Toby Keith, “High Maintenance Woman”

Toby Keith, “High Maintenance Woman”

Sure, the plotline is ripped off from the cheesy Aaron Tippin video “That’s as Close as I’ll Get to Loving You”, and it features a jaw-droppingly tacky double entendre about having all the right tools, but screw it, this is a fantastic single. Keith is producing himself for the first time, and he sounds less like a product and more like a hungry artist than he has in years.

The song is well-written and his performance is top-notch. He’s always best when he mixes confidence with a bit of humility, and he never comes close to the arrogant Toby that was such an overbearing part of his persona a few years back. More like this, please.

Grade: A-

Listen Now: High Maintenance Woman

Buy Now: High Maintenance Woman

49 Comments

  1. There is a country band that has uses the same title for their song years ago. I think they are called ( 2 Mile High)??? Did he pay them for the rights?

  2. Eh. I like a lot of Keith’s work – even the recent stuff. I liked “Good As I Once Was” and “A Little Too Late” but this one seems really ordinary to me. I am not sure why but I just can’t into this song.

  3. Seriously when i heard the first chorus I thought it was another fall, but Toby’s pulled it off again. Big Blue Note completely turned me off of his music and I havn’t been a really big fan sense, but this song has brought me back as one of his fans. Keep up the good work Toby!!!!!!!!

  4. Toby is so yesterday news, he is on his way down. Best thing to do is take a 2 year break and then come back.

    His last two studio albums are his lowest selling albums since the 90’s. They have only sold a million and even his White Trash album is #54 on the Country Album charts. He is washed up for now and his albums sales tell the story, take a break Toby, then maybe you can come back with some fresh ideas and start over.

  5. I’m a Dixie Chicks fan, and I wrote the positive review in the first place. Let’s not get all 2002, people. Plenty of us are fans of both the Chicks and Toby, and you can dislike one for other reasons besides that old feud.

  6. Listen, Toby Keith may have gotten a bit jingoistic from time to time, but I wouldn’t call him anti-American.

    And since I love both Toby Keith and the Dixie Chicks, it seems your statement that “you can’t really like both” isn’t accurate. I’m a big fan of both artists, though I like the Chicks a lot more.

  7. For what it’s worth, I’m generally libertarian/classical conservative and I’m also a big fan of both artists. This is a fantastic single. As for Toby Keith “hanging it up”, his last two albums may not have sold as much as previously, but they did go platinum and double platinum so it’s not like he’s tanking or anything. I thought they were the two best albums of his career.

  8. Sales are just generally down across the board, so I didn’t read too much into him dropping down a couple of sales levels. It’s happened to pretty much everybody.

  9. And YOU DEBBIE, do you realize the pressure recording artists are under. If they record a song that some people dont like, people like you make a big fuss about it and start saying stuff about them. If nothing else realize this: you cant please everybody all the time. Did this song offend you in some way? Because to me it just seems to be a funny good ol’ boy kind of country song. Please explain why you dont like it!

  10. What’s the issue, here? Everybody seems to love Toby’s music, regardless of whether he’s anti-American or not, conservative or liberal. What difference does his politics make?

  11. What’s the issue, here? Everybody seems to love Toby’s music, regardless of whether he’s anti-American or not, conservative or liberal. What difference does his politics make? (qoute)

    There is no issue. Yes everybody loves his music. Look, all i was trying to say in earlier posts was that i think its kinda weird to like toby and the chicks. There just so different from each other. You seemed to think i was saying that toby was the anti-american. I guess the reason it seems so weird is because in there music they incorporate what they believe in and there morals and ethics are so different. Even if it seems like im trying to start a fight im not. So,..i dont want this to start a big long debate but you tell ME what the issue is.

  12. Well, obviously. I just pretended like you had said it about Toby Keith to demonstrate the absurdity of it all. It’s amazing to me that you’ll get so angry that somebody dares to criticize Toby Keith, but you feel comfortable impugning the patriotism of another musical act. You call liberals blood-suckers and anti-American, but have the nerve to be outraged over something as tame as saying an artist might be past their prime? If it’s okay to call the Dixie Chicks anti-American, than why can’t somebody call Toby Keith the same thing? I’m a lot closer to being a liberal than I am to being a conservative, and I wrote this positive review in the first place. I couldn’t disagree more with Keith’s politics, and I think what he did with Natalie Maines’ photographs at his concerts was disgusting, but I’m able to write positively about his music. To hate somebody for what they believe doesn’t make sense to me. Quite frankly, your demonization of people because of their politics is close to being anti-American itself. Societies that quelch dissent and accuse those who speak out against their leadership as being disloyal to their country are not the good ones, and certainly aren’t anything like America at her best.

  13. Morals and ethics are interesting words to use there, and I’m not sure what you mean by them having different value systems in their music. They’ve both done vigilante justice songs, and they’ve both sung about smoking weed, but other than that, I can’t think of anything else questionable in terms of morals that either act has sung about.

    I don’t think you’re trying to start a fight, but you certainly used some harsh words when describing liberals, which could conceivably anger some of us, as ad hominem attacks can do.

    I would suggest that if it makes you so angry that somebody would dare suggest that somebody you like is “anti-American”, you should refrain from using that label on others. People on the other side of the political spectrum love their country and are equally American. An attack like that should be beyond the pale for anybody who truly loves America, because you can’t love the country while also hating its people.

  14. wow,…I do agree on some things you said. Once again please understand I don’t want to sart a fight and I dont want this to continue into a big long boring debat. So I can end this willingly If I can just make this point. It’s not that I hate the people, I hate what the people are doing to this country. I hate the fact that people like you and me just sit back and don’t do anything. I am a conservative. I have been all my life.
    Beleive it or not I do respect what other people have to say. I have no right to judge you or anybody else, and i try my best not to. But sometimes its hard when i see people doing stupid things. It’s hard when people put down our leaders and say that they don’t do a good job. Sure they make mistakes, they are human.

  15. I view our leaders as public servants above everything else, and I think they have an obligation to do things well, to choose the right battles and win them. If they fail to do that, it’s the obligation of the people to call them to task for it, and replace them if necessary. I feel the same way about country music’s established artists, which is why I’m harder on the older artists (Terri Clark, for example) than I am on the newbies.

    I respect your willingness to explain your points and I think they’re very interesting. It’s a very different worldview from mine, but I would love to showcase it on Country Universe if you’re ever interested in writing something. I think you’re very passionate about what you believe and that’s a good thing.

  16. Let me add, regarding your comment about what people are doing and not doing, I’m not sure what exactly you mean by that. What should liberals be doing right now that they’re not doing?

  17. Ok, fine i will comment on it. I feel for one that liberals shouldn’t be trying to take away guns. Why? because if the guns are taken away the goverment can do any thang they want. It’s not the gun that kills people it’s the person behind the gun. So instead of taking guns away Just make the screening process harder and longer.

  18. I admit that if it ever came to guns being outlawed i would hide mine, and im sure i wouldnt be the only one. I only have one regestered gun, so i would have to give up that one but i would find a way to hide the rest.

  19. I appreciate your response to this. My main point of confusion is that your proposed solution – make the screening process harder and longer – is about the most extreme thing the left has argued regarding control this generation. I’d really like to know who on the left has ever argued for taking guns away from law-abiding citizens. I share your fear of the government being able to do anything they want, but I don’t think a gun will do much to help at this point. Warrantless wiretapping of American citizens seems a much bigger threat to civil liberties at this point in history. The whole “liberals want to take your guns!” argument is a scare tactic that Republicans use to garner votes from people who would otherwise consider voting against leaders who consistently favor the wealthy and elite over the working-class American.

  20. Scare tactic? So you r saying liberals don’t want to take our guns away?
    What about what Nancy Pelosi is trying to do? She is trying to pass a law stating that all guns will be taken away. On top of that she is also trying to add a clause saying that this law can NEVER be changed.

  21. You’re talking about a law (or bill, technically) that simply doesn’t exist. Where are you getting your misinformation from? The only gun-related item on the agenda of Congress is reauthorization of the Assault Weapon Ban, which Republicans allowed to relapse. President Bush said in 2004 that he would sign the bill if it came to his desk, but Congress has yet to send it to him.

    The “liberals want to take our guns away” is just that – a scare tactic used by the right to frighten people into voting for them. Sounds like you bought it hook, line and sinker. United States citizens have a constitutional right to bear arms, which means for what you’ve been conned into thinking the liberals want to do – take away your guns – a Constitutional Amendment would have to be passed, not a law.

    If you’re genuinely curious about what “liberals” are actually trying to do in Congress, go to http://www.govtrack.us/

    You can read the actual text of the laws that are proposed, who is sponsoring them and where it is in the process of becoming law. Things are never as dramatic as the shrieking conspiracy theorists on the far right and far left make them out to be.

  22. heh,…I promised myself i wouldnt comment on this. But i cant help myself!!!! I get my info directly from the NRA. And I didn’t have a chance to check out the site yet, so i can’t say if it was a liberal site or not. It’s a good thing i’m not in a position of power. Otherwise i would just blow the planet up. Or at least launch nukes everywhere and destroy all life. It would take care of all problems.

  23. You know, im not completely on one side or the other. For example, if the democrat is a better choice come election time i will vote for him, and if the republican is the better choice then its him.

  24. It seems that you are the same way? Am i correct? And if you are, i think thats the best way to be. Because personally i feel the few rebuplicans that we have left in the Senate are cowards that are afraid to stand up for what they beleive in. We don’t need people like that in a position of power.

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