In it’s first week at radio, Oklahoma country music superstar Toby Keith’s latest single, “Drunk Americans,” bows as the No. 1 most added on both the Billboard and Country Aircheck/Mediabase charts, according to a news release.
He said of the track, which was written by Brandy Clark, Bob DiPiero, and Shane McAnally, “‘Drunk Americans’ sounded like a combination of ‘I Love This Bar’, ‘Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue,’ and ‘American Ride.’ The first time I heard it, I knew I was going to have to go in and cut it. It felt like a smash to me.”
“When we finished the song [two years ago] we said, ‘This would we be so great for Toby Keith.’ And then he passed on it,” Clark recalls to Rolling Stone. “Then he came back around to make another record and the guy at my publishing company pitched it again — after the record was done — and they heard it and said, ‘Oh, he’s got to go in and do this.’ So he did it and now it’s the single! I’ve loved Toby Keith for a long time so I can’t wait to hear this.”
Earlier this year, further recognition for his career as a whole was given to Keith with the receipt of an Academy Country Music Career Achievement Award, which honors artists who have advanced the popularity and acceptance of country music through their endeavors in the entertainment industry in multiple areas during the preceding calendar year.
He was cited for the Twister Relief Benefit Concert he organized last year after tornadoes devastated sections of Oklahoma, and for his 11 United Service Organization tours in support of American troops fighting abroad as well as the work done through his charity, the Toby Keith Foundation, and their OK Kids Korral, a cost-free home built to help children suffering with pediatric cancer and their families.
