I love me some Keith Whitley.
And though we lost one of the country greats way too soon, when he passed away at the young age of 33, you often hear him cited by many young artists today as a major influence in their music.
That includes Morgan Wallen, who has said many times over the years what a big inspiration Keith is for him and how much he loves his music, and yesterday, he tipped his cap to the late, great Keith Whitley with a simple acoustic cover of “Kentucky Bluebird.”
It was the title track to the first album of Keith’s that was released posthumously, which consisted of a few previously released tracks, a couple re-orchestrated demos, some unreleased tunes, as well as a few live performances from his early days in music, too.
“Kentucky Bluebird” was written by Don Cook and Wally Wilson, and Morgan noted in his caption that it’s one of his personal favorite Keith Whitley songs:
“Been in the studio so much, this is all the decorating I got done. Here’s part of one of my favorite Keith Whitley songs ‘Kentucky Bluebird.'”
Of course, no one can compare to Keith’s original and the sadness and emotion in his voice (he was one of the greatest singers that ever lived, in my opinion), but this ain’t bad for sitting on the floor playing the acoustic guitar on a whim just for fun:
Morgan has continued to set records with his 2021 Dangerous double album, and he’s also been teasing a lot of new music coming soon, in addition to gearing up for a massive 2023 stadium world tour, so who knows… maybe he’ll decide to cut this in the studio and give it the full treatment.
The Keith Whitley original:
