The American Icon aired on August 28, when Krystal Keith, daughter of Toby Keith gave a spiritual production of her father’s song “Don’t Let the Old Man In” The audience’s eyes were full of tears.
Keeping the feeling of sorrow inside her, the song, the last her dad sang live before his death, “turned out special,” Krystal says, adding that “he would’ve been proud.”
The country music world fell into a depth of sorrow on February 5, 2024, when the news was heard that cancer had taken the life of 62-year-old Toby Keith.
Her 38-year-old daughter Krystal shared an emotional post on social media on February 9, about her heart-rending.
“I am shattered. As great as he was in his career, he was so much greater as a dad and a husband and a Pop Pop. He was my hero,” she starts. “The pain is so unbelievably deep and it feels like I have a literal broken heart but I know that it wouldn’t hurt so bad if we didn’t love him and get to be loved so deeply by him. He never made me wonder if he would be there for me.”
Keith first appeared in country music in 1993 and sang “Should’ve Been a Cowboy,” honestly speaking patriot with more than 30 years of topping the charts with his toe-tapping tunes.
He also received an Icon Award at the People’s Choice Award in September 2023. After some time he announced that he had stomach cancer.
After receiving his previous award for his performance Keith, weak and thin stepped on stage and joked “I bet you all never thought you’d see me in skinny jeans.”
After that, he performed an uncommon song “Don’t Let the Old Man In,” written for Clint Eastwood’s 2018 film The Mule.
When Keith started to sing the lyrics of the song everyone had tears in their eyes. The song was about the story of an old man who refused to relinquish death.
“Many moons I have lived/My body’s weathered and worn/Ask yourself how would you be/If you didn’t know the day you were born.” The song continues, “When he rides up on his horse/And you feel that cold bitter wind/Look out your window and smile/Don’t let the old man in.”
It was the last live performance of Keith.
Keith was also invited to the American Icon. American Icon invited guests from all around the world like Carrie Underwood, Luke Bryant, and Lainey Wilson perform a two-hour tribute to the late star.
“He was an, ‘Aw shucks, this is not necessary’ kind of guy,” Krystal tells People about the event. “He wouldn’t want us to have this big thing for him, but he would also be honored that those artists took time out of their schedules and made that happen and honored him in such a way and said such nice words about him.”
She said on the stage at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena “Daddy Dance with Me” as the singer misses her father very much she also added that she remembered her dad “a hundred times a day,”
“It really epitomizes who he was and hits all of the things he loved in his life: his family, his foundation, his music, and the military,” she says adding the design also featured a bar on stage.
Despite everything the signature performance of the show was the performance of Krystal “Don’t Let the Old Man In.”
She appeared on the stage wearing a black glittering dress with a cowboy hat that was the symbol of his father and sang the same haunting melody as her father once sang.
A very loving and heart ranching image of her and her father’s same performance, shown on the back screen and with the literal broken heart she said she suffered when Keith died, was expressed in her every note.
Her performance did not leave a dry eye on her performance.
“It turned out really special,” she says, adding, “I think that he would’ve been proud of it.”
A big portion of the ticket sales of this concert were donated to the Toby Keith Foundation.
“I think a majority of the good deeds he did will never even be known because he loved doing it behind closed doors,” she adds.