FORT SMITH, Ark. — Country star Toby Keith lost his battle with cancer on Feb. 5, and many in Arkansas are remembering him for not only his contributions to country music but his humble beginnings in the Natural State— namely Fort Smith and the River Valley as a whole.
The singer-songwriter, who was known for his pro-American anthems, died peacefully on Monday surrounded by family, according to a statement from his official website. He was 62.
In June 2022, Keith shared he had been undergoing chemo, radiation, and surgery after being diagnosed with stomach cancer in the fall of 2021.
“Cancer is a roller coaster,” he told KWTV during an interview aired last month. “You just sit here and wait on it to go away. It might never go away.”
Despite the cancer treatments, Keith continued to perform and take on additional business ventures, including one Greenwood business.
In May 2023, Keith acquired the the well-known bait and tackle brand name Luck E Strike, which is based in Greenwood.
"They've got a lot of history," Keith said in a press release from May. "It's actually one of the earliest fishing brands that is universally stocked in national retailers."
The Luck E Strike team took a moment to honor Keith after getting word of his passing:
Toby Keith's Ties to Arkansas
According to the Encyclopedia of Arkansas, Keith's ties to the Natural State go back way further than his business deal with Luck E Strike.
Although he grew up on a farm in Moore, Oklahoma, he would often visit his grandmother, Hilda Marie "Clancy" Martin, in Fort Smith where he first fell in love with music.
The influence of Keith's grandmother lived on in his music through albums like his 2011 "Clancy's Tavern."
"Her husband died and left her with three kids, four and under. She left them with her parents and went to Fort Smith, Arkansas, where she worked as plant manager for the Dixie Cup Factory," Keith said to Reuters in 2011. "It was unheard of for a woman to do that in the 1950s."
After moving to Fort Smith, Clancy worked as a waitress at Billy Garner's Supper Club at 1520 Rogers Avenue. Clancy later purchased the club herself, and locals began calling it Clancy's Tavern.
As the owner's grandson, Keith was exposed to the nightlife and music of Sebastian County at a young age. According to the Encyclopedia of Arkansas, Keith was so inspired by the artists who frequented Clancy's Tavern that he finally decided to learn to play the guitar at the young age of 8.
“I stayed the whole summer ... and I watched that band play, and I knew that I had to find my way onto that bandstand,” Keith told the Oklahoman in 2011.
He said each person mentioned in the song "Clancy's Tavern" once existed and used to visit the club way back when. He even gave his grandma a special shoutout:
"She knows all their faces, she's practically raised them
And that's why they're loyal and true
They'll pay their tabs, and that pays the light bill
And she keeps their glass full of brew"
"It wasn't a bar, and it wasn't really a honkytonk, and it wasn't really a tavern" said Danny Flippen, the son of the lead singer of the band the Paul Lewis Supper Club, who headlined Billy Garners every night. "It was small, and they served very good food. They had flute, clarinet, saxophone, xylophone, bass, guitar, drums, and a nice pianist."
Flippen recalled Keith, as their paths crossed a few times growing up.
"I remember him scooting around here. And from what I understand, he spent many, many nights here during the years that he came through Fort Smith, visiting his grandmother" said Flippen. We probably shared a coke together and talked about probably football or something like that a little bit of music."
"It was heartbreaking. I thought he was on his road to recovery. And then the next thing you know this happened and it was it hit me pretty hard," Flippen said.
The 6-foot-4 singer also once played football as a defensive end for the Oklahoma City Drillers, a farm team for the now-defunct United States Football League. Before growing up and joining the OKC team, he played football at the Boys and Girls Club in Fort Smith when visiting Clancy.
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