Paying a Visit to the New Keith Whitley Memorial

With his death on May 9th, 1989, Keith Whitley never got to reap the rewards of the career he’d worked so hard to build. He was just 34 years old. Whitley’s passing remains one of the most tragic deaths in country music history.

After Keith Whitley’s death, he was laid to rest at Nashville’s Springhill Cemetery just north of downtown. Numerous other country music legends are buried at the cemetery, including Roy Acuff, Hank Snow, Kitty Wells, Jimmy Martin, Jan Howard, John Hartford, Earl Scruggs, and others, making it a destination spot for country fans looking to pay their respects to legends. Keith Whitley already had a proper headstone that he shared with widow Lorrie Morgan at the cemetery.

But in 2022, an effort was undertaken to erect a memorial that would incorporate the “weeping angel” design at Whitley’s final resting place. This was the same year it was announced that Whitley would be going into the Country Music Hall of Fame.

“My family and I are so happy at the prospect of seeing this monument in Keith’s honor,” said Lorrie Morgan at the time. “I would be so moved to see it installed the same year that he is finally made a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame, and I’m deeply touched by those who care so deeply about Keith’s memory and legacy.”

A donation drive was launched, but unfortunately was not very successful. This might be the reason it took multiple years for the Keith Whitley Memorial to be completed. But in June of 2025, it finally unveiled with Lorrie Morgan helping to dedicate it.

Unlike the previous headstone, Lorrie Morgan does not share it with Whitley. In fact, there are very few markings on it at all. It simply says “Whitley,” and doesn’t even have his birth and death date. However, it is more of a proper memorial as opposed to a headstone.

A Kentucky native, Keith Whitley started in country music as a member of Ralph Stanley’s bluegrass band, and later join J.D. Crowe and his band The New South. His 1985 album L.A. to Miami put Keith Whitley on the map with songs like “Miami, My Amy,” “Ten Feet Away,” and “Hard Livin’.” Then Keith’s 1988 record Don’t Close Your Eyes set him on the path to superstardom, landing him his first #1 hit with the title track, which would set off a succession of five straight #1 songs from Whitley, including signature songs “When You Say Nothing At All” and “I’m No Stranger to the Rain.”

Without the work Keith Whitley did do, there may have never been a “Class of ’89” with Garth Brooks, Alan Jackson, Clint Black, and Travis Tritt. This is the reason that when Garth Brooks was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame, he first tried to cede the honor to Keith Whitley, and later said that if he was in, Whitley should be in too.

Keith Whitley’s grave is located at:

Spring Hill Cemetery
5110 Gallatin Pike,
Nashville, Tennessee 37216

As you enter the Spring Hill Cemetery, the bulk of the country music graves are in the very first section ahead of you called “Hill Crest Garden.” Jimmy Martin’s grave is just over your right shoulder (southwest) in the “Veteran’s II” section. The memorials are large, and can’t be missed.

To locate Keith Whitley, pull into Spring Hill from Gallatin Pike, take a left, then take the second right like you’re going to the cemetery office. Follow this path past the Masonic section on your left (clearly marked), until the road dead ends into another road. Right in front of you where the road dead ends is the “Crestview” section of the cemetery where Keith Whitley is. There is a large tree, and he is just to the right of it.

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