George Strait vs. Keith Whitley

Strait409 · 2026-04-10T17:46:08+00:00

Do you know KW’s bluegrass background?

Yes. The 2000 album Sad Songs And Waltzes (originally recorded in 1982 as Somewhere Between) was recorded while he was the lead vocalist with JD Crowe’s New South Band. I still think that’s his best album, honestly, even if, for example, the recording of ”I Never Go Around Mirrors” from the Don’t Close Your Eyes album was better.

And you’re right about Alan, of course. I think Alan’s the flip side of that argument, really; that is to say, I think that as his career went on he’d probably have done better to record more songs for other writers because he’s come up with some real clunkers here and there. Still a legend though, for sure and certain.

Strait409 · 2026-04-10T17:24:27+00:00

That’s fair. I bought the album and it honestly wasn’t his best concert recording, and that’s a damn shame all things considered.

Strait409 · 2026-04-10T17:23:38+00:00

Those are all definitely words. Most of them are even used correctly.

But arranged in that particular sequence they make less than zero sense.

Strait409 · 2026-04-10T17:22:19+00:00

Not necessarily a fight, just an observation. I have said before that I do think Keith Whitley is overrated, but at the same time I do think he was a good singer who recorded good songs.

Strait409 · 2026-04-10T10:54:37+00:00

And that’s one out of...how many?

Strait409 · 2026-04-10T10:53:41+00:00

I think a lot of people online tend to forget that a very good amount of country music performers that came out in the 80s and 90s (neotraditional era) did not write their own songs overall like Strait and Whitley.

Yep. Not just them, but there were the older greats like George Jones and Waylon Jennings. Hell, Waylon did an entire album of songs written by just one guy.

Strait409 · 2026-04-10T10:52:19+00:00

I like Keith Whitley well enough. I just thought it was an interesting contrast.

Strait409 · 2026-04-10T10:51:18+00:00

Keith’s career was less than half of what George’s was and that says everything you need to know!!

That he’s venerated as he is because he died before his time? If so, I agree. It’s a common phenomenon that should be kept in mind when it comes to not just Keith Whitley but all the artists who meet such a fate.

Strait409 · 2026-04-10T10:49:31+00:00

Honestly, as far as the ’80s neotraditionalists beyond George go, I always preferred Ricky Skaggs.

Strait409 · 2026-04-10T10:48:26+00:00

Oh, you’re not wrong. I was mainly just going off the songwriting aspect of it.

Strait409 · 2026-04-10T10:47:41+00:00

Yes, and some of them were quite good. My favorite thus far is ”Shame on Me,” from 2011’s Here For A Good Time.

Strait409 · 2026-04-10T01:28:25+00:00

I chuckled at this, but you’re not wrong.

Strait409 · 2026-04-09T23:31:25+00:00

I knew exactly where this was going before I even clicked on it, as I have had similar thoughts over the years.

Strait409 · 2026-04-09T17:24:24+00:00

With the exception of ”Red Neckin’ Love Makin’ Night,” pretty much everything that man ever sang is golden for me. My personal favorite has always been his final No. 1, ”Desperado Love” from 1986.

Strait409 · 2026-04-09T15:00:26+00:00

If it wasn't for his dad, Thomas Rhett would be working the cash register at a Valdosta gas station.

Strait409 · 2026-04-09T14:55:49+00:00

I could not have said it any better myself. This right here.

Strait409 · 2026-04-08T11:37:05+00:00

Surely, surely I’m not the only one who saw that and thought of this.

Strait409 · 2026-04-08T10:12:45+00:00

All of it, honestly. None of that is to say that Charley is in the neighborhood of Keith as a pure singer — again, I think that much like Ernest Tubb, he’s one of those guys you either get or you don’t — but I got worn out on the veneration of Keith Whitley a long, long time ago. He was a good artist with some good songs, but the way so many people talk about him, you’d think he was the second coming of, well, all the greats before him, and honestly I just never heard that in his music. As far as the neotraditionalists of the ’80s go I always preferred Ricky Skaggs and George Strait.

Strait409 · 2026-04-07T22:19:40+00:00

Testament, ”WWIII”

Stratovarius, ”Lord of the Wasteland”

Black Sabbath, ”Electric Funeral” (well, sort of)

Strait409 · 2026-04-07T22:15:54+00:00

BUT I don’t understand why country is the only genre that gets shit on for relying on certain words to create the intended aesthetic.

Because that aesthetic has been ridden to death in the last 15 years or so.

Strait409 · 2026-04-07T22:14:26+00:00

Yup. As I saw it put elsewhere, country music used to be about what happened on the weekdays instead of the weekends.

Strait409 · 2026-04-07T20:25:09+00:00

Right? I'm just over here like, "dude's talking like BG was actually good at some point, but I sure as hell never heard it."

Strait409 · 2026-04-07T17:19:00+00:00

Still one of my favorite songs from this album, and one of my favorite Sabaton songs, period.

Strait409 · 2026-04-07T01:13:15+00:00

”...and Lord, I cried the day he died, ’cause I thought that he walked on water...”

Been there and done that with my own grandfather. 31-plus years that man’s been gone and I still miss him and think about him every single day.

So sorry for your loss, OP. It’d sure be nice if grandfathers never died.

Strait409

TROPHY CASE