Toby Keith (l) signed Trace Adkins to his label, Show Dog-Universal Music, on Jan. 12, 2010. Photo courtesy of Show Dog-Universal Music.

Thanks to his song “Courtesy Of The Red, White And Blue (The Angry American),” Toby Keith was billed in some circles as a warmonger, but it turns out that one of the moments that bonded him to his new label president was a time when Toby took a peaceful stance during the Country Radio Seminar.

Toby’s Show Dog Nashville label has merged with Universal South to create Show Dog-Universal Music, with Toby as the principle and former Universal South chief Mark Wright as the president. The two actually go back a long way. Mark started out in the business as a songwriter, penning such hits as Mark Chesnutt’s “Your Love Is A Miracle,” George Strait’s “Today My World Slipped Away” and Alabama’s “Take A Little Trip.” He heard some of Toby’s songs before Toby ever released a single, and he was completely knocked out.

“We hit it off for different reasons,” Toby says. “There was an artist in this business — I’m not gonna name his name — but we were all at CRS one time, and Mark was kinda gravitating toward my side of the room. And this other artist was more in bed with him [in business] and was mad that he was hanging out with me more and asked Mark why he never did like him. And Mark said, ‘‘Cause you never could sing.’ And they got in a fight.”

“I didn’t take the first swing,” Mark says. “I think my words may have been the first swing.”

“So I kept these two apart,” Toby continues, “and we became better friends.”

As it turns out, Mark and Toby have even more history. Both of their mothers come from Paris, Ark., a town of less than 4,000 people.

They’ll be building a little more combined history with the label, which brings together such acts as Joe Nichols, Phil Vassar, Carter’s Chord, Trailer Choir and the Eli Young Band. And, of course, the merged label’s first signee is Trace Adkins, someone Mark will never accuse of being unable to sing.

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