Publication Date: 08-28-2025

Toby Keith: American Icon (2024) review

By: Steve Pulaski

Rating: ★★★

Remembering Toby Keith

1961 – 2024

In August 2024, six months after Toby Keith’s death, NBC aired a taping of a benefit concert held for The Toby Keith Foundation in support of the OK Kids Korral and Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital in Vanderbilt. The special, Toby Keith: American Icon, has only been aired a select few times in the primetime cable window, and isn’t available to stream anywhere (at least in its entirety). While you can find all the performances of the evening from country music royalty like Carrie Underwood, Eric Church, Luke Bryan, and Trace Adkins, you won’t find the interstitial videos that show the late Toby Keith interacting with children at the OK Kids Korral nor will you see the audience’s profound emotional response as they witness Keith’s last recording session: a cover of Joe Diffie’s “Ships That Don’t Come In.” Of course, his final recording couldn’t be a fun song like “Pickup Man.” It had to be something to activate the waterworks in record time.

I stumbled upon Toby Keith: American Icon when channel surfing last night, and tuned in at the right time, just a couple minutes tardy. On one hand, appointment television viewing like this keeps local TV stations afloat and relevant. On another, the on-demand world in which we live makes the lack of access to this special naturally feel archaic. At the very least, this is something that should live in rotation on a network like CMT, for there’s never a bad time to remember how damn great Toby Keith was.

Shortly after Keith died after a two-year battle with stomach cancer, I wrote a lengthy essay about my relationship to his music, so that absolves me from having to do the same here. Toby Keith: American Icon — filmed at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville in late July 2024 — features various A-listers in country music taking the stage to perform some of Keith’s most beloved songs. Hosted by Priscilla Block (an odd, novice choice), we get a cornucopia of talented artists honoring the Big Dog Daddy in a way I think he would’ve emphatically appreciated, most of all because it was designed to help organizations that were close to his heart.

Carrie Underwood gets things started with a cover of “A Little Less Talk and a Lot More Action,” bringing the same kind of Okie-attitude and identity to the tune that Keith wore as a badge of honor. Darius Rucker turns in a beautiful cover of “God Love Her,” while Ashley McBryde — maybe the most underrated “mainstream” country artist —delivers a powerful rendition of “Wish I Didn’t Know Now,” one of Keith’s best tearjerkers.

Entering the arena on horseback, the dynamic and effervescent Lainey Wilson riled up the crowd as the horse made its way to the stage so the Louisiana native could sing “Beer for My Horses” with Jamey Johnson. The two absolute crush this song, one of my all-time favorites (period), and Johnson echoes the low-and-slow, twangy cadence of Willie Nelson without having to strain to imitate it. Before Jelly Roll launches into “My List,” he reveals that this was one of the songs that unintentionally implored him to be a better father. Like every song, he sings it like he means it, and is visibly emotional while doing so.

Speaking of visible emotion, the cameras prolifically show Keith’s family, including his son Stelen (a spitting image of his father), singer-songwriter Krystal Keith, and his widow, Tricia. Seeing them tear up hearing Trace Adkins sing “American Soldier,” and crack faint smiles to Jordan Davis and Clint Walker singing “I Love This Bar” is enough to make you do the same.

It’s probably uncouth to single out performances in a concert designed as both a memorial and charity, but someone has to say it. “Who’s Your Daddy” is not a song fit for a duet, and the decision to have Riley Green and Ella Langley perform it was a peculiar one that results in a silly number being played with too much vocal smoothness that leaves no room for humor. Also, the country music purist in me couldn’t help but scoff at Luke Bryan being the one to sing “Should’ve Been a Cowboy.” Should’ve been that other Luke boy. You know, the one who covered one of the greatest American ballads of all-time, held his own, and made it a hit all over again?

The special concludes with Krystal Keith performing “Don’t Let the Old Man In” — Keith’s song recorded for Clint Eastwood’s The Mule back in 2018 before being re-released following his death — and Parker McCollum riling us up one last time by giving us his version of “The Angry American.” Toby Keith: American Icon‘s impact as a special is one of great emotional heft for fans of Keith and country music as a whole, and it undoubtedly raised a great deal of money for a worthy cause. Just how Toby would’ve loved.

NOTE: Check your local NBC listings for upcoming reairings of Toby Keith: American Icon.

A PhD at Honkytonk U: Remembering Toby Keith, His Deep Cuts, and the “Beer for My Horses” Movie