was off and running. He would release 5 studio albums and a Greatest Hits II package with DreamWorks before the company ceased operations in 2004.

Undaunted, Keith would form his own label in 2005, Show Dog Records. He has released 10 studio albums, starting with 2006's White Trash With Money, along with a third greatest hits package on the label. Between his 19 studio albums and 3 greatest hits packages, Keith has hit the top-10 on the country charts 41 times, with almost half of those singles, 20 hitting #1. Before heading out on tour in the fall, Keith has gone back into the studio to put the finishing touches on album #20, and we have the lead single in our spotlight today. Toby Keith and "A Few More Cowboys" is today's Catch of the Day, new music you haven't heard, but you'll want to hear it again.