Toby Keith remembers friend Wayman Tisdale on new album
Toby Keith performs Willie Nelson’s “Angel Flying Too Close to the Ground” at a memorial service for Wayman Tisdale May 21 in Tulsa. (Associated Press photo)
Toby Keith pays tribute to his friend Wayman Tisdale on “Cryin’ for Me (Wayman’s Song),” a touching jazz-tinged track on his new album “American Ride,” out today.
Tisdale, an University of Oklahoma and NBA basketball standout who later became a respected jazz bassist, died in May from complications related to bone cancer.
In an interview last week, Keith told me, “I never at any time ever had a closer celebrity friend than Wayman.”
Tisdale’s sudden passing clearly took many of his family and friends by surprise, and Keith was no exception. In the press materials for “American Ride,” the Oklahoma country music star says that Tisdale called him on a Thursday evening with plans to lease a couple of a Keith’s buses to take on the road. The next day, the athlete-turned-musician died.
Keith recalled for me going to visit Tisdale in the hospital after the former basketball player had his cancerous right leg amputated.
“I’m thinking, ‘Man, he ain’t gonna be in no mood, he just got his leg cut off, he ain’t gonna be in no mood for no visitors. I go up there, he’s all high-fiving, and he looks like he’s just got a tooth filled,” Keith said.
“I sat with him in all his hospital stuff a lot. He would say, ‘You better come up here and see me’ and I would. He talked a lot of hours about life and the music business and just got really close. So, losing him was very sudden.”
Jazz stars Dave Koz and Marcus Miller, who were good friends of Tisdale, and one of Tisdale’s bandmates, Arthur Thompson, are featured on “Cryin’ for Me.”
Read more about Keith’s new CD and his thoughts on Tisdale Friday here at BAM’s Blog.
-BAM
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Comments
“American Ride” is an awesome CD by an AWESOME man! So much more to Toby Keith than the “bravado” the media likes to focus on…although I like that too! Thanks for the article showing a different side of Toby Keith.
This is truly a touching song, one I think we can all relate to. Toby was blessed with the ability to write songs that say the things sometimes the rest of us cannot say. He paints a picture with his words.
What a great and honest man Toby is. A true American that loves his country. F the chicks and God bless Wayman Tisdale!
I just wanted to say thank you. This song is so amazing I lost my uncle of months ago. This song hit our family so close to home. I thank you it gave us a little closure. There are so many similarites to this song and the passing of my unlce that I thought he was speaking about him. When we lost him on Friday I could not shed a tear until Sunday because of the shock. Uncle Mike played Guitar for most of his life. I hope that he is playing his guitar for me when i reach heaven. I will see you then Uncle Mike ( My Superstar)
Thanks Toby for this amazing song. Oklahomans and people around the world will appreciate this tribute to a great man, by another great man. God Bless Wayman and Toby.
Thank you for this article. Toby truly is a loving and caring person. It’s hard to let a friend go but look what you get out of it while they are alive. So many wonderful memories. The song that he dedicated to Wayman is a beautifully written and beautifully sung song. I cry everytime I hear it. I can understand why he couldn’t sing this at the funeral. Thank you Toby for your beautiful song and for your beautiful voice. I didn’t know Wayman but I do remember watching him and I do remember that SMILE. That SMILE would light up a room. My thoughts and prayers continue to go out to Wayman’s family and friends and God Bless them all.