Search - Toby Keith :: How Do You Like Me Now

Oklahoma singer Toby Keith is neither a remarkable singer nor songwriter. Yet in his more inspired and focused moments on his sixth studio album--his first for DreamWorks--Keith does occasionally manage to transcend his journeyman's limitations and achieve a sort of workaday eloquence. On patchily conceived and executed songs like the self-written "Die with Your Boots On" and a pointless ditty called "Country Comes to Town," even Keith's hard-edged baritone swaggering over flashy, high-voltage arrangements can disguise the basic lack of musical substance and creative vision. Yet on "Heart to Heart," a tender song Keith wrote for his young son, and an exquisite story song called "New Orleans," Keith surprises by turning in heartfelt, impassioned performances that transcend the general ordinariness that is otherwise the order of the day. --Bob Allen