Keith Whitley
July 1, 1954 — May 9, 1989
"I won't record a song unless I can feel it. That's something I learned from Carter Stanley."
Born Jackie Keith Whitley in Ashland, Kentucky and raised in Sandy Hook, Keith Whitley was country music's brightest flame — burning hot and burning fast. A voice so pure it could break your heart in two bars. A talent so deep that Ralph Stanley heard two teenagers in a club and thought it was the Stanley Brothers on the jukebox. It was Keith and Ricky Skaggs.
By 15 he was touring with Ralph Stanley's Clinch Mountain Boys. By his late teens he was singing lead for J.D. Crowe and the New South, already one of the most gifted vocalists in bluegrass. In 1983 he moved to Nashville, signed with RCA Records, and started the journey that would redefine traditional country music.
He married Lorrie Morgan in 1986 and had a son, Jesse Keith Whitley, in 1987. Between his debut and his death, he crammed in two studio albums, an EP, and twelve singles — five of which hit number one. He was 34 years old.
Keith Whitley had less than four years between his debut album and his death. In that window he changed country music forever. His voice carried the weight of Appalachian tradition with the clarity of a man who meant every single word.
Artists who cite him as a major influence: