Superstar Toby Keith lost a close friend and collaborator last week, when his bass player of 25 years, Carl “Chuck” Goff Jr., was killed in a car accident in Oklahoma.

In the wake of Goff's funeral service on Tuesday (March 5), the 'Hope on the Rocks' hitmaker posted the following statement to his Facebook and Twitter accounts:

The Chuck Goff Family, along with our music family, gathered today to send our boy home.
The overwhelming amount of Chuckie stories and condolences received in the past few days, are examples of how much he meant to us all. He will live on forever in memory
It will never be the same when I look to my left on stage.
But it's a much better world than never knowing him at all.
Godspeed Chuck....RIP
TK

Goff was not only Keith's bass player, he was also his band leader. He co-wrote two of Keith's biggest hits in ‘Upstairs Downtown’ and ‘You Ain’t Much Fun.’ He was 54 years old.

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