Toby Keith is officially a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame. Keith was posthumously inducted by Randy Owen, who became emotional as he spoke of the loss of the legendary singer, who passed away on February 5 of this year, from stomach cancer.

“Some DJs down home in Alabama told me there was a guy playing at a local club,” Owen recalled from stage. “It was pretty easy to see that this guy on stage had been working hard, and he knew what it was like to come up the hard way, work hard. He had a grit in his voice, and a grit in his performance. Something that I truly admired because, coming up the way that I come up, through the clubs and working for tips, this guy excited me to listen to him.”

Owen recalled Alabama‘s recent CMT Giants: Alabama episode, taped in January of this year. The star-studded show was supposed to include Keith, until his sickness prohibited him from performing.

“This is about a man that I dearly loved, and I always felt like he dearly loved me, and he truly cared about me,” Owen said. “When we were filming the CMT Giants, I was doing real good, until I went around and saw his name on a dressing room, knowing that he couldn’t be there. That’s how much I felt like he loved me, and the group, Alabama. So I’ll always be thankful to Toby for caring so much. He was absolutely emphatic that he was going to make that taping, even though his health didn’t allow him to … He loved his country, he loved his family. He proved that over and over again.”

Keith’s wife, Tricia Covel, accepted the honor on her late husband’s behalf, speaking about Keith’s love of Owen and Alabama.

“It’s pretty emotional for me tonight,” Covel said through tears. “This is actually the first time I’ve been able to talk. I’m not sure I can finish it, but I wanted to thank Randy for coming up and introducing Toby … I wish Toby was here to be able to do it. It was something he was always looking forward to. He loved Randy and the Alabama group, back in the day, he would always say that was the only rehearsals he ever did, was when Alabama put out a new album.

“Many people don’t know it, but Toby fought to be able to perform at the show,” she added. “He wanted to be there for the tribute. He refused to give up until the very last minute. He wasn’t able to make it, so it was a pretty disappointing thing for him.”

Covel went on to talk about her husband’s career, and the impact he made in country music.

 

“He considered himself a songwriter. He wrote songs that were so compelling that people knew a man was living those words. You could see into that baritone voice, heart and soul. His attitude, personality and character shone through every lyric. He didn’t just sing those songs; he was those songs, from ‘Shoulda Been a Cowboy’ to ‘Don’t Let the Old Man In.'”

Covel also spoke about his passion for supporting the troops and his support for children and cancer, through his OK Kids Corral in Oklahoma, sharing his deep, deep love of his home stage, before celebrating Keith’s extraordinary legacy in country music.

“There will never be another Toby Keith,” she said. “The kids and I, our family, and all of our friends, we’re all broken-hearted that he’s not here to be able to accept this. The grief is not something we can just let pass. It doesn’t matter if you don’t know him personally, he made you feel like you were his best friend when he talked with you … Toby will live and be loved forever through his music, and the legacy that he left, and I’m so thankful and so grateful to have spent the time, 43 years, with him. It’s a big number, and I’m so proud that I can say that I shared that with him.”

Keith was inducted along with  John Anderson and guitar legend James Burton  Find all of Keith’s music at TobyKeith.com.