Toby Keith's set for Tucson Mall 

Toby Keith's I Love This Bar and Grill is coming to Tucson this fall.
The restaurant, with its emphasis on Southern cuisine and live entertainment from national and regional country artists, could open around Oct. 1 in the Tucson Mall, said Frank Capri, CEO of Phoenix area-based owners Boomtown Entertainment LLC.
Construction on the 20,000-square-foot space across from Cheesecake Factory has been ongoing since April, said Boomtown President Greg McClure.
"We can't wait to get opened," Capri said. "It's going to be a big venue, state of the art. Great food, great music. There's going to be nothing like it in Tucson."
This will be the second Arizona location for Toby Keith's; the first opened in Mesa in spring 2010. A third restaurant will open in Phoenix's west valley - think University of Phoenix Stadium area - later this year, Capri said.
Keith launched the restaurant a few years ago with three locations in his native Oklahoma. Since then, another dozen have opened, 11 of them owned by Boomtown. A location in Las Vegas is owned by Harrah's Las Vegas.
Toby Keith's menu includes Southern specialities such as barbecue ribs, chicken and pork, burgers and chicken fried steak along with he-man sounding appetizers and state-fair worthy desserts. Appetizers include Toby's Platter - a plethora of nachos, wings, mozzarella sticks, deep-fried jalapeno poppers and mac and cheese wedges, served with marinara, blue cheese and ranch dipping sauces. Dessert is highlighted by a fried Twinkie.
But the menu is not what lures country music fans to Toby's table. It's the chance to sit at the giant guitar-shaped bar - painted red, white and blue like the American flag - and watch a rising Nashville singer perform on a stage that's close enough to see the sweat on his/her brow.
The bars host live music three or four nights a week - including every Friday and Saturday night, McClure said - with artists ranging from freshly signed Nashville newcomers to fan-favorite Texas red dirt singers.
Upcoming shows at the Mesa location: Scott Weiland, former frontman for Stone Temple Pilots (who includes country as part of his repertoire as a solo artist), on Sunday; Granger Smith July 27; and Mark Wills Aug. 17.
Boomtown officials are confident the concept will fly with Tucson's strong country music fan base; Keith has a devoted following here that filled Casino del Sol's AVA in 2004, the last time he played a Tucson show.
"It's a great market for us," said Capri. "We love the town, love the people. We're going to be there for a long time."

 

Toby Keith’s ‘Red Solo Cup’ Becomes Singer’s All-Time

Toby Keith’s ‘Red Solo Cup’ Becomes Singer’s All-Time Best-Selling Single

 

Never underestimate the power of partying. Toby Keith’s party-hearty anthem ‘Red Solo Cup’ has been certified double platinum by the RIAA after selling two million digital downloads, which also makes it Keith’s career top seller. The news comes just six months after the song was certified as the first platinum single of  his career in January.
The second single from Keith’s album ‘Clancy’s Tavern,’ the song was written by the Warren Brothers along with Brett and Jim Beavers. “I have to give Jim Beavers most of the credit on this song. He drove the boat on it,” Brett Warren told Taste of Country last October. “He is just hysterically funny. Basically what he was doing with those lyrics was trying to make me, his brother and Brad laugh.”
The song was never intended to be anything other than lighthearted fun. But it was a match that started a big fire. “For better or worse, ‘Red Solo Cup’ is a song that will crawl into the folds of your brain and hatch babies . . . it works because Keith makes no effort to pretend this is anything but a simple and stupid ditty,” Taste of Country’s review said. Keith himself admitted the track was “like a nursery song stupid.”
That simple appeal propelled the video for the song to go viral upon its release, spawning more than 16.5 million views on YouTube to date. ‘Red Solo Cup’ reached No. 9 on the Billboard Country Songs chart, and Keith also took home the ACM Video of the Year award for it, too. Chord Overstreet and members of New Directions performed the tune on FOX’s smash musical TV series ‘Glee,’ while country comedian Cledus T. Judd has since parodied the track by recording ‘Double D Cups.’
“To record that song and to release a video on it … that’s insane!” Brett Warren told Taste of Country of Keith. “It’s so insane! I love him for it, because I really do think it’s the dumbest song he’s ever recorded, and it might be the greatest song he’s ever recorded, so I don’t know!”

 

Toby Keith More Than a Dozen Songs

Toby Keith More Than a Dozen Songs Deep Into New Album

His current gold-selling collection, ‘Clancy’s Tavern,’ may still be churning out hits, but as soon as his current Top 10 single, ‘Beers Ago,’ runs its course, Toby Keith will already have his new album prepped, as he has “14 or 15 things” already recorded for his 17th studio album.
“It’s the same stuff I usually do,” Keith tells Billboard of his forthcoming project. “It’s my world. It’s really difficult to put my finger on what I write about because I don’t really sit down and try to force anything. I only sit down and write when I have a good idea, and it can be about anything so there’s never really a theme or a preconceived idea of what I want the album to sound like. I write all year and then I go in, and I always over-cut.”
While Keith is prepared with plenty of songs in the queue, he’s not really sure which ones to roll out for the new album. “I don’t really know what 10 or 11 (songs) are going to make the album yet,” admits Keith. “I just go in and get a good vocal on everything and then I’ll start seeing which three or four gravitate to the top and I’ll start building the core of my album right there, and then I’ll fill in what I don’t have.”
One song has already become a clear favorite of the new album, with Keith speculating it as a future release. “Everybody heard it in the studio and was like, ‘You’ve got to release that at some point,’” he says of a track called ‘I Like That Drink Beer.’ The Oklahoma native also hopes to include a song for his golfing fans.
“[It] kind of puts everything into perspective for all the golfers in the world,” says the singer. “It lets you know if you’re not on TV, you’re not a very good golfer. I’ve played it about four or five times in public and got rave reviews on it.”
Though Keith is focused on the future, he also looks back in appreciation of the commercial achievements of ‘Clancy’s Tavern’ — more specifically, the platinum-selling crossover success of ‘Red Solo Cup.’
“I’ve done things like that before and they’ve gotten big with my audience but not big in the world,” Keith notes. “This was one of those deals where it just went to that next level, and you can’t foresee that; if you could, then everyone would be successful like that.”
“Somebody came up to me at the CMT Awards and said, ‘I doubt if you added all the winners up tonight they got as many hits total as (‘Red Solo Cup’), and I laughed because I don’t know how close to the truth that is, but it may just be, you know?” the singer adds, referring to the 20 million online video views.
With the release of the new album, Keith also hopes to celebrate 20 successful years in the industry with a gift to his fans. “We’re thinking about doing something to commemorate it, tour-wise,” says Keith. “But we still haven’t put a time on anything concrete yet.”
Until the anniversary rolls around in 2013, fans can catch Keith this year on his headlining Live in Overdrive Tour, with dates scheduled through the end of September.