Toby Keith - "American Ride"

When he’s focused there are few better singer/songwriters out there than Toby Keith and on “American Ride” (listen here) Toby sounds focused, perhaps due to the song's well-written lyric (It was written by Dave Pahanish and Joe West, who co-wrote "Do You Believe Me Now" for Jimmy Wayne).   A mokin' southern rock rhythm with Celtic fiddles drive the melody while the lyrics of “American Ride” have pointed yet tongue-in-cheek lyrics about the ability of people to sue; alter their appearance and anything else that is American life.  Hard work still usually is the pre-requisite for a rise to the top but it doesn’t mean that we can’t skip that.  Toby basically says that love it or hate it, this is what American is and rather than package such a message into a slow and depressing song (or even a mid-tempo one), Toby instead wisely has chosen to give this song enough ‘muscle’ to make it what the song ultimately is; fun.