Watch Toby Keith Perform “Rum Is the Reason” with Sammy Hagar on His Sprawling Oklahoma Ranch

Many artists choose what they think will be the most popular songs from an album to release as singles. However, that doesn’t mean they’re the best songs on the tracklist. Toby Keith’s 2015 album 35 MPH Town is a great example of that. The album’s singles—“Drunk Americans,” “Beautiful Stranger,” and the title track—were all good songs. However, the real gold lies in the album cuts. For example, “Rum Is the Reason” is an album highlight.

Keith never released “Rum Is the Reason” as an official single from the album. However, it was so good that it received unsolicited airplay. As a result, the album cut peaked at No. 45 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart. Watch Keith play an acoustic version of the song with Sammy Hagar, a man who knows all about rum, in the video below.

[RELATED: 5 Hall of Fame Worthy Songs from Toby Keith]

The clip comes from a 2017 episode of Rock & Roll Road Trip with Sammy Hagar. During the episode, Keith showed the legendary rocker around his ranch, his hometown, and his bar before returning to the ranch for a little pickin’ and grinnin’ by the pool.

Toby Keith on “Rum Is the Reason”

Toby Keith revealed the story and inspiration behind “Rum Is the Reason” in a “Behind the Song” video on his YouTube channel.

“We had the idea to write a song called ‘Rum Is the Reason Pirates Never Ruled the World,’” Keith explained. Then, he and co-writer Scotty Emerick asked themselves “What are the other alcohols that are associated with history and historical people?”

“I was like, ‘If Davey Crockett fought at the Alamo, he’s from Tennessee. He probably drank whiskey. Pancho Villa probably drank tequila. Hitler drank beer and Stalin drank vodka.’ So, once I had those four pieces, the song just went ‘bam’ and we wrote it real quick,” he recalled.

Keith also revealed that “Rum Is the Reason” was the last song he recorded for 35 MPH Town. “About five weeks ago we wrote it, about four days later we recorded it. About three or four days later, I sang the final vocal. They put the background vocals in the next day. We had it mastered and pushed it in just before they went to print the album,” he explained.

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