Friday, November 01, 2002
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Head-to-Head

Keith, Browne represent opposite ends of musical spectrum

Jackson Browne: Dirty hippie or musical Gandhi?

Toby Keith: Dirty xenophobe or proud American?

These are the questions that have hung heavy over this news space since, oh, deadline, because both politically minded musicians sing in Las Vegas tonight. Browne opens for Tom Petty at the Aladdin Theatre. Keith headlines a country show at the Thomas & Mack Center.

Since Browne and Keith have made headlines for their controversial political stances, it seems only appropriate now to compare and contrast the folky Browne, who is an original Green Party celebrity, with the honky-tonker Keith, who is country music's new right-wing flag-waver. As this comparison shows, politics may make for strange bedfellows, but not usually.

Jackson Browne

Born in 1948 in Heidelberg, Germany; relocated to Southern California.

Gained fame for singing "Doctor My Eyes," "Running on Empty," "The Pretender," "Tender Is the Night" and "Somebody's Baby."

Served brief stint in Nitty Gritty Dirt Band.

Signature lines in new

album: In "Casino

Nation," he sings that

America is "a

weapons-producing

nation under Jesus," where "entertainment shapes the land like

the hammer shapes the hand."

Fall-out over that song: None.

Latest comment on the U.S. government, as told to the Scottish newspaper The Scotsman: "If you criticize national policy in the States, you are seen as being disloyal. Yet, our true enemies are the endemic injustices of poverty, disease, intolerance, greed and the lust for power."

Response to Sept. 11: "9-11 was a terrible deed, but I can't join in the congratulatory flag-waving either," he told the Scotsman.

Charity association: Musicians United for Safe Energy, which he co-founded with Bonnie Raitt, John Hall and Graham Nash. This anti-nuke group has fought against the government's plan to locate nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain.

Romantic inclinations, judging from his oft-quoted valentine's line in "In the Shape of a Heart": "People speak of love, don't know what they're thinking of."

Toby Keith

Born in 1961 in Clinton, Okla., relocated to Oklahoma City.

Gained fame for singing "Should've Been a Cowboy," "A Little Less Talk and a Lot More Action," "He Ain't Worth Missing" and "I Wanna Talk About Me."

Served brief stint in the United States Football League after he got

canned by an oil company.

Signature line in new

album: In "Courtesy of

the Red, White and Blue

(The Angry American),"

he sings, "You'll be sorry

that you messed with the U.S. of A., 'cause we'll put a boot in your ass. It's the American way. Hey Uncle Sam, put your name at the top of his list, and the Statue of Liberty started shaking her fist."

Fall-out over that song: In June, ABC anchor Peter Jennings canceled a Keith performance scheduled for a July 4 celebration on ABC. "The Angry American" "did not belong on his network," Keith said, paraphrasing Jennings. Keith responded: "I don't care. He's Canadian, ain't he? It's our Fourth of July, not his."

Latest comment on the U.S. government, as told to CDNow.com: "We put out fires, we keep peace, we somehow have the ability to blow this whole marble up, and we somehow get it all done and keep that from happening."

Response to Sept. 11: "When the fourth (plane) crashed, it was like, 'There's the American spirit,' " he told CDNow.com. "That would've been me. That would've been me on there saying, 'All that thing (the terrorist's box cutter) can do is cut me. I'm not riding nothing to the ground.' "

Charity association: Farm Aid

Romantic inclinations, judging from a Country Music Television Q&A -- Q: "Valentine's Day is coming up. What's your idea of a romantic evening?" A: "Wow. I don't know. It would have to involve a nice dinner to start with, and probably a hot tub before it was over with."