I can't believe I've just heard this story today. When Toby Keith originally signed up with BMI to start his music career, the folks there thought he was signing up to be a janitor. He had no idea what he was doing.
Videos by Wide Open Country
Ten years ago, almost to the day, Toby Keith was inducted into the National Songwriters Hall of Fame. As I watched back over his acceptance speech, I sat amazed as he went over the very start of his music career shortly after moving to Nashville.
And honestly, his starting story is so on brand.
He leaves out some specifics, but he says, "First thing I did when I went to Nashville, is I walked in town."
"They said, 'Uh you have a publishing deal?' And I said, 'No,' and they said, 'You got to have a publisher,' I said, 'All right,' they said, 'You got to go over and get affiliated.'"
Following? Good.
Toby Keith then walked into BMI (Broadcast Music, Inc.) so he could get himself affiliated. He didn't know what it entailed, or how to do it, but he walked right up to the front desk.
Toby Keith's Hilarious Encounter With BMI
"I walked in BMI one day and I walked in, and they were like, 'Who are you?' And I said, 'I don't know, they told me I was supposed to get affiliated, so I'm here.'"
From there, they told Toby Keith to wait in a corner for a small while. He was approached again, but got sent from one person to the next. Toby Keith didn't know this at the time, but no one knew what to do with him.
Instead of turn him away, they kept making him someone else's problem.
He finally entered a young man's office who asked him what he was doing there. Once again, he said he's there to be affiliated. And surprisingly, he was handed a sheet that got him affiliated. Just like that.
And the young man's name? Clay Bradley.
"Years later, [Bradley] was like, 'You was the biggest s--t a-- that I ever met.'"
Bradley called Keith his "hero," and said, "If I can ever talk about BMI and my years at BMI and my famous family, you're my guy, because you just wandered in the back and nobody knew what the hell you were doing back there."
"We thought you was signing up to be a janitor."
