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Music on the Road

Toby Keith: In your face with 'Pull My Chain'

By Marc Balinsky
CNN Showbiz Today Reports

"It's all about attitude on this thing -- it's the CD I always wanted to make," says Toby Keith of his latest album "Pull My Chain"

NEW YORK (CNN) -- Oklahoma native Toby Keith has taken a winding road to country music stardom, including jobs as a rodeo hand, an oil rigger, and a pro-football player. With his 6-foot-4-inch macho swagger, Keith is shaking things up in country music.

His seventh and fastest selling album, "Pull My Chain," is churning out number-one singles. And the album's title, Keith told Showbiz Today Reports, is all about attitude.

"There's a song on the CD called 'Pull My Chain,' so we just thought that made the most sense with this. We turned the attitude knob up to 11 -- I always keep it up there around 10, but we bent it on over a little bit on this one."

Watch Toby Keith perform his new song 'I'm Just Talkin' About Tonight' (November 23) Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)

The album's first single, "I'm Just Talkin' About Tonight," the story of a one-night stand, zipped to the top of the country charts. Keith's second single, the country-rap song, "I Wanna Talk About Me," currently holds the top spot.

About his bold, in-your-face tunes, Keith said, "I think that country music and any type of American music should be about real situations, life -- talk about life, you know."

His philosophy has paid off. In May he was rewarded with two Academy of Country Music Awards.

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You can catch Toby Keith in Missouri, November 23 and 24, and in Texas and Florida in early 2002.