After news broke on Tuesday that Toby Keith passed away from cancer at the age of 62, Connecticut progressive funk band Kung Fu paid tribute to the late country music star by recounting the story of when he unexpectedly sat in with the band at Washington, D.C.’s now-defunct 300-capacity Gypsy Sally’s back in 2019.
“We wanted to take a minute to pay our respect to Toby Keith who passed away yesterday 2/5/24,” the band wrote in a social media post.
We had this crazy night in DC with Toby Keith 10/24/19 where he was out with his friends (like 12), he was done with dinner and he called up Gypsysally’s saying he wanted to sit in with the band that was playing. Toby didn’t know KF and vice versa. We had our tour manager at the time, Jen Call handle the interaction. She met Toby on the dance floor to him intently starring at the band, listening with a big smile. She asked what he thought. He put his arm around her and said lets do this, I like what I see. So Jen ran back to the green room and up on the side stage, as there is no stairs to the stage. KF was playing “The Lurker” so Tim was soloing and she caught Chris’s attention.
She said, Toby Keith is here and wants to sit in , is that ok? He was dumbfounded and Rob overheard her. “Is it the real Toby Keith?”-he asked. Jen said YES!, confirmed. Rob said Hell Yeah and Jen raced back to the floor to escort him back though the green room to get on stage.
Not knowing if he needed a guitar or what she told him good to go. Toby said Outstanding! He proceeded to the side stage and hopped up with his 6’4″ frame and drink in hand with ease and stood there until called up. After a short huddle on stage, they came to the conclusion the Blues must be played. “Ain’t No Sunshine”, “Johnny Be Goode”, and “Cocaine” were played with amazing talent like KF had been Toby’s backing band all along.
Check out videos of Toby Keith sitting in with Kung Fu at Gypsy Sally’s in 2019 courtesy of Sandi Redman below. Click here to revisit L4LM‘s coverage of the sit-in.
RIP Toby Keith.
Kung Fu will return to the road in April for the Kung Fu Rides Again Tour, which will mark the band’s first Northeast run since the 2019 run when Keith sat in.
Kung Fu Introduces Toby Keith – Gypsy Sally’s – Washington, D.C. – 10/24/19
Kung Fu With Toby Keith – “Cocaine” (Eric Clapton) – 10/24/19
Kung Fu With Toby Keith – “Ain’t No Sunshine” (Bill Withers) – 10/24/19
Kung Fu With Toby Keith – “Johnny B. Goode” (Chuck Berry) – 10/24/19
The post Kung Fu Remembers The Night Toby Keith Stopped By For A Surprise Sit-In In 2019 [Videos] appeared first on L4LM.
