Inside Toby Keith’s Hilarious First Time Smoking With Willie Nelson

Toby Keith’s death came as a shock to fans despite the state of his health. The country singer-songwriter battled stomach cancer since his diagnosis in 2021 and seemed to be getting better, having performed in Las Vegas last December.

Keith is remembered for many things, like his music and love for family; however, he once shared an interesting encounter with his fellow country singer, Willie Nelson, who gave him his first (and last) try at weed. The experience was so memorable to Keith that he sang “Weed With Willie” afterward.

Toby Keith’s experience smoking weed with Willie Nelson

Aside from music, Willie is known for his love of weed, so much so that famed rapper Snoop Dogg wrote about it in a song. Keith was also in Vegas for Charles Barkley’s birthday party with Willie present. Both artists stayed back to catch up, and that was when Willie whipped out the good stuff. “Willie’s got that real chronic, medicinal stuff,” he said. “I’ve never smoked much pot in my life, it’s not my high.”

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In no time, Keith was so into it that he couldn’t even function. “We set down and he starts rolling one up, so when in Rome, you know? We burn one…It was, like, the most hardcore weed that I’d ever had, and I’d only hit it like three or four times, and unlike Bill Clinton, I did inhale,” he continued.

After his few hits, Keith was ready to go home as he felt uneasy. “I remember my ears were burning, my head’s throbbing, I was breathing different,” he recalled, adding that Willie looked grim and satisfied because he “knew he got me right.”

“I said I had to go, and he says, ‘Good timing.’ So I had a car take me to my room, I missed the whole Charles Barkley thing, I went down to sleep,” Keith added.

He released “Weed With Willie” as part of his Shock’n Y’all album in 2003, and according to the lyrics, one could tell that Keith had no plans of ever smoking the herb again. “I’ll never smoke weed with Willie again; My party’s all over before it begins; You can’t pour me some old whiskey River, my friend, But I’ll never smoke weed with Willie again,” the chorus echoed.