KEITH, TOBY

BIG DOG DADDY is the first album that Toby Keith wrote and produced on his own, and it features a harder edge than most of his previous records, closer to the country-rock of the Big and Rich axis than the neo-traditionalist crowd. In fact, BIG DOG DADDY seems like a sort of mid-career reset, a canny move for a country singer who sees musical trends changing on the horizon. Social trends as well: one song, "Love Me If You Can," obliquely addresses the uproar over Keith's political statements concerning the global war on terror; in the album's press materials, Keith is careful to claim allegiance to neither political party and asserts that he is in fact opposed to the Iraq war. Elsewhere, Keith wisely drops political matters entirely in favor of less incendiary country-rock topics like drinking, fighting, and women. The romantic "I Know She Hung the Moon" and the wry "High Maintenance Woman" are the album's musical and emotional poles, with hell-raising stompers like "Get My Drink On" and "Wouldn't Wanna Be Ya" sitting comfortably in the middle.

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