Toby Keith’s daughter reflected on her late father and how he would not allow her to join him on his popular USO tours as a way of protecting her.
Krystal Keith, who is also a singer, recently spoke with Fox News Digital about her dad trying to keep her safe while putting himself in harm’s way to entertain the troops. “I begged to go, but it was such a dangerous thing. He went into, like, dad mode,” Krystal told the outlet. “He was like, ‘No, no, this is really important work I’m going to do, and no, my daughter is not – It’s not something where … I’m going to put you in danger so you can go experience this.’”
The country music legend’s daughter said she really wanted to tag along after launching her own career, but Keith still turned her down.
“Then as I became an artist, I was like, ‘Hey, I want to go do those things,’ and he still, as much as it meant to him, and he knew how important it was for him, he was still like, ‘Hard pass on my daughter going to Afghanistan right now,’ because…his helicopters had been shot at. He had been in the middle of shows when mortar fire came down,” she added.
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The “American Soldier” singer experienced danger firsthand after mortar fire exploded during a show he was putting on for 2,500 troops in Afghanistan in 2008, the outlet noted. And that wasn’t the only time, Krystal said.
Keith’s daughter said she found a picture of her father after a show had been interrupted by mortar fire.
“There was an underground bunker, and he had like signed on concrete, something about, like, ‘I’m in the middle of a show and some idiot set off some fireworks during my show,’” she said. The singer said her dad jokingly accused the perpetrators of being “rude” during his performance.
While Keith wouldn’t let his daughter go overseas, she said he did bring her onstage in less potentially fraught situations.
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“I did spend time on tour with him. I opened for him from the time I was 14 … I did the anthem. Anytime I’d go out on tour with him, I’d be like, ‘Hey, can I sing tonight?’ He’d be like, ‘Sure, you can go do the anthem. You can come out during this song.’”
She added, “So, I’d either sneak out and do background vocals on a song and no one ever knew I was there, it was just for me, or I would go out and do the anthem before he went on. Then, when I put my album out, we actually were the opening band for several tours.”
Krystal Keith will perform on Wednesday during the television special “Toby Keith: American Idol,” a tribute to the country star airing on NBC. Keith died on February 5 at the age of 62 after a battle with stomach cancer.
