Toby Keith doesn't smile at the remembrance, but he doesn't scowl, either. He just recounts things the way he says they were, as matter-of-fact rather than as anything to celebrate or scorn.

"I was cool with retiring," he said. "I came to a point where I said, 'My ship is sinking and I'm not the captain. I'm going to become the captain, and if it sinks, I can sleep at night. I'm either going to get out of this deal and do my own label or I'm retiring.' "

Retiring? Ship sinking? This is a fellow who has sold millions of albums, who has scored hits with Who's Your Daddy?, Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (The Angry American), I'm Just Talkin' About Tonight and others.

In late 2004, at the time he was talking about retirement, he was one of country's top touring acts and a consistent force on the country charts. But his label, DreamWorks, had been purchased by Universal Records, and Keith found that his decisions and direction were being challenged by, as he puts it, "people who can't play the guitar and write."

Universal was the same company that owned Mercury Records, and Keith already had plenty of negative history with Mercury. He was on that label in the 1990s.

"They told me, 'Dress like Vince Gill,' " Keith said. "I did the How Do You Like Me Now?! album for them, and they rejected it to the point of dropping me. I spent six figures to buy the album back from them, sold it to DreamWorks and we sold millions. In the last 25 years of country music, there hasn't been a bigger mistake than letting me walk out the door with that album under my arm."

Today, Keith doesn't dress like Vince Gill and doesn't record for Mercury or for DreamWorks. He has his own label, Show Dog, which is affiliated with Universal but which allows Keith control of his career decisions and of an artist roster that includes co-writer Scotty Emerick, Rebecca Lynn Howard, newcomer Lindsey Haun and duo Rushlow-Harris.

Tonight, he'll perform at the CMT Music Awards, where he's nominated for video of the year and best male video, both for As Good As I Once Was (that video also earned Michael Salomon a top video director nomination). And tomorrow he'll release the swaggering White Trash With Money, an album that already boasts a Billboard Top 5 country single with the Get Drunk and Be Somebody.

"I had come to a point where I was not going to be dictated to by people who knew less about my career than I did," Keith said. "I woke up and said, 'I've got to take this step again, but it's going to require a walk-away negotiation with Universal.' "
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