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WATCH: Toby Keith Tells the Unique Story Behind New Song ‘Old School’

Toby Keith fans already know that the country music star recently dropped a new song, “Old School.”

The song is about living the simple life and appreciating all that it has to offer. During the song, Keith sings, “We’re old school, small town stickin’ around. Just like folks used to, good ol’ boys and girls. Just fallin’ in love, livin’ the life, yeah. Middle of nowhere feels about right. Keepin’ it old school, just the way we like.”

Soon after the song’s release, “Old School,” became the number one Most Added country single at both Mediabase and Billboard. “Old School” also landed Toby Keith his highest career debut on Country Airplay. The song came in at number 25. But what’s the story behind the song? Toby Keith recently shared a video talking about his initial thoughts about “Old School” and why he decided to record it.

“So ‘Old School’ was a song, when I heard it, it sounded old school. It had that old groove like ‘The Joker’, Steve miller. And As I was living with it a little bit, my background singer Mika called and said she knew one of the people who had written the song and she was excited to be able to sing on it. And it just kept hanging around and hanging around until we finally cut it. We love it, it’s got a one-pass vocal on it. It’s the only song I ever recorded that didn’t have two passes on the vocals.”

Along with the video, he wrote, “Hear the story behind Toby’s new song #OldSchool, and then go check it out wherever you listen to music at the link in bio.”

Toby Keith Says All Up-And-Coming Songwriters Should Honor Those Who Came Before Them

With 32 number one hit songs and over 40 million albums sold, Toby Keith knows what to write a good song. So when Keith drops some wisdom about songwriting, you listen. During an interview in 2019, Keith shared some advice for up-and-coming songwriters.

“I meet so many young artists who are writers, and I say, ‘You remember that song Mel Tillis had?’ and they’re like, ‘Who the hell is Mel Tillis?’ And I go, ‘Well, he wrote ‘Detroit City’ and ‘Ruby, Don’t Take Your Love to Town.’ And he had 20 hits on his own, and he’s in the (Country Music) Hall of Fame,” said Keith.

Toby Keith added that he believes it is essential for all aspiring songwriters to know who paved the way in the industry before them.

“When I got to town in ’91, I knew everybody from Jimmie Rodgers forward. It was like this was my passion,” said Keith. “You shouldn’t be here doing this if you don’t know who held the foundation that we’re here for. … I’m really just saying, ‘Hey, bro, that’s country, bro. And here’s what you gotta do: Listen to these guys. That’s what I did.’”