As Breitbart News reported on Tuesday, Toby Keith died at the age of 62 from stomach cancer after a lengthy music career spanning several decades.

“Sometimes a polarizing figure in country music, the 6-foot-4 singer broke out in the country boom years of the 1990s, crafting an identity around his macho, pro-American swagger and writing songs that fans loved to hear. Over his career he publicly clashed with other celebrities and journalists and often pushed back against record executives who wanted to smooth his rough edges,” the report noted.

Tributes poured in from across the music industry for Toby Keith, including Carrie Underwood, Dolly Parton, and Blake Shelton, but, peculiarly, as of this writing, absent among them was pop superstar Taylor Swift, who arguably owes the start of her prolific career to Keith. As Breitbart News profiled:
Pop megastar Taylor Swift has also been a big an of Keith. In 2022 she told Nashville’s WSMV that Keith was electric when he walked into a room.

“You’re in the room with him and you can feel it. There’s a power there, and you’re just like ‘Oh my God,’” Swift said of Keith. “I don’t think I’ll ever get to a point where I won’t see him and be like, ‘Oh my God, that’s Toby Keith!’”

Taylor Swift prepares to perform backstage during the Academy Of Country Music New Artists’ Showon May 14, 2007 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Michael Buckner/ACMA/Getty Images for ACMA)

Swift has a good reason to feel kindly towards Keith as he was also a key person who helped launch her career as a top man with Show Dog Nashville records and Big Machine Records, the latter which was Swifts’ former label, the New York Post wrote.

While it was DreamWorks executive Scott Borchetta who first signed Swift with Big Machine, Keith was a key member of the team that helped get her career on the road.

It remains unclear as to why Taylor Swift has issued no statement on Keith’s passing as she plays a series of sold-out concerts in Tokyo and rushes back to Las Vegas to watch her boyfriend Travis Kelce play in the Super Bowl this weekend — or if she has even learned of the tragic news.

Paul Roland Bois directed the award-winning feature film, EXEMPLUM, which can be viewed for FREE on YouTube or Tubi. “Better than Killers of the Flower Moon,” wrote Mark Judge. “You haven’t seen a story like this before,” wrote Christian Toto. A high-quality, ad-free stream can also be purchased on Google Play or Vimeo on Demand. Follow him on Twitter @prolandfilms or Instagram @prolandfilms.