Toby Keith is being honored with a star-studded celebration. The country music icon, who was 62 years old when he passed away earlier this year from stomach cancer, will be remembered with a show, Toby Keith: American Icon on July 29 at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena.
Luke Bryan, Carrie Underwood, Jelly Roll, Eric Church, Ashley McBryde, Parker McCollum, Darius Rucker, Lainey Wilson, The War And Treaty have already been announced as performers, with more artists expected to be announced shortly.
The concert will be part of a two-hour NBC special, which will air on August 28 at 9:00 PM ET.
Underwood is one of several artists who praised Keith after he passed away, especially for his love of their shared home state of Oklahoma.
“There are so many things that can be said about Mr. Toby Keith,” Underwood told her record label. “I mean, obviously, he has had such a monumental career. He has some of the biggest songs that ever, ever were or probably ever will be in country music, and obviously, has built up that legacy for himself that will live on. But I think one of the best things about Toby is his love for Oklahoma. He’s a proud Okie, and I feel like that’s something that always connected us.
“We’d talk about it,” she continued. “He’s one of the ones, he never left. No matter how big and famous he got, he was gonna stay in Oklahoma, and he was always the first one there when disaster would strike – tornado or whatever it was. He was the first one trying to rally the troops or raise money or help out in any way he could. I feel like that’s one of the things that I respect the most about him — he never forgot where he came from and has been such a stellar example to the rest of us to do the same.”
Jelly Roll also honored Keith with a performance at Stagecoach, singing “Should’ve Been A Cowboy” with T-Pain.
“With songs like ‘Should’ve Been a Cowboy’ or ‘The Next Thing on My List’ and ‘I Love This Bar’ — just the whole way he put his personality into his music. He was an outlier,” Jelly Roll told Variety. “He was unapologetically Oklahoma. There are a lot of things he did that encouraged me and empowered me. He was very individualistic and carved his own path and he did it his own way, from pillar to post. He never knew it, but he was a mentor to me, just watching him from afar.”
Keith will be posthumously inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame this fall. Tickets for Toby Keith: American Icon will be available beginning on Friday, June 28, at 10:00 AM CT, via Ticketmaster. A portion of the proceeds will benefit Toby Keith Foundation’s OK Kid Korral.
