Country star stays more than busy

Country superstar Toby Keith is on tour this summer, but his mind seems to largely be on his new movie, "Beer for My Horses."

Keith is finished with the launch of his latest album, a two-disc greatest-hits collection, so now he can turn much of his attention to the film, due in theaters Aug. 8.

"It's my first screenplay, and I think everybody is going to be surprised how it turned out," says Keith, who cowrote the film with comic-singer Rodney Carrington.

This time, Keith brings a boatload of Hollywood and Nashville stars onboard, albeit some just for cameos. Musicians Willie Nelson, Ted Nugent, David Allan Coe and Mac Davis appear, as do actors Barry Corbin, Tom Skerritt and Claire Forlani.

Spun off a No. 1 hit of the same name recorded by Keith and Nelson in 2003, "Beer for My Horses" focuses on an action-packed road trip taken by two small-town deputies, played by Keith and Carrington.

"I had the story for two or three years," says Keith, who adds that he teamed with Carrington to pull together all the bits and pieces.

Keith turned to Carrington after an attempt to write with a Los Angeles screenwriter ended up "taking my dream and turning it into a nightmare."

Keith and Carrington, natives of Oklahoma and Texas, respectively, followed their blue-collar instincts as they wrote. "We didn't know what the Hollywood way of doing things was," Keith recalls. "We just wrote them (scenes) like little songs."

Keith, 47, points to television's "The Andy Griffith Show" and "Seinfeld" as character-rich productions that inspired his writing. "I didn't want it to be punch-line comedy; I wanted the humor to come from the situations the characters were in."

Keith financed the movie with $4 million of his own funds before Roadside Attractions, an independent film distributor, acquired the rights.

Although he acknowledges having worried about how his Hollywood costars would react to his acting, Keith says he relaxed once filming started. "Amazing as it is, it doesn't matter if there are three cameras rolling at once -- I somehow never see the camera. I never think about it."

Despite his focus on the film, Keith still delivers solid performances in his concerts. They feature such hits as "I Love This Bar," "I'm Just Talkin' About Tonight" and "Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (The Angry American)."

He also found time to guest on a jazz-flavored CD by former NBA star Wayman Tisdale, a fellow Oklahoman, singing Barry White's "Never, Never Gonna Give You Up."

"I drove up to Tulsa one afternoon and got into his studio and sang, and the next thing I know, it's his current single," Keith says with a laugh.