Country
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Jon Bon Jovi is the latest artist set to open a bar and restaurant concept in Nashville’s Lower Broadway.
The rocker, along with his band, will open JBJ’s Nashville in spring 2024 at 405 Broadway. The venue will launch in partnership with BPH Hospitality, a subsidiary of Nashville-based Big Plan Holdings. A release touts that the venue will be the tallest and second-largest bar by square footage on Lower Broadway.
The building’s design will align with the city of Nashville’s Broadway Historic Preservation Overlay, and will feature entrances on both Broadway and 4th Avenue, with two fifth-story outdoor rooftop decks.
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“We’re looking forward to having a place in Nashville that we call home,” Jon Bon Jovi said in a statement. “When Big Plan Holdings and the team of Josh and Tara Joseph asked us if we were interested, it wasn’t because we were just another rock band, it was because we are a band with deep roots in Nashville. We have had wonderful times in Nashville recording several albums and working with some of the finest people in all the music business. I can’t wait to toast all of Broadway and get to know our neighbors!”
Of course, the new venue is far from the only celebrity-owned bar and restaurant to dot Nashville’s Lower Broadway, as the downtown Nashville area is home to venues emblazoned with country artists’ names including Jason Aldean, Luke Bryan, Dierks Bentley, Alan Jackson and Miranda Lambert, while Luke Combs and Eric Church also have bars set to open.
The news follows on the heels of last week’s celebration honoring Jon Bon Jovi as the MusiCares Person of the Year. As the band Bon Jovi celebrates its 40th anniversary this year, a new Bon Jovi documentary is set to release on Hulu in April.
Jon Bon Jovi is also no stranger to Nashville’s country music scene; in 2006, he earned a two-week No. 1 Country Airplay hit with a duet version of “Who Says You Can’t Go Home” featuring Jennifer Nettles. In 2020, the two teamed up again for “Do What You Can.” In 2007, he also collaborated with LeAnn Rimes on the song “‘Til We Ain’t Strangers Anymore,” and in 1998, the rocker collaborated with Chris LeDoux on a version of Bon Jovi’s “Bang a Drum,” which appeared on LeDoux’s One Road Man album.
The Late Show‘s Stephen Colbert paid emotional tribute to his longtime friend country singer Toby Keith on Tuesday night (Feb. 6), describing the long arc of their relationship and sharing a special memento he keeps in his office to remind him of the man he affectionately referred to as “Big Dog.”
“I was shocked and saddened when I saw the news this morning,” Colbert said of announcement that the 62-year-old “Red Solo Cup” singer had died following a two-year battle with stomach cancer. Colbert said he knew the singer had been fighting the disease, but he’d held out hope that they would see each other again and that Keith would return to touring as footage of the star’s previous performances on The Late Show played behind him.
“I was lucky enough to become friends with Toby over the years, as improbable as that seems,” said Colbert, whose laser-sharp daggers of commentary are often aimed at bloviating right wing politicians and media figures — as well as other know-nothings from any side — suggesting that viewers might not have expected him to befriend a singer whose often jingoistic, red meat patriotic anthems seemed at odds with the host’s more liberal-leaning point of view.
Colbert said they met back in 2006 when Keith appeared on Colbert’s funhouse mirror “conservative” Colbert Report Comedy Central late night series. “Back then there was a not-so helpful legend that I had knives out for some of my guests,” said Colbert, admitting that he sometimes did. He recalled having “some kind of plan” to skewer Keith in a bid to send up the singer’s “boot in your ass” line from one of his most famous songs, 2002’s flag-waving, “Courtesy of the Red, White And Blue (The Angry American).”
“Right before I went on stage I remember vividly looking down at my shoes and saying, ‘What are you doing? You’re a host. He’s your guest. Make him feel welcome, see who he is,’” Colbert said he chided himself at the time. “And what do you know? We hit it off like a house afire. I couldn’t believe how much I enjoyed talking to Toby Keith.”
Colbert said it seemed like Keith enjoyed the chat as well, because after the appearance, as they passed each other in the hall and Toby was headed out the stage door, he turned to Colbert and said, “‘Hey man, you do a great job. Whatever the f–k it is you do.’ And I took that as the greatest compliment,” the host said. Such a high honor, in fact, that his then-head writer had the comment stitched onto a small pillow as a Christmas present, which Colbert keeps in his office until this day.
“That day, Toby taught me to not prejudge a guest,” Colbert said of the country singer whose politics and persona were complicated and, friends and colleagues said in remembering him, more nuanced than they appeared. “And to have my intention, but to keep my eyes open to the reality of who they are. And for that lesson, and for a lot of other things, I’m always going to be grateful.” Later in the segment, Colbert hinted at Keith’s hard-to-pin-down persona by showing footage of the country star giving President Obama a standing ovation at the former commander-in-chief’s Nobel Peace Prize speech in 2009.
Colbert paid homage to that complexity, calling Keith a great performer, unapologetically patriotic, as well as an “opinionated, brash, often controversial” figure who bonded with his many fans by “writing their lives in a very real and entertaining way.” The host then ran down tape of Keith’s many appearances on his show, including a 2015 spot where Toby handed over one of his acoustic guitars, which Colbert said his son plays to this day. The package also included tape of a cowboy hat-wearing Colbert inducting Keith into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in June 2015, singing a “As Good As I Once Was,” a song Colbert said he used to listen to every night before going on stage.
“I think he enjoyed how unlikely a pair we seemed. I sure did,” Colbert said, comparing them to meme videos of horse and duck besties. “Toby taught me not to judge people too quickly. And with his passing, I gonna try to remember that again. It’s something we all need to remember.”
Colbert ended with a plea for patience and an attempt to understand each other during these highly divisive times, promising to meet anyone, no matter who they are, “at this place. I will meet you at being broken-hearted that Toby Keith is gone. Thank you Big Dog.”
Check out Colbert’s tribute to Keith below (begins at 1:00 mark).
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T-Pain’s ranging artistry has seen him dabble outside the lines of R&B/hip-hop plenty of times throughout his decorated career, but he’s recently opened up about even writing country songs.
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The Florida-bred singer-rapper said in a recent TikTok that he’s penned some country tracks for artists, but ended up removing his name from the songwriting credits because of racism he’s experienced.
“Good music is good music. I don’t give a f–k where it come from or what style it come in,” he began in the video. “All the people I know feel like it’s not cool to listen to other genres of music. Country music is where I get all my harmonies.”
T-Pain continued: “I done wrote a lot of country songs [but] I stopped taking credit for it because as cool as it is to see your name in those credits and s–t like that, the racism that comes after it is just like, ‘I’ll just take the check. Don’t put me on that s–t. I’ll just take the check, bro. Nevermind, dude.’”
The 38-year-old didn’t reveal any context as to who he’s written country songs for or if he’s doing it under a different alias. (his real name is Faheem Rashad Najm.)
But just last week, The Breakfast Club dug up a years-old interview during which T-Pain delved deeper into his ghostwriting phase, and during the chat said he’s worked with the likes of Taylor Swift and Luke Bryan during his two-year stint living in Nashville.
“I write a lot of country music for huge country artists that would rather not have it known that I write for them,” he said. “I got back up with Taylor Swift, Luke Bryan, Rhett Akins [and] Dallas Davidson. So, you know, I’ve written a lot for a lot [for] very important country artists.”
Per Songview, T-Pain isn’t credited as a writer on any songs by the aforementioned artists. However, he did connect with Swift for a parody of her “Love Story,” which the duo flipped to “Thug Story” and performed a recorded version of it at the 2009 CMT Awards.
Billboard has reached out to T-Pain’s reps for comment.
Last year, T-Pain leaned into his affinity for country music when he covered David Allan Coe’s “Tennessee Whiskey” as part of his On Top of the Covers album.
“Tennessee Whiskey” has been covered a ton over the years, and Chris Stapleton delivered a memorable performance of the record at the Country Music Awards with Justin Timberlake in 2015.
Listen to the “Buy U a Drank” artist’s explanation as well as The Breakfast Club‘s discussion below.
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Toby Keith, the iconoclastic country music singer, songwriter and hitmaker behind songs including “Should’ve Been a Cowboy,” “American Soldier” and “Red Solo Cup,” died Feb. 5 at age 62, following a battle with stomach cancer.
Since his career debut in 1993, Keith lobbed 20 songs to the pinnacle of Billboard‘s Hot Country Songs chart. Born in 1961, the Oklahoma native worked in the oil fields alongside his father after he graduated from high school. He also launched the Easy Money Band and began playing small clubs around Oklahoma and Texas. In the early 1990s, Keith moved to Nashville to continue pursuing music. After Keith’s demo tape was given to producer Harold Shedd, Keith signed a deal with Mercury Records.
His first hit came in 1993, when “Should’ve Been a Cowboy,” a solo write from Keith, hit No. 1 on the Hot Country Songs chart, while his eponymous debut album was certified 4x multi-platinum by the RIAA. His early career hits were marked by ballads that showcased his strong baritone and emotional range, such as “He Ain’t Worth Missin’” and “Who’s That Man,” as well as the romantic “Me Too.”
In 1998, seeking greater creative control, Keith left Mercury for DreamWorks Nashville. Beginning with 1999’s “How Do You Like Me Now?!,” Keith’s image and song selections began to shift, embracing an in-your-face swagger and braggadocio, along with more novelty-oriented songs such as “Who’s Your Daddy?” In 2001, inspired by both the loss of his father and the 9/11 attacks, Keith released “Courtesy of the Red, White & Blue (The Angry American),” with the controversial line “We’ll put a boot in your a–/ It’s the American way,” which both underscored the rage that many Americans felt, but also garnered garnered backlash. Not long after, he would release “American Soldier,” which depicted the everyday sacrifices of military personnel.
Keith co-founded the label Show Dog Nashville in 2005 and released his album White Trash With Money in 2006, earning top five Country Songs hits from the album including “A Little Too Late.” He continued scoring hits patriotic-themed songs such as “Made in America” and “American Ride.” In 2011, another novelty song, “Red Solo Cup,” gave Keith his highest-charting song on the all-genre Billboard Hot 100, reaching No. 15.
Keith won three Billboard Music Awards during his career, and was named the Country Music Association’s male vocalist of the year in 2001. He earned the ACM’s Merle Haggard Spirit Award, and was inducted into both the Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. He was named a BMI Icon in 2022, and won BMI’s country songwriter of the year honor three times.
From 2002-2013, he also went on 11 USO tours, performing for active-duty service members in over 15 countries. He also supported organizations including his own Toby Keith Foundation, as well as Ally’s House (an Oklahoma organization dedicated to aiding children with cancer), and the OK Kids Korral, a cost-free home for families of children battling illness.
In October, bolstered by his performance on the inaugural People’s Choice Country Awards, Keith’s “Don’t Let the Old Man In” topped the Country Digital Song Sales chart.
As the world remembers the burly-voiced singer, the hitmaker, the heartfelt songwriter, the staunch, outspoken American military supporter, and businessman that was Toby Keith, Billboard recounts his 20 biggest Hot Country Songs chart hits.
Toby Keith’s Biggest Billboard Hits chart is based on actual performance on the weekly Hot Country Songs chart through the list dated Feb. 10, 2024. Songs are ranked based on an inverse point system, with weeks at No. 1 earning the greatest value and weeks at lower ranks earning less. Due to changes in chart methodology over the years, eras are weighted to account for different chart turnover rates over various periods.
“A Little Less Talk (And a Lot More Action)”
Gwen Stefani and husband Blake Shelton rock their snappiest Canadian tuxedos in an Instagram post promoting their upcoming duet, “Purple Irises.” The retro-looking snap posted on Monday night (Feb. 5) has Stefani lounging on a 1970s stripey couch in a denim jumpsuit, chunky-heeled shoes and a bra, while Shelton sits on a chair in jeans […]
One of the hardest balancing acts in entertainment is appearing gracious and happy when the person on stage opens the awards envelope and doesn’t read your name. That was the spot Kelsea Ballerini was in on Sunday night at the 2024 Grammy Awards when Lainey Wilson‘s Bell Bottom Country bested her Rolling Up the Welcome […]
As country music fans and the country music community mourn the passing of singer, songwriter and musical iconoclast Toby Keith, who died Feb. 5 at age 62 following a battle with stomach cancer, it is notable the fortitude he possessed in his final months.
On Sept. 28, Toby Keith played what would be his final television performance when he took part in the inaugural People’s Choice Country Awards held at Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry House. Keith was honored with the Country Icon Award during the ceremony.
During the show, Keith’s fellow country artist Blake Shelton called him a “global country superstar, award-winning singer-songwriter, devoted and beloved activist, business powerhouse … Toby Keith is a multi-dimensional artist like no other … a global megastar, a man of the people, and a genuine inspiration. Toby Keith is a true icon.”
In accepting the country icon honor, Keith’s speech was both lighthearted and heartfelt. “I bet you never thought y’all’d see me in skinny jeans,” he joked before getting serious. “I want to thank the Almighty for allowing me to be here tonight. He’s been riding shotgun with me for a little while now. I want to thank my beautiful family that’s here. A lot of people go in and make a career like this of 30 years.”
Keith also gave one of the evening’s most powerful performances as he took the stage to sing “Don’t Let the Old Man In,” a song he wrote solo, and which was included in the 2018 Clint Eastwood movie The Mule. Though the physical toll of Keith’s cancer battle was evident as he stood onstage, his voice was a strong as ever — filled with grit, refined by life — as he offered a musical tribute to living every day to its fullest. “Try to love on your wife and stay close to your friends/ Toast each sundown with wine/ Don’t let the old man in,” he sang.
Following the performance, Keith’s “Don’t Let the Old Man In” hit No. 1 on Billboard’s Country Digital Song Sales in October.
Keith, who was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2015, followed the performance by releasing the album 100% Songwriter — an album filled with songs he wrote — in November 2023. His final concerts came in December at the Dolby Live at Park MGM in Las Vegas, when he spearheaded a trio of sold-out concerts, performing several of his hits, such as “Should’ve Been a Cowboy” and “Red Solo Cup.”
Since his career debut in 1993, Keith notched 20 No. 1 Country Airplay hits. He also earned three Billboard Music Awards during his career, including country singles artist of the year (2002), as well as country artist of the year and country albums artist of the year (both in 2005).
See Keith’s People’s Choice Country Awards performance above.
Toby Keith may have passed away, but the thousands of songs he penned in his lifetime will carry on his legacy forever. In fact, a post on the country music icon’s Instagram page just days before he died Monday (Feb. 5) notes that Keith built a catalog of more than 5,000 tracks. Thirty-nine of them […]
Musicians are raising their red Solo cups in honor of Toby Keith after news broke that the country star died on Monday (Feb. 5) after a battle with stomach cancer. He was 62. The singer-songwriter had revealed his battle to fans in 2022, a year after he was diagnosed.
Keith’s death was announced Tuesday (Feb. 6) in a statement posted to the country star’s official website and social media accounts. “Toby Keith passed peacefully last night on February 5th, surrounded by his family,” the message read. “He fought his fight with grace and courage.”
His impact was felt among many artists, who spoke out to remember the seven-time Grammy nominee.
“Toby inspired millions and I was one of them,” Jelly Roll wrote in an Instagram story, noting that he covered Keith’s 1993 Billboard Hot 100-charting song “Should’ve Been a Cowboy” at “every show last year.”
“An American icon,” singer-songwriter Randy Houser called Keith in his Instagram post, which included a video of himself singing the late artist’s 2003 hit “I Love This Bar.” “They do not make em like him everyday in my opinion. One of my favorites that he and @Scottyemerick wrote. It’s late at night or early in the morning but I wanted to sing one in his honor no matter what time it is. Rest In Peace. Job well done.”
The Country Music Hall of Fame also reflected on Keith’s career and impact on the genre. “Toby Keith was big, brash, and never bowed down or slowed down for anyone,” said Kyle Young, CEO of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, in a statement. “His story is a distinctly American one — a former roughneck oil worker who carved out his own space in country music with a sinewy voice and an unbending will to succeed. He wrote his breakthrough songs and later formed his own record label when he felt underserved by Nashville. He relished being an outsider and doing things his way. Proudly patriotic, he didn’t mind if his clear-cut convictions ruffled your feathers. For three decades, he reflected the defiant strength of the country music audience. His memory will continue to stand tall.”
Read on for more heartfelt tributes from musicians:
“Saddle up the horses, Jesus, ‘cause a true blue COWBOY just made his ride up to heaven!!! Introduce him to all the Okies and sign that boy up for the choir! We’re gonna miss you, Toby, but my heart has no doubt that you are standing in the presence of our King right now!!! See you again someday, friend.” — Carrie Underwood on Instagram
“RIP. A Country Music and American Legend.” — Morgan Wallen on Instagram Stories
“Just waking up to the news of Toby Keith’s passing. Today is a sad day for Country music and its fans. Toby was a huge presence in our business and someone we all looked up to and respected. You and your music will be forever remembered big man.” — Jason Aldean on X
Waking up to the terrible news that our friend, and legend @tobykeith has passed away from cancer. He was a true Patriot, a first class singer/songwriter, and a bigger than life kind of guy. He will be greatly missed.— John Rich🇺🇸 (@johnrich) February 6, 2024
too many rides in my old man’s car listening to Toby Keith. really hard thing to hearrest in peace friend we love you— Zach Bryan (@zachlanebryan) February 6, 2024
Toby Keith came out from nowhere to become one of the major success stories of country music in 1993 with his debut single “Should’ve Been A Cowboy.” The singer rode in from Oklahoma armed with some of the strongest material that Nashville had seen in quite some time. That helped his self-titled album to be […]