Bill mentioned Keith Whitley the other day, and it reminded me that I haven’t listened to him nearly enough lately. That’s just not right, because he’s one of my favorite singers—of any gender, in any genre—of all time.
Whole volumes could be (and have been) written about the self-inflicted tragedy of Keith Whitley’s life, but I won’t contribute too many more here. I’ll just say that if you’re not familiar with him, you really should be, whether you delve into his early duet work with Ricky Skaggs, his all-too-brief tenure as vocalist with J.D. Crowe & the New South, or—Nashville haters, try to stop those knees from jerking—his many mainstream country hits. (Regardless of how you feel about Nashville production and mainstream country and all that, I have to come right out and say that if you’re not moved by “I’m No Stranger to the Rain,” you should have either your ears or your heart checked. I’m teasing, of course, but it’s still true.
My first exposure to Keith Whitley was in the latter phase, when he was a mainstream country star-bordering-on-superstar, not too long before his untimely death. (He had a hit single with my name in it; how could I ignore that?!) So several years ago, when I started listening to bluegrass, I was delighted to discover that he’d had a whole career as a bluegrass musician before he ever had Nashville hits. Some of his work with J.D. Crowe & the New South was reissued a few years back under his name, with the title “Sad Songs and Waltzes,” and I can’t recommend that CD highly enough…but tonight’s song actually comes from the almost equally superb J.D. Crowe release “Live in Japan.” Keith hadn’t quite found the depth of beauty and emotion in his voice at this stage that he possessed in such abundance later in his career, but it’s still a great song: “Rose Colored Glasses,” by J.D. Crowe & the New South. Vocal by Keith Whitley, 1955-1989.
December 17, 2005 at 12:52 am |
Great pick, Amy. And you’re right- Keith’s voice gained resonance as he aged. What a loss.
December 21, 2005 at 3:08 pm |
Thanks, Bill. And now I know where your blog is!
Hey, have you heard the Gaslights yet? I missed their CD release party, and unfortunately will probably miss their Christmas Eve show too, but I did hear a bit of their CD at Davey’s and thought it sounded great. A local band that I could get excited about—what a concept.
December 21, 2005 at 10:30 pm |
Amy:
The Gaslights hosted a Monday night series at Blayney’s last summer. I showed up twice but left at midnight before they even took the stage. I know they have great taste, and I’ve seen the girl singer convincingly belt out “Jackson” in a duet with another band. Even so, Pendergast is still the local band band to beat. Hey, don’t miss today’s Soul Asylum post at my MP3 blog. -Bill
December 22, 2005 at 3:47 pm |
Amy, what would be a good Whitley starting point beyond best of’s?
December 23, 2005 at 4:41 pm |
My first reaction was that that’s a tough question, but actually, it’s not. The obvious place to start is “Sad Songs and Waltzes,” which is a reissue of an earlier record, “Somewhere Between,” with a bunch of extra tracks added. J.D. Crowe hisownself put the reissue together and remastered it, so it’s exceptionally well done. It’s all covers—in addition to the title track, he does “I Never Go Around Mirrors” and “Does Fort Worth Ever Cross Your Mind,” among many others. I listened to almost nothing else for about two months after it came out.
Alternatively (okay, I guess it’s not such an easy question), you could start with “Don’t Close Your Eyes” if you want to dip into the country stuff and hear the best song Whitley ever recorded (IMO), “I’m No Stranger to the Rain,” which is hopelessly sentimental, but in a good way. It has a couple of tracks in common with “Sad Songs and Waltzes,” so I recommend picking one or the other, not both.
For his best bluegrass work, look to the J.D. Crowe & the New South records that he’s on: “Live in Japan” and “My Home Ain’t in the Hall of Fame.” And “Second Generation Bluegrass,” a record that Ricky Skaggs and Whitley made together early in their careers, is well worth owning. It’s not easy to find, but Countysales.com usually has it.
As for the best-ofs, there are several, but I particularly like “The Essential Keith Whitley,” mainly because it’s got the most tracks of any of the best-ofs, I think. I wish there were a good single CD (or two-disc set, maybe) that covered Whitley’s whole career; the best-ofs tend to stick strictly to his country work, ignoring the bluegrass stuff.
Geez, I haven’t really answered your question very well, have I? Um, okay, picking one from the above list arbitrarily, I’m going to suggest “Don’t Close Your Eyes” as his best record, but note that “Sad Songs and Waltzes” has more tracks (15 instead of 12). You can’t really go wrong with either one, and you may even want to pick up both, but start with “Don’t Close Your Eyes.” I think.
January 28, 2006 at 12:24 am |
it’s so good to see whitley fans plugging his stuff. i am writing the keith whitley movie and doing alot of research on his life in and out of music. he’s a true legend and the irony is that he never realized he had such a following.
i have several mp3’s of keith’s music that nobody has heard. all demos, all rough cuts of songs – some familiar, some not. i also have archived concerts of his that truly show off his vocal talent like nothing else.
for representing keith and introducing him to others… and for being named amy… i offer these to you.
and if i had to suggest a good place to start… i would say start from the end and work your way back. the magic in hearing whitley’s voice mature is spellbinding. a good song to listen to: “I Wonder, Do You Think Of Me”.
February 17, 2009 at 12:57 am |
are they ever going to make a movie about keith whitleys