Luke Bryan left a captive Bridgestone Arena audience with chills Monday night (July 29). He was there to pay tribute to Toby Keith as part of Toby Keith: American Icon (Aug. 28 on NBC), and the celebration of life must have brought back memories of someone else Bryan lost: His sister, Kelly.
Bryan took the mic in his signature baseball cap, but quickly decided to remove it, running off the stage to grab an alternative. When he returned, he had a black cowboy hat in his hands.
“This hat has been hanging in my closet for probably 15 years,” Bryan shares with the crowd in video of the special moment, seen below.
“My sister down in Georgia, when I was playing bars and doing about 10 Toby Keith songs a night, my sister bought me this hat,” the singer recalls.
Bryan’s sister, Kelly, suddenly died of unknown causes in 2007, leaving behind her husband, Ben Lee Cheshire, and their three children. Seven years later, in late 2014, Cheshire would also pass, leaving the kids — then 20-year-old Jordan, 16-year-old Kris and 13-year-old Til — without any living parents.
“I used to wear this hat every night,” Bryan continues. “Ever since I lost my sister, I haven’t worn this hat on stage … in a lot of years.”
Toby Keith: American Icon included a full night of performances — in addition to Bryan, Carrie Underwood, Trace Adkins and Darius Rucker were all there to remember the great musician, who died of cancer in February.
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“I was walking out of the house and thought, I’m just an ol’ country boy from Georgia, but Toby Keith certainly made me want to be a cowboy,” Bryan remarked to the crowd, holding up that special black cowboy hat. “I am going to be a cowboy tonight.”
He finished by placing it on his head to sing Keith’s iconic hit “Should’ve Been a Cowboy.”
Bryan’s performance wasn’t the only emotional one: Keith’s own daughter, Krystal Keith, also took the stage, singing her dad’s bittersweet “Don’t Let the Old Man In.” A photo of Krystal and her dad was projected behind her as she sang.
Toby Keith was 62 at the time of his death.
