Toby Keith was a superstar in country music and outside of that genre. A singer-songwriter whose music often reflected personal experiences, he had 65 singles on the country charts, including 20 #1 hits.

"Should've Been a Cowboy" was his first #1 hit. He wrote it in a matter of minutes during a hunting trip. "Red Solo Cup" was his most popular mainstream song.

To watch the official music video of "Should've Been a Cowboy," go to YouTube. To listen to "Red Solo Cup," go here. It's from "Greatest Hits: The Show Dog Years" (2019). You may want to check out the comments too. One person wrote: "RIP Toby. We raise our red solo cups to you!"

The 2004 photo in this episode's thumbnail shows Keith singing at a USO-sponsored concert in Gricignano, Italy. It's credited to Photographer's Mate 2nd Class Lenny Francioni of the U.S. Navy.

In the chapters, you'll find two U.S. Army photos: The first, which shows Keith as he made his way on stage at Camp Victory, Iraq, in 2007, was taken by SPC Laura M. Bigenho.

The other was taken in Afghanistan in 2009 by Sgt. Joshua LaPere. It shows Keith performing for soldiers from the 10th Mountain Division's 3rd Battalion.

All three photos are in the public domain and available on Wikipedia.

This tribute to Keith is one of 41 stories that Sheldon Zoldan, a longtime journalist, has written about the music notables who passed away in 2024. He's written tributes for other years as well. You can listen to the ones from 2023 on Everyday Creation. We'll have the 2022 tributes available later this year.

Sheldon also is the creator of Song of the Day, a story that he sends by email to a list of subscribers. To get on his subscriber list, email shzoldan@comcast.net with the subject line ADD ME TO SOTD.

This is Kate Jones. Thank you for listening to Everyday Creation, available on YouTube and in podcast directories including Apple, Audible, iHeart and Spotify.