AN EVENING WITH TOBY KEITH, THE HAPPY AMERICAN

You know your first live TV special is going well when Merle Haggard calls in to request a song and your producer asks you to do an extra 30 minutes. These were but two of the "bouquets" tossed to Toby Keith during the broadcast Sunday (July 21) of CMT's Live, Uncut & Unleashed.

Staged in-the-round at a studio in Nashville's Grand Ole Opry House, the show featured Keith and his three-man band performing on-the-spot requests that were e-mailed, phoned in or made directly from the studio audience.

During the segment originally intended to end the show, Cook led up to Keith's performance of "Courtesy of the Red, White & Blue" by asking about the song's origin and how it had plunged Keith into controversy. (ABC-TV had asked Keith to sing the song for it's Fourth of July special, but Jennings nixed his performance, ostensibly because the song was "too angry.")

Keith said he wrote the song following the Sept. 11 terrorists attacks more as a tribute to his father, a World War II veteran, than as a commercial venture. "I didn't teach it to my band," he explained, "[I thought] I'll just do it for the military people." At the mention of "military people," the crowd stood and gave a prolonged cheer. Ultimately Keith decided that the song had wider appeal.

Live, Uncut & Unleashed was scheduled to run for 60 minutes. As the first hour of the show neared its end, a soldier from nearby Fort Campbell, Ky., stood and asked Keith to sing "Courtesy." This request again brought the crowd to it's feet and culminated with the chanting of "USA, USA" after the song was over. Cook asked if he could stay on -- and the crowd, which by this time was in full party mode, roared its approval.