Toby Keith’s Wife Speaks Out For The First Time Since His Death
Less than a year after Toby Keith died following a valiant battle with cancer, his wife spoke out for the first time.
Tricia Covel was married to Toby Keith for nearly 40 years. The couple met when she was a 19-year-old secretary, and he was 20, playing music in local bars after working long days in the oil fields of Oklahoma. Tricia and Toby said “I do” in 1984 and were together until he succumbed to cancer in February 2024.
Following his death, his children, Stelen, Krystal, and Shelley, spoke out about their late dad in social media posts and in appearances at numerous events where he was being honored. But, Toby’s wife, Tricia, maintained her silence until his recent induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame. According to Toby’s family, they found out just a few days after his passing that he had been chosen to join the hallowed hall, meaning that voting had been completed before his death, but he was unaware that he had received the honor.
During Sunday’s official induction ceremony, Tricia spoke about Toby’s death for the first time as she accepted his Hall of Fame medallion from Alabama’s Randy Owen. Not only was it Tricia’s first time speaking publicly about her husband, but it was her first-ever public speech. She delivered an emotional 16-minute message to the somber crowd who gathered at the invitation-only event held at the Museum’s CMA Theater.
“I’m so grateful and so thankful to have spent the time, 43 years with him,” Tricia told the crowd. “Toby loved hard and he lived big. He enjoyed everything he did. He had no regrets through his life … He made you feel like he was your best friend when he talked with you. There are people all over the world that Toby meant something to. We get letters. People walk up to me randomly, they’ve never met me before, and they’ll walk up to me and shake my hand and say, ‘I miss him every day. I say, ‘Me too,’ then we’re both crying.”
According to Billboard, Tricia also spoke about Toby’s insistence that he live in his home state of Oklahoma rather than give into the pressure to move to Nashville.
“There may be better singers, there may be better songwriters, but they’ll never outwork me,’” Tricia said her husband once said. “He had to work twice as hard. He didn’t fit into the normal, mainstream Nashville and politics and the business. Hard work, toughness and God-given talent. Toby didn’t have to be branded as authentic — he was the example of authentic.”
She added that the family is “brokenhearted” that Toby couldn’t accept this honor in person, but they find peace knowing that his spirit is being kept alive through his music and the people who continue to play his songs.
“Thank you to the Country Music Hall of Fame Hall of Fame for honoring Toby with this induction. He didn’t get the chance to hear the news that he had been inducted, but I have a feeling Toby, we know you know you are in the Country Music Hall of Fame.”
In addition to remembering him as a “wonderful husband, father, son, grandfather, brother, and friend,” she drew attention to his generosity and his charity, The OK Kids Corral, sharing that she and their children are working to “carry that torch.”
Toby Keith was inducted as this year’s Modern Era Inductee and was honored with performances of some of his biggest hits.
Post Malone, Eric Church, and Blake Shelton each took the stage to sing songs from Toby’s catalog. Malone covered “I’m Just Talkin’ About Tonight” while Eric Church sang “Don’t Let The Old Man In,” a song Toby sang for what would be his final televised performance at the 2023 People’s Choice Country Awards. Shelton offered a medley of Toby’s “I Love This Bar” and “Red Solo Cup.”
