Toby Keith Joins Cheyenne Frontier Days Hall of Fame
Published
Toby Keith Joins
Cheyenne Frontier Days Hall of Fame
Widow Tricia Covel Accepts The Induction,
Notes Keith’s Ties To Event
Along with this year’s eight other honorees, Keith was recognized for his “lasting impact on the legacy of Cheyenne Frontier Days. Inductees represent the spirit, history, and culture of the world’s largest outdoor rodeo and western celebration. Each year, new honorees are selected for their unique contributions that have helped preserve and promote the western way of life.”
Having played Cheyenne Frontier Days nine times during his career, Keith’s fondness for it preceded his career, as his wife Tricia Covel noted in accepting his induction on his behalf. She thanked the organization for the honor, as well as the people on his team who facilitated his dream of performing at CFD, and recalled how Toby loved performing at CFD, and the cowboy life he saw there. Something easily proven since he wrote “Should’ve Been A Cowboy” in 20 minutes.
As a teenager, he was testing bulls for a rodeo stock contractor when Toby witnessed cowboy singer Chris LeDoux win the Bareback Riding World Championship. Cheyenne was every cowboy’s dream. Toby lived the dream of headlining Cheyenne Frontier Days nine times; one year he even did two shows. So much of Keith’s life was about rodeo; while working for the stock contractor he heard a coworker say, ‘whiskey for my men and beer for my horses.’ Those words inspired him to write the song ‘Beer For My Horses,’ a duet with Willie Nelson that became a No. 1 hit for six weeks.
The Hall of Fame induction punctuates a big summer for the late superstar’s music. Called “the biggest winner” over the Independence Day holiday by Billboard, Keith’s catalog saw streams and plays “skyrocket” over the summer, with his 35 Biggest Hits album climbing into the Billboard 200 Top 10. Driving many of the summer’s milestones was his July, 2002 No. 1 airplay single “Courtesy Of The Red, White And Blue,” which hit No. 1 for the second time in its lifespan by topping the Country Digital Song Sales chart 23 years later.
About Toby Keith
Bursting on to the country music scene with his solo-penned first single “Should’ve Been A Cowboy,” Toby Keith began stacking hits through a succession of label permutations, all of which built to the Sept. 1, 2005 launch of his own label, Show Dog Nashville. Keith released 14 albums during that final phase of his career, cementing his place as one of the most prolific self-directed creative forces in country’s modern era. All in, Keith amassed 42 top 10 hits, 33 No. 1s, more than 44+ million albums sold, 100+ million BMI performances, and more than 10+ billion streams largely on the strength of his own songwriting and producing. He was elected into the Country Music Hall of Fame shortly before his passing in February. Among his many accomplishments, the New York based all-genre Songwriters Hall of Fame (2015), the National Medal of Arts (2021), the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame (2021), and BMI Icon (2022) were his most treasured.
Toby is one of four artists to top the all-genre album chart while active and posthumously, joining Michael Jackson, John Lennon and Elvis Presley. He skyrocketed back to the Top in 2025 with his song, “Courtesy of the Red, White And Blue (The Angry American)” hitting No. 1 in July and driving his 35 Biggest Hits back to the Top 10.
At the core of Toby’s unparalleled success is his songwriting, which has powered an astounding succession of hit songs. With his accomplishments as a multi-award winning songwriter-artist, Keith has joined an impressive list of Country legends, including Loretta Lynn, Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard, Dolly Parton, Kris Kristofferson, and Hank Williams, Jr., as well as multi-genre royalty Stevie Nicks, Little Richard, Patti Labelle, James Brown, and more.
