Country legend Toby Keith’s final studio recording was released posthumously on Luke Combs and Hardy’s collaborative mixtape “Hixtape.”
Keith recorded a cover of Joe Diffie’s 1992 hit “Ships That Don’t Come In” for the project, which featured several country artists covering Diffie songs.
“So here’s to all the soldiers/Who have ever died in vain/The insane locked up in themselves /The homeless down on Main/To those who stand on empty shores/And spit against the wind/And those who wait forever/For ships that don’t come in,” the chorus reads.
Keith is joined on his version by Luke Combs. Given Keith’s recent death from cancer, the recording of the melancholy song about missed opportunities and unrealized dreams takes on extra poignancy as his final performance.
Keith, who was recently inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame, left behind an immense catalog and career spanning over 30 years.
“Just seeing how enormous the career I amassed over 30 years when they show the video,” Keith said previously. “You know where you were when you wrote all those songs, you hear those numbers and you’re just like, you looked up one day and all of a sudden 30 years went by.”
He broke records after his death as his songs dominated the country music charts, cementing his legacy as one of country’s most influential artists.
