Singer Back On Track With Latest Work

Toby Keith must be in hog heaven. The singer-songwriter’s career nearly crashed a couple years ago, but Keith steered clear of disaster when he switched labels.

That maneuver put him on a smooth road. The Oklahoma native was reunited with prominent producer James Stroud, the head of DreamWorks, and the two put together the hot album, “How Do You Like Me Now?!”

The disc hit store shelves last November and zipped up Billboard’s country album chart, peaking at No. 9. It’s still charting, at No. 12 this week.

Keith, 39, returns to the Spokane Interstate Fair for a performance on Monday. He also played the fair back in ‘96.

He wrote or co-wrote nine of the 12 songs on “How Do You Like Me Now?!” The title track, an in-your-face tale about a successful singer thumbing his nose at a woman who thought he was a loser back in high school, spent five weeks at No. 1 last spring.

The current charting song, “Country Comes To Town,” broke into the top 10 last week. The disc’s first single, “When Love Fades,” also scored.

After years of toiling in oil fields, rodeo, construction and professional football (the 6-foot-4 Keith played defensive end for two years in the defunct U.S. Football League), he turned to music. Keith and his band, Easy Money, took to the tough Oklahoma-Texas roadhouse circuit.

Keith exploded onto the country music scene in 1993 with the No. 1 song, “Should’ve Been A Cowboy.” Hit after hit followed, including such concert staples as “A Little Less Talk And A Lot More Action” and “Does That Blue Moon Ever Shine On You.”

When his original label folded and he joined Mercury in 1997, his career took a wrong turn. He put out two albums for Mercury, “Dream Walkin’ ” and “Greatest Hits, Vol. 1.” Neither produced a smash hit. Keith requested his release from the label, citing a lack of creative freedom.

While with Mercury, Keith did hook up with Stroud, on “Dream Walkin.’ ” By 1999, Stroud was the head of DreamWorks and Keith quickly signed with the label once Mercury let him go.

Now, Keith’s back on track with his seventh album. “How Do You Like Me Now?!” was nominated last month for both single and video of the year by the Country Music Association.

“My music life is perfect right now,” Keith says on his Web site.

This sidebar appeared with the story: Toby Keith When, where: 7p.m. Monday at the Spokane Interstate Fair grandstand Tickets: Free with fair admission