when I was just a you know a baby artist coming up in the music industry Toby was the first major artist to give me a chance and I think it was because I was a fellow Oki I looked up to Toby and I learned a lot from being around him once you were in there you were a lifetime member there'll never be another Toby Keith you know they always call Merl hagard the poet of the Common Man I believe Toby picked up that title for Merl for the next Generations Toby just know that we Will Always Love You Toby reflected the best of Oklahoma a lot of people dream of making it big so they can leave their Hometown Toby wanted to make his hometown bigger and when he made it big he took the whole state with him when I was around him he was a badass country singer but found out later on he had a really big heart big as Oklahoma well well I just want to say that me along with millions of other fans uh missed Toby Kei he was such an influential artist such a great Patriot and loved our military and wrote great songs about him and supported them and God bless you Toby one of my first big tours was opening for Toby Keith back in 2007 Toby was the real deal and never made excuses he just was really in his own lane and that's always good for other artists to see is somebody that just really knows who they are and really chases it with austo and is authentic to themselves Toby wrote songs for everyone and every situation right before Super Bowl 50 a reporter asked me how I felt going into such a big game late in my career I said I feel like that Toby Keith song I ain't as good as I once was but I'm as good once as I ever was that song and so many others spoke to me chobby was a good guy good friend good songwriter he wrote Beer for My Horses and we had a great record out on that and I just love him a lot my God Toby Keith how do you even start [Applause] um Toby Keith was a patriot a family man an incredible songwriter one thing that would surprise people about Toby is that we were friends people people would always he say I don't know why people don't think it's weird me and carrot hanging out we would hang out he would come to my show with his family and his wife and his friends and he sat there in in my dressing room and he performed I don't even know he did like an hour just acoustic songs storytelling just unbelievably just had everyone laughing he was a good man I do want to give a an honest big shout out to uh to to Toby Keith big dog love you man I am here with Hardy you got to work with Toby a couple times including his last studio session what was he like in the studio we all want to know it's it's funny um no different than any other day and you know I went back and I listened to so uh I guess the the last vocal in the studio that he ever did was um ships that don't come in on the the hick tape that we the tribute that we did for Joe DIY and what a amazing tip of the Hat uh and just a such a you know he's such a patriotic person and to sing such a song so gracefully and just with so much feeling and so much meaning um I'm just so thankful uh to be such a small part in such a cool moment uh in his career and uh yeah it was just [Applause] amazing out here tonight we want to give a nice little tribute to my dear friend and uh just tell him how much we love him are you people [Applause] ready [Applause] we we [Applause] Toby Keith was more than just a celebrity Superstar he was my friend my name is Matthew braford I served 7 years I was injured on January 18th 2007 when an IED exploded underneath me the first time I met Toby Keith in 2011 we were sitting there in Baghdad we started talking you know from that moment on one of the coolest people I've ever met in my life he didn't shy away from the danger zones he put his Kevlar he put his flag jacket on he flew in those Blackhawks he flew to wherever the military was located because he he cared for us all he loved us all he was a proud American and he was going to do what it took to make sure that we noticed that and we felt that no matter where we are around the world as times progress you you get more comfortable with coming over and then your tension turns more to just making sure you shake as many hands and thank as many people as you can that's our job y ready to party tonight to go over there perform for these soldiers and the Marines the sailors Airmen the servicemen put himself put his bandmates his crew in danger to make sure that we can take our minds off the danger that we face every morning when we wake up you know give us 2 hours of just you know Freedom even if my career at home if it was to ever hit the shore and be done I would still find ways to come do this is part of my lifestyle thank you back in America [Applause] how [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music]