Here’s How Jelly Roll Thinks Artists Should Remember Toby Keith

Tribute shows and public remembrances are great, but Jelly Roll thinks that the best way for country artists to keep Toby Keith‘s legacy alive is by continuing the missions that were most important to the late singer.

No cause was more important to Keith than his OK Kids Korral, an outpost in Oklahoma City Okla. for kids battling pediatric cancer and their families.

• The facility’s mission is to provide free housing for children and their families during cancer treatment.
• It includes amenities specific to children, including play areas, a movie theater and a special wing for kids with weakened immune systems.

During a recent tour stop in Oklahoma City, Jelly stopped by the Korral, where he took a tour and met some of the children staying there. “I’m here to get inspired by him,” Jelly said as he hung out on the grounds.

While at the facility, Jelly joked about “how Oklahoma” it is, from a playground play structure designed to look like an oil rig to the Route 66-themed indoor play park. But afterwards, as he reflected on his stop at the Korral, Jelly said that it’s initiatives like this one that truly reflect the person Keith was.

It’s also a part of his life that deserves to live on.

“I’m hoping, especially in Toby’s absence, the country music community will do this every time one of us plays here,” Jelly reflects. “Go up, do what he did, be as big as he was. That’s the kind of legacy you really wanna leave in life.

“I’ve heard so much incredible stuff about this place,” he adds.

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• In 2022, Keith announced that he’d been diagnosed with stomach cancer.
• He took most of that year off to undergo treatment, but returned to the stage to receive the Icon Award at the first-ever People’s Choice Country Awards in September 2023.
• Through his illness, the country music community rallied around him.
• Keith died on Feb. 5, 2024. He was 62 years old.

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Though it’s the first time Jelly’s publicly talked about making a trip to the OK Kids Korral, he frequently makes it a point to stop and do some good when he’s on tour.

Jelly often posts about his visits to jails or treatment facilities at the cities he visits while on tour. Recently, he’s also gotten creative: At one city in Arkansas, he opened a tab at a local chicken restaurant, offering to foot the bill for everyone’s dinner that night.