{"id":73156,"date":"2020-05-08T09:51:49","date_gmt":"2020-05-08T07:51:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/whisnews21.com\/?p=73156"},"modified":"2020-08-01T10:52:18","modified_gmt":"2020-08-01T10:52:18","slug":"jesse-whitley-salutes-late-father-with-new-single","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/whisnews21.com\/index.php\/2020\/05\/08\/jesse-whitley-salutes-late-father-with-new-single\/","title":{"rendered":"Jesse Keith Whitley Salutes late Father with new single"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2 class=\"ab-article__heading--h1\" style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-73160\" src=\"https:\/\/whisnews21.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/jesse-keith-whitley-001.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"900\" height=\"504\" srcset=\"https:\/\/whisnews21.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/jesse-keith-whitley-001.jpg 750w, https:\/\/whisnews21.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/jesse-keith-whitley-001-300x168.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/>Jesse Keith Whitley Salutes Late Father With New Single<\/strong><\/h2>\n<h3 class=\"ab-article__excerpt\" style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>The defiant \u201cTry to Change My Ways\u201d will be released May 9<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Jesse Keith Whitley\u00a0has found the perfect way to honor his father, the late country legend\u00a0Keith Whitley. He\u2019s dedicating his new single \u201cTry to Change My Ways\u201d to his dad and releasing it on May 9th, the 31st anniversary of Keith Whitley\u2019s shocking and untimely death. Whitley was pronounced dead of alcohol poisoning May 9th, 1989, at age 33, just as his career was ablaze with No. 1 hits like \u201cDon\u2019t Close Your Eyes\u201d and \u201cWhen You Say Nothing at All,\u201d along with widespread industry acclaim. At the time, he was married to fellow singer\u00a0Lorrie Morgan, and the two epitomized the ideal of a Nashville glam couple.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTry to Change My Ways\u201d isn\u2019t about a guy who\u2019s bent on reform. On the contrary, it\u2019s a defiant statement with a clear challenge in the opening line:\u00a0<em>Just let \u2018em try to change my ways<\/em>. You can practically see Whitley\u2019s fists shake as he sings to a fiery mix of bluegrass banjo and searing guitars that might conjure up shades of Steve Earle or other outlaw acts. Whitley was not quite two years old when his father died, but he\u2019s informed and assured enough to tell\u00a0<em>Sounds Like Nashville<\/em>, \u201cI think it embodies the spirit of my dad and what he stood for.\u201d One particular lyric truly hits home for Whitley as he reflects on his father, who was born in Sandy Hook, Kentucky. \u201cThere is a line that says,\u00a0<em>My blood runs through these Kentucky hills<\/em>, and that reminds me of my father,\u201d says young Whitley. \u201cEvery time I drive through Kentucky, I think about him and just the Whitley family in general.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Si68TDEWxhM\" width=\"1024\" height=\"565\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><span data-mce-type=\"bookmark\" style=\"display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;\" class=\"mce_SELRES_start\">\ufeff<\/span><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>A few years back, Whitley co-wrote the song \u201cShadows\u201d about his father\u2019s country music legacy. When listening to \u201cTry to Change My Ways,\u201d it would obviously be surmised that Whitley wrote that as well. But it was actually penned by Kirk Roth and Robert Kemp, who came up with such a relatable scenario that Whitley could practically claim it as his own. \u201cI did not write that song,\u201d he notes for clarity, \u201cbut I loved it at the first listen. What I liked is that it doesn\u2019t just talk about one class of people. Like the part about standing up for the USA, well, that\u2019s everybody. I think we\u2019re all together on that. This song is a little different for me,\u201d he adds with a slight laugh. \u201cI\u2019m wanting to find out who I am as an artist.\u201d The aggressive-sounding anthem, replete with such proclamations as\u00a0<em>I\u2019m gonna hunt and I\u2019m gonna pray<\/em>, would hardly fit Keith Whitley\u2019s style, but Jesse Keith believes that dad would have been on board. \u201cI had no idea that this would be a single,\u201d Whitley says. \u201cI had a couple of other ideas but this won out. I decided later that I would dedicate the song to my father.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTry to Change My Ways\u201d marks the first single from an upcoming album project, due this year. But, as is the case with his musical contemporaries, the tour portion of Whitley\u2019s career lies in limbo due to uncertainties about the coronavirus spread. \u201cWe have had to cancel a lot of dates,\u201d Whitley says with a certain air of resignation. \u201cReally, I should be out on the road right now, but we all know that\u2019s not happening. We have been able to move some dates to the fall and winter, so that\u2019s good.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>More than 30 years after his death, Keith Whitley still exacts a tangible influence on today\u2019s country. Whitley left behind a rich musical catalog that includes posthumous No. 1 hits \u201cI Wonder Do You Think of Me\u201d and \u201cIt Ain\u2019t Nothin\u2019.\u201d He established himself with a versatile, smooth baritone voice that was raised on bluegrass \u2013 he became the lead singer for Ralph Stanley\u2019s band in 1974 while still in his teens \u2013 but proved equally at home in mainstream country.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGuys like\u00a0Chris Young\u00a0and\u00a0Dylan Scott\u00a0were influenced by my dad, and I hear it in their music,\u201d Whitley points out. \u201cThere is a cool video you can find on YouTube with\u00a0Tracy Lawrence,\u00a0Jason Aldean, and\u00a0Luke Bryan\u00a0doing [Whitley\u2019s 1990 hit] \u2018I\u2019m Over You.\u2019 Tracy was a big fan of my dad\u2019s and he was on the tribute album that came out many years ago.\u201d That 1994 record,\u00a0<em>Keith Whitley: A Tribute Album<\/em>, also featured\u00a0Alan Jackson,\u00a0Joe Diffie, and\u00a0Alison Krauss\u00a0and Union Station, among many others. \u201cOne day, we\u2019ll look at doing another tribute album,\u201d Whitley says. \u201cThere is also a big push to get my dad into the Country Music Hall of Fame and I think he deserves that. Right now, I\u2019m just proud to honor him with this single.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-67230\" src=\"https:\/\/whisnews21.files.wordpress.com\/2017\/10\/soundslikenashville.png?w=750\" alt=\"\" width=\"750\" height=\"82\" srcset=\"https:\/\/whisnews21.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/soundslikenashville.png 3243w, https:\/\/whisnews21.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/soundslikenashville-300x33.png 300w, https:\/\/whisnews21.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/soundslikenashville-1024x112.png 1024w, https:\/\/whisnews21.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/soundslikenashville-768x84.png 768w, https:\/\/whisnews21.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/soundslikenashville-1536x169.png 1536w, https:\/\/whisnews21.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/soundslikenashville-2048x225.png 2048w, https:\/\/whisnews21.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/soundslikenashville-1568x172.png 1568w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Jesse Keith Whitley Salutes Late Father With New Single The defiant \u201cTry to Change My Ways\u201d will be released May 9 Jesse Keith Whitley\u00a0has found the perfect way to honor his father, the late country legend\u00a0Keith Whitley. He\u2019s dedicating his new single \u201cTry to Change My Ways\u201d to his dad and releasing it on May 9th, the 31st anniversary of Keith Whitley\u2019s shocking and untimely death. Whitley was pronounced dead of alcohol poisoning May 9th, 1989, at age 33, just as his career was ablaze with No. 1 hits like<a href=\"https:\/\/whisnews21.com\/index.php\/2020\/05\/08\/jesse-whitley-salutes-late-father-with-new-single\/\" class=\"read-more\"><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":73160,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/whisnews21.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73156"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/whisnews21.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/whisnews21.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whisnews21.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whisnews21.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73156"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/whisnews21.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73156\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":73745,"href":"https:\/\/whisnews21.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73156\/revisions\/73745"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whisnews21.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/73160"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/whisnews21.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73156"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whisnews21.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73156"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whisnews21.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73156"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}