"Ford Truck Man" Actual Country Music Star. Who Knew?

by christopher taylor

I'll bet you don't think you know who Toby Keith is. I'll bet if you were making dinner, and your girlfriend was watching Celebrity Jeopardy in the other room, and you asked who was on, and she said, "Toby Keith", you would say, "Who?"

But I'll also bet you've seen Toby Keith before. He's a "Ford Truck Man" and that's "all he drives."

Apparently, Toby Keith is a big country music star. Really big. Big enough to feature himself in the mansion-owning role in at least one of his videos. So why have I never heard of him?

There seems to be a huge rift in this country, separating the country fans and the non-country fans. There are people in my circle that absolutely despise hip-hop, but still know who The Roots, Outkast and 50 Cent are. And I would expect you're saying to yourself right now, "who doesn't know who 50 Cent is? In Da Club? The first major artist on Eminem's label (aside from Eminem)? Number one album in the country a few weeks back (and currently number two)?"

Many country fans would have absolutely no idea what you are talking about. None. They might know who Eminem is, primarily because he has had a mildly successful film (at least in the sense that it appears in every video store), won major awards (like an Oscar, and Grammys), and has appeared pretty regularly in every gossip column in the country for the past few years. Note that I said might.

Go look at the Billboard Country Chart. Look at it. I'll bet you recognize the Dixie Chicks (more for the recent controversy than for their music), Shania Twain and Johnny Cash (because they both have been called "crossover successes" for so long it has become true), and Elvis Presley (because, well, he isn't really a country artist). And maybe Alison Krauss, if you were one of the people that bought the O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack. That's about it.

What is wrong with this country? How did this split come about? I mean, have you ever seen a country video on MTV? Did you even know that there are country videos? Or, have you ever seen an Audioslave or White Stripes video on CMT? Did you even know that there is a Country Music Television network? If you were to listen to your local country station, do you think you would ever hear Madonna? And if you listened to your local pop station, do you think you'd ever hear Tim McGraw?

Can't we all just get along?