Keith Anderson may command fervent attention from female fans whenever the strapping country performer steps into the spotlight, yet his initial major opportunity in the genre arrived not as a performer but in a behind-the-scenes capacity. Raised near the Ozark Mountains in Miami, Oklahoma, he absorbed the sounds of Lynyrd Skynyrd and Molly Hatchet during his formative years, along with a steady stream of hair metal acts. Willie Nelson’s Red Headed Stranger shifted his focus squarely toward country music. Although he began composing country material with dreams of headlining stages himself, his prowess on the baseball diamond drew far greater notice, prompting the Kansas City Royals to scout him following a high-school contest. A shoulder injury cut short any professional athletic prospects, but the subsequent rehabilitation regimen sparked an interest in bodybuilding that eventually placed him as runner-up in the Mr. Oklahoma competition and led to part-time work as a catalog model.
After relocating to Dallas, he began performing on local nightclub stages between an assortment of daytime employment. His first compensated work in music came through crafting advertising jingles for area radio stations. Modest though the compensation proved, the simple fact of being paid for musical labor proved sufficient motivation to abandon his regular job and relocate to Nashville. Regular performances around the city brought him into contact with established local songwriters, most notably George Ducas. Co-writing a pair of songs with the respected Ducas provided a significant endorsement that quickly drew the attention of every publishing house in town. A handful of minor album appearances preceded Anderson’s breakthrough when “Beer Run” was recorded as a duet by Garth Brooks and George Jones in 2001. Buoyed by this success, he began pursuing a recording contract of his own. After a period of persistence, Arista Nashville extended an offer. The label released his debut album, Three Chord Country and American Rock & Roll, in 2005.
