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No Comments [ Add Comment ]On road to Utah, Keith defends 'Beer' film
By LINDA EAST BRADYAUDIO: Toby Keith sings ‘She Never Cried in Front of Me’
NETCast: Toby Keith talks about his new album ‘That Don’t Make Me a Bad Guy’
Toby Keith thinks people take things a little too seriously at times. Like his new movie, "Beer For My Horses," for instance.
Keith said he made the movie, which also stars Rodney Carrington and Tom Skerritt, for his fans. He wanted to do a modern-day buddy-cop movie like those of the 1970s, and he's done it -- replete with such good ol' boy humor-drivers as flatulent old dogs, custom pickups and fast cop cars. Salt-of-the-earth comic silliness abounds.
"The problem was, I had these people critique it as a serious movie," said Keith, calling from a concert stop in Atlanta -- a tour that brings him to the USANA Amphitheatre on Saturday night.
"This movie is not meant to be a serious thing. It's more like a bad, fun cop show. It's over the top. I wish I had someone like 'Country Weekly' or CMT reviewing it. They understand the humor."
The plot follows two Oklahoma deputies, played by Keith and Carrington, who bust a Mexican drug lord stealing ingredients for his south-of-the-border meth factory. Demanding his release, the drug lord's brother kidnaps the girlfriend of Keith's character, offering to exchange her for the prisoner.
The amped-up chase is on.
"It's not meant to be realistic, any more than 'Smoky and the Bandit' was," Keith said. "Like how, with that movie, you know there is no way that Jackie Gleason would drive out of his jurisdiction to Florida to chase Burt Reynolds. Well, we did the same sort of thing. We set an unbelievable course of events and followed through with the story."
But Keith, who feels his fans were pleased with the finished movie, took iffy reviews and harsh filmophile blogs in stride. He's managed to grow a fairly thick skin after all these years in the business. He's faced critical backlash a number of times, perhaps most famously for his angry post-Sept. 11 song, "Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue."
Keith also has gathered a devoted following with songs like "Who's Your Daddy," "She's a Hottie" and "As Good As I Once Was."
In the 21st century alone, various songs of his have spent more than a year at No. 1.
"You figure you must be doing something right with those numbers, even if the bloggers don't like you," Keith said.
Hillbilly auteur
"Beer For My Horses" is notable for Keith's natural and appealing screen presence in this, his second movie role. But the starring part is only a small aspect of Keith's involvement with the movie.
The film was inspired by a duet Keith did with Willie Nelson, who has a cameo in the film. Keith wrote the story that the screenplay is based on, and co-wrote the screenplay with co-star Carrington. He spent about four years shaping the story, followed by 10 months on the screenplay itself.
"Actors like Tom Skerritt, Barry Corbin and Claire Forlani ... worked on this," he said. "And when they showed up separately on the set, I asked them straight out: 'Why did you take it?' And they told me, 'Because of the dialogue and script.' So that lets me know that what I did was OK."
Keith also composed some of the music and selected the incidental songs for the film's score. Instead of using the namesake song as the opener, he found another song to set the mood: James McMurtry's "Choctaw Bingo," a darkly comic rocker that includes Oklahoma hillbillies brewing meth and moonshine for a family reunion.
Also featured are a couple of tunes by Ted Nugent, who co-stars as a feral deputy, as well as pieces by Carrington, David Allen Coe, Mac Davis and more.
"I am pleased with the soundtrack," Keith said. "But I was pleased with all of it -- all the work paid off. I knew there'd be some criticism, but you know, I am ready for it by now. Poor Rodney wasn't. When it hit us, he was like, 'Man, I feel like I am like a 5-year-old who made a robot out of Play-Doh and took it to my mom, and she said, "That sucks." '
"But I told him, 'Remember, most of the time, if they are going to critique you, they are not the ones you wrote it for.' "
Good Guy
Following on the heels of the movie's release is Keith's new studio album, "That Don't Make Me a Bad Guy," due in stores in October. It is the second he has helmed as producer.
The first single, "She Never Cried in Front of Me," a summer release, is getting healthy airplay in the wake of his tour. It's a romantic power ballad, but don't expect this outing to be what Nashville likes to call a "chick album."
"Well, the easiest way to sell records is the chick albums, but I am not going to do that," Keith said. "I don't go out to get that particular demographic. If I write something good like that, or find something good, then fine, I'll do it, of course, but I don't work for it."
There's plenty of up-tempo, fun stuff, too -- including a song about a preacher's daughter running off on the back of a boy's motorcycle, not to mention the title cut.
"The album is loaded down with fun," he said.
Keith also believes it is a disservice to his female fans to assume they only dig the mushy side of his music. He points to the popularity of the song "She's a Hottie," a celebration of a scantily clad, cowboy-hatted good ol' girl. The song garnered far more downloads than the No. 1 hit of the same album, "Love Me If You Can."
"And those numbers aren't just from the guys downloading it, either," Keith said. "I often look out there in the crowd at a show and see girls in string bikinis and straw hats, and I know they heard 'Hottie,' and love it."
He laughed. "Those girls don't care all that much for the sweet stuff like 'Love Me if You Can.' "
PREVIEW
l WHO: Toby Keith
l WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Saturday
l WHERE: USANA Amphitheatre, 5150 S. 6055 West, West Valley City.
l TICKETS: $20-$63. Some discounted seats offered, through Smith's Tix, (800) 888-TIXX.
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