White Trash With Money

White Trash With Money is the first album on Toby Keith's own label

Toby Keith really is a throwback to a different time, a time when artists came into their own after kicking around for a while, a time when the most popular artists were also restlessly creative. In other words, he hearkens back to the heyday of outlaw country, when Willie and Waylon were making their own way with records that sounded different each time out, a claim that certainly can be made with every record Keith released in the 2000s. Less than a year after releasing 2005’s Honkytonk University, country superstar unveiled another full-length studio outing. With White Trash with Money, he tops himself, delivering not only his fifth excellent album in a row, but his riskiest, richest record yet. White Trash with Money is the first album on Keith's own label, Show Dog Nashville, following his well-publicized split with DreamWorks Records last year. It also represents a parting from his longtime producer James Stroud. his time Keith teams up with country renegade Lari White, an underappreciated country singer/songwriter who made a shift toward country-soul on her 2004 album Green Eyed Soul.

The songs are beautifully crafted and lyrically stout

Like Honkytonk University, White Trash with Money lacks the ornery patriotism of the post-9/11 work that brought him fame and it keeps the focus on the basics: love, drinking, heartbreak, forgotten anniversaries, tequila, family, and happiness. Toby Keith is devoting his energies to limning the lives of "average people in an everyday bar," as he sings on Get Drunk and Be Somebody. In addition to the new lyrical focus, he tries on some new styles, and pretty successfully – three of the first five songs boast strings of an elegance that would do Nelson Riddle proud. The aforementioned Get Drunk and Be Somebody features a rousing southern soul horn section goosing along the bump and grind. The infectious mid-tempo shuffle Runnin' Block sports a tasty Tex-Mex savor, thanks to an accordion line flitting around slide guitars and twangy upper strings licks. The songs, mostly by Keith alone or in partnership with Scotty Emerick, are beautifully crafted and lyrically stout. There's a love ballad built for piano and pedal steel (Crash Here Tonight), heartbreakers such as A Little Too Late, and straight-ahead country-rock attacks (Grain of Salt). The only issue-oriented song, the somber country ballad Ain't No Right Way, is bound to raise some hackles, though, as it takes shots at unwed mothers, abusive parents, and spineless politicians at the same time.

White Trash With Money is pure Toby Keith – honest, true, and rocking country music

For several years Keith has enjoyed a well-earned place as one of country radio's top-tier artists. Thirteen years into his career, and with 10 platinum or multiplatinum albums and 15 No. 1 singles to his credit, Keith has little left to prove. But just try telling him that! White Trash with Money is pure Toby Keith – honest, true, and most importantly, rocking country music. With some attitude. And alcohol. And women. Spare, muscular version of Keith's country dominates the album, but the music is more robust than it was even on Honkytonk University; there are little flourishes, from soulful organs and guitars that make these songs full-bodied. This variety brings life to what very well may be Keith's best set of songs. By working with Lari White, he has added just enough new colors to his palette to let listeners truly appreciate the range in his music. His humor is out in full force. He's loose and limber, bringing a big heart to these tunes, and to the album as a whole. This is an addictive record, enveloping in its sound and memorable in its songs, and it's proof positive that there has been no other country artist as risky, rich, or consistent as Toby Keith this decade.