Toby Keith is one of the hottest stars in mainstream country music today, a genre often referred to as “the new country.”

But Keith will tell you that when he’s in his car or tour bus, and wants to relax and tune out the pressures of a hectic schedule, he tunes into old country.

“If I’ve got the radio on, it’s always Willie’s Roadhouse (on satellite radio), all that good stuff from the ’50s into the ’70s,” said Keith.

Keith, 50, grew up with old-school country. His family had a farm on the outskirts of Oklahoma City, and he spent a lot of time at a supper club his grandmother ran. There he met lots of country musicians on their way through the South.

Now, it’s Keith who’s meeting the fans as he tours all over the world. Saturday he’ll bring his brand of high-energy country music — and his patriotic-themed tunes — to the Bangor Waterfront Pavilion. Eric Church will open.

Keith’s show is one of several country shows coming to Maine this summer. Others include a free performance by Court Yard Hounds, featuring Emily Robison and Martie Maguire of the Dixie Chicks, on July 16 at L.L. Bean in Freeport; Seacoast Country Music Festival, featuring Brad Paisley, Blake Shelton and Jerrod Niemann, at Scarborough Downs on July 17; Emmylou Harris at the State Theatre in Portland on July 30; Lady Antebellum at Bangor Waterfront Pavilion on Sept. 5; and Reba McEntire at Bangor Waterfront Pavilion on Sept. 17.

Maine has long attracted country acts that are folk-tinged, or known for acoustic music or are bluegrass acts. But the big names of mainstream pop-country — such as Keith and Paisley — often forsake Maine for bigger New England venues. The Comcast Center in Mansfield, Mass., and the Meadowbrook U.S. Cellular Pavilion in Gilford, N.H., usually get the big country acts in the summer, while Maine venues do not.

But halfway through last summer, promoter Alex Gray started doing shows at the Bangor Waterfront Pavilion. With its space for 8,000 seats and more people on the lawn, Gray is bringing in Keith, Lady Antebellum and McEntire. And he hopes to have at least one more big country act this summer.

Observers say the size of the Bangor venue is one reason it can attract major country acts. It’s also well-located. For people in central and northern Maine, it’s pretty much the only place for big summer shows. And for people in the Portland area, it’s an easy two-hour drive on I-95; certainly easier than the two-hour drive to Boston.

“Maine is seeing more summer country shows simply because there now is a nice, outdoor venue — like they have in Bangor — to host them, which Maine never had before a few years ago,” said Lauren Wayne, general manager of the State Theatre in Portland and a long-time concert booker in Maine. “Meadowbrook has always been able to pull in the biggest country stars touring and has never had problems filling the seats, and now some of those musicians can add an extra show in northern Maine, too.”

To illustrate Wayne’s point, Keith is playing Meadowbrook on Friday, before heading to Bangor Saturday.

Mike Flanagin, the New Hampshire-based country music promoter who is putting on the Brad Paisley show in Scarborough, says southern Maine needs a venue that is bigger and newer than the Cumberland County Civic Center in Portland to attract major country acts, especially in summer when so many are on tour.

The civic center was built in the late 1970s, and has a capacity of less than 10,000. Flanagin says Scarborough Downs, a racetrack, will have a capacity of about 12,000 for the Paisley show. He hopes to do more country shows there but wants to see how this one goes first.

As for Keith, he likes coming to Maine and says he has “a couple places” he likes to frequent for good food. Sometimes he makes time during tour stops to visit military installations — Bangor has an Air National Guard base and its airport is well-known as a point of departure and arrival for troops heading to combat areas.

“If we have a layover somewhere along the way, we try as much as we can to get to those places,” said Keith. “But if we’re running and gunning to get to the next place, we won’t.”

Keith is known for traveling extensively to Iraq and other combat areas to perform for troops.

He said he did his first show for troops as a way to honor his father — a Korean War veteran — and got so much from the experience personally that he has gone on to do some 180 such shows.

“Other than getting to meet the heroes, the geography and history lessons you get from these trips are flat off the hook,” said Keith.

He’s had some “close calls” and has been fairly close to combat. But he says he doesn’t worry much, because “our troops are really good at what they do.”

In 2003, Keith became entangled in a public feud with Natalie Maines of the Dixie Chicks because of his song, “Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue,” inspired by the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.

The song’s lyrics address the attackers, warning of revenge. One of the lines is “And you’ll be sorry that you messed with the US of A, cause we’ll put a boot in your ass, it’s the American way.”

Maines called the song ignorant and said it gave country music a bad name.

But Keith says he is a writer first and foremost, and his songs are about his experiences and his feelings.

His feelings obviously resonate with a lot of people, given the success of his career.

“What I see and what I’m involved in influences what I write. My dad was in the military, and I’ve traveled around visiting troops, so you get songs like ‘Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue’ and ‘American Soldier,’” said Keith. “If my dad owned a truck stop, I might write about that.”

Staff Writer Ray Routhier can be contacted at 791-6454 or at:

rrouthier@pressherald.com

 

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