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HERES SOME INFO ABOUT SOME COUNTRY ARTISTS: TOBY KIETH: TOBY KIETH'S BIOGRAPHY: In 2002, he recorded "Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (The Angry American, which, as you will soon see, I LOVE!)," a SUPER-patriotic response to September 11 that became one of country's most popular political statements since Merle Haggard's "Okie From Muskogee." The media ensured that even people with no knowledge of country music at all still knew him as "the guy with the 'boot in the ass' song(WOAH!)," and helped make Keith a phenomenon. Keith was born Toby Keith Covel in Clinton, OK, in 1961 and grew up mostly on a farm in Moore, near the outskirts of Oklahoma City. He took up guitar at age eight, inspired by the country musicians who played at the supper club his grandmother ran. He listened to his father's Bob Wills records and fell in love with Haggard's music. He formed the Easy Money Band and played Alabama-style country-rock in local honky tonks. After about three years, the oil industry hit a major downturn, and Keith turned to playing semipro football for a USFL farm team, even trying out (unsuccessfully) for the short-lived league's Oklahoma City franchise. Following two years as a football player, Keith decided to focus on music and adopted a much more rigorous touring schedule. He cut a few records for local indie labels, and his demo tape eventually found its way to onetime Alabama producer Harold Shedd, who helped Keith land a deal with Mercury.Keith's self-titled debut album was released in 1993 and made him an out-of-the-box success with its chart-topping single "Should've Been a Cowboy." Three more songs from the record — "Wish I Didn't Know Now," "A Little Less Talk and a Lot More Action," and "He Ain't Worth Missing" — made the Top Five, and the album sold over two million copies. "Who's That Man," the lead single from his second album, Boomtown, was released in late 1994 and became his second number one; Boomtown hit stores in early 1995 and went gold on the strength of further Top Ten hits "Upstairs Downtown" and "You Ain't Much Fun." Keith followed it later that year with the holiday record Christmas to Christmas and returned with the proper album Blue Moon in 1996. Its first two singles, "A Woman's Touch" and "Does That Blue Moon Ever Shine on You," went Top Ten, and the third, "Me Too," gave Keith his third number one, also helping the album go platinum. 1997's Dream Walkin' marked his first collaboration with prolific producer James Stroud, with whom he would work regularly from then on. "We Were in Love" and the title track were both Top Five hits, as was "I'm So Happy I Can't Stop Crying," a duet with Sting. However, Keith longed for an even bigger breakthrough, and he was growing dissatisfied with Mercury's promotional efforts. In 1999, he left the label and followed Stroud over to the Nashville division of DreamWorks.Keith's label debut, How Do You Like Me Now?!, appeared in late 1999 and started to bring him the wider recognition he felt poised for. The title cut went to number one on the country charts and brought him his first Top 40 pop hit; its follow-up, "Country Comes to Town," went Top Five, and "You Shouldn't Kiss Me Like This" also hit number one. Overall, the album had a rough, brash attitude that helped give Keith a stronger identity as a performer. It was also the first to bring him those long-desired major industry awards, when in 2001 the Academy of Country Music named him Male Vocalist of the Year and named How Do You Like Me Now?! its Album of the Year. In the meantime, Keith became more visible in the mainstream media, making cameos on Touched by an Angel and in a Dukes of Hazzard TV reunion movie as well as co-starring in a series of telephone commercials(A couple of his music videos were also on Nickelodeon, but that wasn't until after 9/11). Later in 2001, his follow-up album, Pull My Chain, became his first to top the country charts and also his first Top Ten pop album. It spun off three number one singles: "I'm Just Talkin' About Tonight," "I Wanna Talk About Me," and "My List."Keith was already a burgeoning superstar when he recorded "Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (The Angry American :) )" in the summer of 2002. A raging response to the September 11 terrorist attacks, the song struck a fierce chord with AGGRESSIVLY patriotic listeners, while others condemned it as knee-jerk jingoism. The whole controversy came to a head when ABC News anchor Peter Jennings objected to Keith's scheduled performance on a network Fourth of July schedule(There were a lot of protesters there, I should know, it was in Concord, at the Singing Flag in 2002). Keith was crossed out from the guest list, and the ensuing media flap proved to be a publicity coup. Meanwhile, the song went to number one on the country charts and crossed over into the pop Top 25(It did?! I didn't know that! Shows how smart I am, huh?). All of this set the stage for Unleashed, which sold like hotcakes upon its release later in 2002, debuting at number one on both the country and pop charts. "Who's Your Daddy?" was a number one country hit, and the Willie Nelson duet "Beer for My Horses" also made the country Top Ten. REVIEWS: I haven't exactly heard all of his cds, but I have listened to Pull My Chain, Unleshed, and Shockin' Y'all. So, here they are: PULL MY CHAIN was a great cd(you will find that I say that a lot about cds). The song that I liked the most on this cd was I Wanna Talk About Me, because I think we all have someone in our families, or groups of friends that only talk about themselves. UNLEASHED was also a great cd. The songs that I liked most were Angry American, Beer for my Horses, and Huckleberry. Angry American because Toby Kieth expessed in that song what I think was gong through most American's minds on 9/11. Anger and fear. I also likes Beer For My Horses 1: Because it was funny, 2: because it had Willie Nelson in it, and 3: Because I don't know, I just liked it. SHOKIN' Y'ALL was(HA! Gotcha! It's not a GREAT cd)an exellant cd. I liked all of the songs on there. They were great, especially American Soldier. I liked that one because I am a very patriotic girl(Can you tell?). Willie Nelson: Willie Nelson's Biography: Johnny Cash: Johnny Cash's Biography: Kenny Chesney: Kenny Chesney's Biography: Thank you for visiting my page at Angelfire. iF YOU HAVE ANY REQUESTS, OR COMMENTS, PLEASE, E-MAIL ME AT BAYSAMBO1@MSN.COM Please come back and visit again! THANK YOU! Samantha Figueira
