Consummate cowboy

If the whole “being one of the brightest young stars in country music” thing doesn’t work out, Keith Anderson has plenty of fall-back options.

The Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter could go back to being a personal trainer, or modeling, or bodybuilding, or waiting tables, or maybe coaching college baseball.

He could always resurrect Romeo Cowboys, the singing telegram company he started after college.

Even before he became an entertainment entrepreneur, Anderson had a pretty lucrative day job at a construction engineering firm in Dallas.

But walking away from that gig to play music gigs paid off even more. So perhaps the shoulder injury during college that ruined his prospects for major league baseball was good fortune – and not just because it led to his placing second in the Mr. Oklahoma competition.

Having a chiseled body and good looks is only half the battle in show biz. Luckily, Anderson – who comes to Spokane’s Knitting Factory on Sunday – has genuine talent, and a knack for penning hits.

He got the music industry’s attention when he hooked up with George Ducas and Jeffrey Steele, who produced both of his albums. Those relationships led him to co-write chart toppers for the likes of Big & Rich and Gretchen Wilson, among other Nashville power players.

Anderson kicked the doors off the hinges when he scored a Grammy nomination for co-writing the 2001 Garth Brooks/George Jones duet, “Beer Run (B Double E Are You In?).”

He also co-write “Barn Burner” for fellow newcomer Jason Michael Carroll, a song that was originally designated for his own first album.

Anderson’s solo career skyrocketed with his 2005 Arista Nashville debut, “Three Chord Country and American Rock & Roll.”

The album struck gold with four hit singles, including “Pickin’ Wildflowers” and “Every Time I Hear Your Name.” Billboard Magazine and Radio and Records publications named Anderson country’s music’s best new male artist.

With his latest album – this year’s Columbia release, “C’Mon” – Anderson not only avoided the sophomore slump, he scored his biggest hit yet and third Top 10 single, “I Still Miss You.”

He also released his own version of “Lost In This Moment,” the No. 1 hit he helped write with Big & Rich, as well as a cover of Foster and Lloyd’s “Crazy Over You.”

Meanwhile, having eaten his Wheaties while playing baseball at Oklahoma State University is helping to round out his image with the press. People Magazine and Men’s Fitness dubbed him one of the “50 Hottest Bachelors” and the “Ultimate Country Star,” respectively.

That same broad appeal exists in his music and the way he writes it. “I Still Miss You” could have easily been a brokenhearted cliché, but in Anderson’s able hands, the message has an overarching theme that speaks to loss on multiple levels, whether it’s the death of a loved one or love gone wrong.

With his bandana-under-the-hat crossover country charm, Anderson’s audience will likely split down the middle. As Sunday’s Knitting Factory audience will find out, he’s not just a heartthrob, or a bad boy, but a little of each – a show for guys as well as gals, and intentionally so.

“Let’s face it,” he says in his press bio. “In order to have a real party, you’re going to need both.”