For many mainstream listeners, {|Toby Keith|} first appeared on their radar in 2002 with {|Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (The Angry American),|} the blistering counterpoint to {|Alan Jackson|}'s sorrowful {|Where Were You When the World Stopped... Read more

For many mainstream listeners, {|Toby Keith|} first appeared on their radar in 2002 with {|Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (The Angry American),|} the blistering counterpoint to {|Alan Jackson|}'s sorrowful {|Where Were You When the World Stopped Turning|} that turned {|Keith|} into a talk radio phenomenon and a genuine American star. Like many overnight success stories, {|Toby Keith|}'s celebrity didn't happen overnight -- it was the beginning of his second act, as the 2008 double-disc compilation {|35 Biggest Hits|} makes plain. {|35 Biggest Hits|} divides neatly into a disc of '90s hits and a disc of new-millennium singles, stopping with 2006's {|White Trash with Money|} (2007's {|Big Dog Daddy|} apparently falling under another contract and thereby absent from this comp) but adding the new recording {|She's a Hottie,|} an OK rocker that feels like the contractual obligation it likely is. This split makes sense chronologically but it also makes sense musically, as {|Keith|}'s '90s hits were much softer than his 2000s singles. After establishing his modern-day outlaw stance with {|Should've Been a Cowboy|} and {|A Little Less Talk and a Lot More Action|} in 1993, {|Keith|} spent much of the '90s crooning ballads vaguely reminiscent of {|Ronnie Milsap|}'s early-'80s hits (such as the lovely {|Does That Blue Moon Ever Shine on You|}), but when he jumped from {|Mercury Nashville|} to {|DreamWorks|} in 1999, his sound got bigger and tougher, eventually leading to the {|Waylon|}-indebted swagger of {|Beer for My Horses|} and {|Honky Tonk U.|} Most musicians do their most adventurous work earlier in their careers, but {|35 Biggest Hits|} shows that {|Toby Keith|} is the opposite, getting bolder and riskier as the years go by. Such a statement suggests that his earlier records weren't much good but that's not the case at all; he had loose-limbed barroom rockers like {|You Ain't Much Fun|} early in his career and all of the ballads are very good, showcasing a sensitive side that has been overshadowed by the outsized persona he's been working since {|Pull My Chain|}. Listening to {|35 Biggest Hits|}, it's easy to appreciate how much {|Keith|} has changed over the years and how he's as good now as he ever was, making this a rather revealing career overview and an excellent introduction to a singer who, no matter how bright his star shines, still tends to be a bit underrated. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine Less