Pop country’s trends from COVID’s quarantine forward made Saturday night’s Grand Ole Opry celebration honoring posthumously awarded 2022 Country Music Hall of Famer Keith Whitley feel like a timeless celebration.
At the event, Garth Brooks presented Opry member Lorrie Morgan — Whitley’s spouse at the time of his 1989 passing — with a replica of a plaque similar to those that recognize official Opry members in the Opry House Member Gallery, bearing Whitley’s name. Moreover, Morgan was presented recent (as of Sept. 13, 2023) platinum-selling certification plaques for two Whitley singles: 1988’s “Don’t Close Your Eyes” and “When You Say Nothing At All.”
Sadly, Whitley died on May 9, 1989, three weeks before he was scheduled to be invited to be a Grand Ole Opry.
The Opry noted that Morgan was being presented the plaque “[because though his] life may have ended before his dream of Opry membership, his incredible influence endures on the Opry and country music.”
Opry Executive Director Dan Rogers correctly notes that the “Kentucky Bluebird” has remained a key influence on modern country music.
It’s a bizarre yet accurate statement that can be made that says that the past two years has seen the revival of Whitley’s legacy make an artist who died when he was only 34, somehow perpetually 34, forever.
Imagine Whitley, at age 34, in 2023. That’d make him the same age as many numerous country artists and crossover pop titans. Even deeper, now contemplate how Whitley, at age 34 in 1989, influenced artists including Brooks, Terri Clark, bluegrass act The Grascals, Ashley McBryde, his son Jesse Keith Whitley and Mark Wills, all of whom performed on Saturday night at 2804 Opryland Drive.
It’s a full, powerful circle.
Roughly a dozen Whitley songs were performed on Saturday night. Brooks sang “Ten Feet Away,” McBryde, “I’m Over You,” Clark, “I’m No Stranger to The Rain” and Morgan, “When You Say Nothing at All” and “That’s Where I Want To Take Our Love,” among many.
But hearing Whitley’s son, Jesse Keith — who was only a year old at the time of his father’s passing — sing the 1990-released “Tell Lorrie I Love Her” was the heart-string tugger of the night.
“Keith was a magical, monumental artist,” stated Morgan in a May 2022 Tennessean feature.
“He changed people’s thoughts about country music because he was so cool and [brought a] whole new sound.”
“…I feel everything he sang…”
Moreso than anything, a night of vocal performances put the onus of the weight on Whitley’s voice, which has rang truest forever.
Whitley’s longtime producer, Garth Fundis, was also present Saturday night at the Opry. Fundis came to Whitley in 1988 after working with jazzy progressive bluegrass act Bluegrass Revival and Don Williams, a vocalist whose work yielded not just 17 No. 1 hits through the 1970s but also amassed global appeal.
From a 1991 Chicago Tribune story, Fundis noted, “[All you had to do was] give him the right song and stand out of the way. You hear some of these guys do hard-country music these days and roll your eyes, thinking, ‘This is kind of a gimmick.’ But Keith was the real McCoy and made great records. With him, it was no gimmick.
1980s-era RCA Records chief and another Country Music Hall of Famer, Joe Galante, was also present for Whitley’s performance.
