James Otto Fulfills Height Requirement for Toby’s Tour

Three of the biggest men in country music -- Toby Keith, Trace Adkins and James Otto -- are touring together this summer, and James says he's loving the experience of opening the shows in larger venues than he's accustomed to playing.

"Playing for that many people in a night is a whole different thing than playing clubs," James tells The Boot. "I really love doing the club thing. It's a chance for me to play an hour and a half or two hours and really give people a real show." But as the opening act, he says, "you have to package yourself a lot differently when you go out and play a 25 or 30-minute show in front of 20,000 people. You have just a couple of songs to make an impact on people, so we're really digging in and finding out what songs we really want people to hear and [figuring out], in our 30 minute slot, how can we give people a real sense of who I am. This is a learning process.

"It's an awesome opportunity going out with Toby," James adds, noting that he'd met Toby a few times before they hit the road together. "I've been on motorcycle rides with him and hung out with him a couple of different times, and he always seemed like a pretty genuine guy. It was really kind of him to bring us out on this tour and give us a chance to do this, especially considering we don't have a whole bunch of hits ... He's giving somebody new a shot. It's a cool opportunity."

All three artists on the American Ride tour are well over six feel tall, but James points out, "The funny thing is Toby ends up being the shortest guy on the tour. I know that's never happened to him before. He's 6' 4'', I'm 6' 5'' and Trace is 6' 6''. I've jokingly been calling the tour the 'My tour can kick your tour's ass tour.'"

The three artists will continue to perform together through Aug. 22. Click here for tour dates.

Download James Otto Songs