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Toby Keith: His Own Man

Even though Toby Keith is up for Entertainer of the Year for the third year in a row at Tuesday night's Academy of Country Music awards show, the ever-controversial performer won't be there.

Instead, he'll be performing live on the show, from a military base in the Middle East.

The Early Show co-anchor Hannah Storm sat down with Keith before he left on his trip.

She says, even with all his awards and accolades, Keith never loses sight of what is really important to him.

He's nominated for four statues in all at Tuesday night's show.

Keith insists he's not fazed by his potential Entertainer of the Year trifecta: "Nobody's ever won it three years in a row. So, obviously, that'd be a nice feather to hang in your hat. But, that being said, after 11 years of making albums, 13 albums, it really doesn't affect the big picture.

"You still gotta go out, and go into those cities, tour, and win that fan over. And that's the most important reward you can get out of it."

Storm observed, "You took complete control, you battled executives and record companies and truly are your own man."

"They wanted me to be Nashville's poster boy," Keith responded. "'Should Have Been a Cowboy' was such an easy, a non-confrontational, middle-of-the-road, easy song. And they wanted, you know, they tried to mold me.

"When I finally reached a point where it was too late to be their poster boy, and I was too compromising, I finally said, 'You know what, I am the captain of my ship, and it's sinking, and I will ride it down like a captain should, but it's going to be under my terms.'"

Unabashedly patriotic and outspoken, Keith has his critics. "You know," Keith says, "I catch a bunch of flak for being 'Captain America.' But I look good in 'Red, White and Blue.' "

"Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue" was the song that was really controversial because it became an anthem for the war in Iraq. But it was written about the invasion of Afghanistan, after 9-11.

"I mean," Keith recalled, "here's the part I didn't understand, when I getting flak over the 'Angry American' song. If you read it, it's really just an open letter to Osama bin Laden. …When we released 'Angry American, Courtesy of the Red, While and Blue,' I had to pray about it.

"General Jones, who was a four-star commandant in the Marine Corps, encouraged me to go back after I played it for a group of Marines getting ready to ship out. He goes, 'Let the world hear it, let the whole, wide world hear that open letter to the bad guy.' And I said, 'I just don't know if I want to mix my music with politics.' And he said, 'You can really serve your country.'

"So, after praying about it, I released it, and I knew it was going to come to flak, and it did."

Keith also has written a song called, "American Soldier," which is up for Song of the Year and which a lot of military families have chosen to play at the funerals of their loved ones.

"It's my tribute to them," Keith said. "Going on those USO tours, I met soldiers, I look in their eye. I know they're not a serial number, wearing a flak vest and a helmet, carrying a gun. …I see the spirit and the heart, and I know that they are a father, son, mother, daughter, and I know they just want to be home."

Keith's father was in the Army, and always had a flagpole in front of the house. Keith says he still has a flag. A big one, in fact.

"I've got the biggest flagpole in town," he laughed.

Keith's family also provides inspiration for his new album, "Honkytonk University," which is being released Tuesday.

It's a reference to the dance hall his grandmother once owned in Fort Smith, Ark., where folks came from miles around to dance the night away.

"I got the bug by watching," Keith remembered. "It was a hot place, it was the hottest place to go in Fort Smith."

His grandmother gave Keith his first guitar, when he was eight.

Where does he see himself down the road?

"Musically, I have no goals left. I've accomplished everything. I mean, when this album ships double platinum Tuesday, we will be pushing ahead for 30 million."

That would make nine platinum and three gold albums.

"So," Keith went on, "the only thing I have left to do is just longevity. So, my heroes are Hag and Willie and those guys. They've been around for three or four decades, I've been around one. So, hopefully, four more decades from now, we'll be sitting here saying, 'I told you so.'"

The 40th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards airs on CBS Tuesday night, live from Las Vegas.

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