Sen. Rand Paul Endorses Keith Whitley for Country Hall of Fame

The junior United States Senator from Kentucky is throwing his weight behind the effort to induct fellow Kentuckian Keith Whitley into the Country Music Hall of Fame. It adds even more name recognition behind the push by many to get the country legend whose career was tragically cut short into one of country music’s most cherished institutions.
“I’ve always enjoyed country music, especially when that music is authored by Kentuckians,” Sen. Paul said in a statement. “Recently, I joined my fellow Kentuckians in supporting Elliott County native, Keith Whitley to be inducted in to the Country Music Hall of Fame.”
Keith Whitley started in country music as a member of Ralph Stanley’s bluegrass band, and later joined J.D. Crowe and his band The New South. In 1988, Whitley had two #1 singles “When You Say Nothing At All” and “I’m No Stranger to the Rain” off the album Don’t Close Your Eyes, and was expected to become a superstar in country music in the coming years. To many country music historians, Keith Whitley’s style and success set the table for the rise of the “Class of ’89” where Garth Brooks, Alan Jackson, Clint Black, and Travis Tritt took country music to popular heights not seen previously.
However on May 9th, 1989, Keith Whitley died of alcohol poisoning, and never got to reap the rewards of the career he’d worked to build. He was 33-years-old. Garth Brooks specifically named Whitley as someone he believed should have been inducted before him when Garth was recognized by the Country Hall of Fame in 2012.
“He made a giant impact on the music industry, mainly for his love of country music,” Sen. Rand Paul continued in his statement. “Many well-known artists like Garth Brooks look to him as one to follow in the footsteps of as they began their country music journey. Keith Whitley was not just a singer that left country music too soon. He is a true artist whose music is still loved and being shared today. Keith Whitley should be put in his rightful, well-earned and deserved place in The Country Music Hall of Fame.”
To get into the Hall of Fame, you don’t just need a good resume, you need a good, dedicated push and a promotional campaign that can get the attention of the right people on the CMA committee who ultimately make the decision. That is what fans of Keith Whitley, as well as his widow Lorrie Morgan and his son Jesse Keith Whitley have been attempting to do, including an online petition with nearly 10,000 signatures. Adding a United States Senator to the mix can only help.
In 2019, the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum launched an exhibit called “Still Rings True: The Enduring Voice of Keith Whitley” in honor of the late singer. Whitley has also been rumored to be one of the “final ballot” names for Hall of Fame induction over the last few years in the Modern Era category.
Each year the Hall of Fame inducts three new member in three distinct categories: Modern Era, Veterans Era, and Non-Performer, Songwriter, and Recording and/or Touring Musician. This austere system has resulted in a backlog of deserving artists (read Hall of Fame rules).
Some have made the point that with the truncated career of Keith Whitley, others deserve the honor more than him. But as big names such as Garth Brooks and Sen. Rand Paul attest, it’s the influence Keith Whitley left behind, considerations for his early career in bluegrass as well, and where his career could have gone if he hadn’t died so young that makes him a deserved Hall of Famer.
The new class of Hall of Fame inductees will likely not be announced until the middle of 2022.
The life and death of Keith Whitley was explored in depth in the 5th Episode of the Country History X Podcast.
October 16, 2021 @ 10:05 am
Only and final warning.
This is a COUNTRY music website, and this is an important COUNTRY music story published for its relevance to Keith Whitley and the Country Music Hall of Fame. Any comments veering into divisive political subjects, and specifically COVID-19 can and will be moderated.
October 16, 2021 @ 10:15 am
You know what you’re doing when you write articles like this. We all know you know what you’re doing when you write articles like this. You know, that we know, that you know what you’re doing when you write articles like this. Yet, here you are again pretending like nobody knows what we all know we know.
Anywho, CMHOF induction currently has less value than the pube I left on my toilet seat this morning. Keith is a top-10, arguably top-5 vocalist all-time. Induction or lack there of will not change that.
Rand Paul is a top-3 Senator.
I’m a fan of people who are the best.
October 16, 2021 @ 10:44 am
Yes, what I’m doing is covering a news story germane to country music, and specifically the Country Music Hall of Fame, Keith Whitley, and the effort to get him into the Hall of Fame, which are all subjects I’ve covered in a dedicated manner in the past. A big endorsement from a public figure can and likely will factor into the Hall of Fame’s decisions next year and in the coming years, and so it would feel like a dereliction of my duty not to point out this development.
All that said, I most certainly recognize that Rand Paul is a very polarizing political figure. That is why I am requesting everyone to keep their comments on topic. But no different than when President Obama gave Kentuckian Loretta Lynn the Presidential Medal of Freedom, or Trump Medals of Freedom to Toby Keith and Ricky Skaggs, it’s important to country music, so I report on it.
October 16, 2021 @ 10:53 am
That’s President Trump, as well as, President Obama.
And good on Paul, for endorsing Whitley
October 16, 2021 @ 10:53 am
Okay.
October 16, 2021 @ 10:57 am
If they consider Tanya in the Veteran category this year, the only artist that I could see maybe being ahead of Whitley in 2022 would be Dwight Yoakam. So this could very possibly be Keith’s year.
October 16, 2021 @ 11:03 am
Keith Whitley was a great country singer but tragically had a very short career. I am a fan but I think others had a much greater longstanding influence than he did. I don’t think he comes anywhere close to having done enough for such an honour.
October 16, 2021 @ 11:35 am
Why should a short life be considered a detriment and eliminate his chances of such a honor? Jimi Hendrix only made three albums, yet he’s at the top of every rock guitarists list, and one of the first members of the Rock and Roll HoF.
October 16, 2021 @ 2:02 pm
Because the main criteria is not what could have been. Not taking anything away from Whitley, but this bandwagon has went on for so long I wish they would put him in just so we don’t have to regurgitate this over and over and over.
So put him the heck in so we can get on with it. There are others to get to that are not could have’s but did do’s. Geeze.
October 16, 2021 @ 4:16 pm
Wayne, i agree. As Honky points out, he is one of THE great vocalists. Quite possibly, he just may have had the ultimate country baritone. But, so many true legends not in HOF, i always saw Whitley go in later on the basis of influence. But…the outcry among the superfans grows by the day, so maybe you just do it now, while there is so much fervor. Now to figure out a way to quiet those annoying non country music listening Gram Parsons fans!
October 16, 2021 @ 6:42 pm
Hey Kevin, I’m not a GP super fan or anything and I’m sure not qualified to speak for his musical aptitude, but I do have to question if the debate for him going into the CHOF isn’t warranted. Only on influence. Would Sweetheart have been made without him, and if so would those echos of influence exist as they have? Where would Emmylou be now without the early influence of GP? Seems Dwight holds Hillman quite high in terms of respect, would that be the same without GP? Sweetheart came out in ‘68 I think and NGDB did Circle a few years after that, influence there? You seem like a well informed guy, interested in your take. Surely the “greasy stinkin’ hippy” label isn’t the only thing? BYW I am a country fan, which means I think maybe Merle walked on water.
October 16, 2021 @ 7:48 pm
NCalTrees
My comment is admittedly snarky. Truthfully, i like Gram a lot. I own those albums you named and Grievous Angel. (Im a guy who actually grew up on mainstream country. Lots of Oak Ridge Boys, Statler Bros, Cash, Nelson, Dolly, Kenny , Don Williams, Hank Jr, Waylon , Hag etc. Somewhere along the way, i discovered the California Hippie stuff and liked it too. )
Eventually Gram may get in on influence, but reality is he was always on the outside of Country. His only Opry appearance with Byrds was met with scorn by the Country fans who had no tolerance for ” the long hairs”. He was sincere in his love of the traditional music, but always the outsider. I think to put him in ahead of numerous legends who gave years of their lives to the industry would be a bit of a slight to many. To me, Gram is another case of what mightve been. I have a hypothesis which could be wrong, though i suspect not. I think the superfans who are forever upset about him not being in the HOF are largely non traditional country fans and likely rock fans who tend to identify with the counterculture. Maybe HOF should make a category for substantial influencers. (Interestingly, the Outlaw movement brought the hippies, cowboys, bikers and rednecks together, but Gram didnt live to experience it.)
October 16, 2021 @ 8:08 pm
You’re the man Kevin. Appreciate the detailed response. Some day we have to have a beer in person so you can school me some (beer on me). Admittedly I don’t trace who is in or out, but self-serving admission is that short form pointed discussions are more interesting to me. Anyhow, I think the GP ship pushes a big wake on the cosmic / Cali/ rock-country / alt – country “genre” that’s imprint on the modern country terrain has to be
considered. No disrespect meant to the masters. We all stand on the shoulders of giants.
October 17, 2021 @ 3:02 am
Does no one realize or understand how long he was actually in music? Or do you just dismiss all of his bluegrass days? Which I believe he should have stayed in. His country is some of the best ever made but Keith Whitley singing bluegrass just sounded like home
October 16, 2021 @ 12:34 pm
I’ve argued probably too long with friends over this one, I just don’t see a resume or reason worth it, outside an untimely death that if had happened to artists who crushed the charts more in the 1980’s only to fade away in the 1990’s, like Whitley’s duet partner Earl Thomas Conley, they would be the one we’d be arguing about going in. But after the Ray Steven pick, which broke the HOF for me, I would bet my house Whitley goes in within a few years.
October 16, 2021 @ 1:27 pm
Every time I hear his songs, it makes me wonder what music we missed. 100% should be in the hall of fame
October 16, 2021 @ 3:14 pm
I endorse Rand Paul for President.
October 16, 2021 @ 7:08 pm
Oh no you di int
October 16, 2021 @ 3:14 pm
Would be great for Keith to be in HOF along with many other artists of his caliber, Was nice to see that Rand took to time out to lend his support to one of his constituents.
October 16, 2021 @ 3:25 pm
If that don’t do it, nothing will!
October 16, 2021 @ 5:28 pm
I see no reason whatsoever for the “what might have been” to be factored in. Any candidate should be voted for or against, based on what they actually did. And he didn’t do enough.
By the way, I see some talk about his influence? What influence was that, exactly? Yes, later artists such as Garth said they were influenced by Whitley, but do you hear Whitley in the music of any of these guys? When I hear Dwight, I hear Buck. When I hear Clint, I hear Merle, etc.
And no, Whitley did not initiate any sort of return from pop country back to traditional country. Before Whitley’s 87/88 output, we had Strait and Skaggs, among many others, to counter the pop-sounding stuff.
I’m old enough to remember 1987, and Whitley was regarded as a bright young talents, but one of many others who had great voices at the time. It’s only after he died that people started deciding to regard him more highly than they did while he was alive.
Whitley belongs in the Hall of Very Good, but not the Hall of Fame.
His career isn’t on par with the ones who are waiting to get in. It just isn’t.
October 19, 2021 @ 9:42 am
100% right. I like his hits, I like his voice, I’m sorry he died. But he just didn’t do enough.
October 19, 2021 @ 3:07 pm
Ferlin Husky 3 #1’s 11 top ten HOF
Keith Whitley 5 #1’s 10 top ten ….
October 19, 2021 @ 3:55 pm
I’m not a Ferlin Husky expert. But a short look at his bio shows he had 40 top 40 songs and 20 top 20 songs over a 20 plus year career in addition to the #1s and top 10s you mentioned. A long and distinguished career. I suspect Whitley’s last 2 #1’s chart positions were helped greatly by completely understandable sentiment after his death.
I like KW. Shoot, who doesn’t? Had he lived, he may have had a fantastic career, probably like Vince Gill’s. He had a better voice and was more country than most of the country singers today and many back then. I just think his productive years were too short and not good enough to merit the Hall of Fame.
October 16, 2021 @ 5:32 pm
The artist who died too young and whom I’d like to see get inducted into the Hall of Fame is Johnny Horton. Like Whitley, he had a powerful, unique voice.
Had their lives not been cut shot, I think Keith would probably have accumulated bigger stats on the country music charts, but Johnny was a far bigger figure in non-genre-segmented American music and culture.
October 16, 2021 @ 5:55 pm
Keith Whitley is one of many who belongs in the Hall of Fame. But I’ve said it before: he does not belong in ahead of the man who gave him his first job in the music industry and neither does Skaggs for that matter.
On that note, the album “Clinch Mountain Gospel” is by far the best project Whitley was involved with.
October 16, 2021 @ 7:00 pm
Hypothetically, Whitley is trying to get in via the Modern Era category, and The Stanley Brothers are trying to get in via the Veterans Era category. So they wouldn’t be competing with each other. An inductee class that included Keith Whitley and Ralph Stanley/Stanley Brothers would be pretty damn cool.
October 16, 2021 @ 5:59 pm
Only if Keith got the vaccine. Otherwise, he can’t be inducted in the new America.
Paul has good taste in music.
October 16, 2021 @ 7:48 pm
I like Keith, but he does not deserve to be in the hall of fame, he did not have a long enough career, I loved his music and he was a great singer, I am sorry he is gone, but I agree with a few others who say that he don’t belong. I know a different scenario but look at the people they put in the Opry these days, not alot of people deserve to be in there either. So there are many others who deserve the honor more to be put in the hall of fame.
If Kasey Musgraves left country music for good and stayed in pop music. And she got put in the country music hall of fame, for 2 or so years in country, would that be acceptable? No. Again Keith was a great singer , he just did not have a long enough career.
October 17, 2021 @ 9:37 am
Ahhh, Kacey spent at least 4 years in country, maybe 7 depending on how you categorize Golden Hour.
October 16, 2021 @ 6:15 pm
Thing is, we cannot possibly know how his career would have played out. Maybe he goes on to have a long career with lots of hits. But maybe he’s like Doug Stone or Tracy Lawrence, or any of several others from the late 80’s through mid-90’s who were good for a few years, but not great. We don’t know, so we have to induct artists based on what they did do, not what they might have done.
As it is, his hit-making period was shorter than John Conlee, Tracy Bird, John Michael Montogomery, Johnny Rodriguez, and a few others who are to be respected, but not Hall-worthy.
I suspect that some or all of the above-mentioned singers would be revered today had they not stayed alive so long. By dying early, Whitley helped build his legend into something beyond what his career actually was.
October 16, 2021 @ 6:36 pm
James,
I don’t think the primary argument for Keith is the “What might have been” argument…at least that’s not the argument I would make, if I thought HOF induction meant something. The argument I would make is that he was the greatest C(c)ountry vocalist of the generation of singers that came to fame right as the classic era ended, which is arguably around 1976. So basically, he’s the best vocalist to rise to fame in the last 45 years.
All of his superiors came before him. There have been none since.
October 16, 2021 @ 8:02 pm
Dwight Yoakam was a better singer.
October 16, 2021 @ 8:22 pm
Nope. He’s not even in the discussion.
After Keith, in no particular order, Vern Gosdin, Randy Travis, Vince Gill, Daryle Singletary, ETC, Mark Chesnutt, Ronnie Dunn, Joe Diffie, and RVS would all come before Dwight.
October 16, 2021 @ 9:09 pm
Ricky Van Shelton’s one you don’t hear much about anymore, but I’ve always loved his stuff. I think Clint Black is my favorite vocalist of the era you’re specifying, but I’d imagine you’d have mentioned him if you felt similarly.
October 17, 2021 @ 8:46 am
When you’re name dropping and leaving out the goat. George Jones
October 17, 2021 @ 8:59 am
Trenton,
We’re discussing the best vocalists who rose to fame post-1976. Please read my previous comments for context.
October 16, 2021 @ 6:48 pm
This argument overlooks the fact that Keith Whitley had made a living as a professional musician for 20 years at the time of his passing. His early career found him doing stints in the same two legendary bands Ricky Skaggs was a member of in the same era and an album with Skaggs. Both, of course, had a string of hit singles in the ’80s. Whitley is the only one of the two to have a top ten single in the ’90s, even though Skaggs was alive and producing music the entire decade (he’s had none since then either). Skaggs is in the Hall of Fame.
October 16, 2021 @ 7:21 pm
Why is it relevant that Rand Paul is going to bat for Keith Whitley? That’s inherently political to bring that up and then you warn us that WE are not allowed to say anything political. Keith Whitley can stand on his own merits he doesn’t need Rand Paul’s hype.
October 16, 2021 @ 7:47 pm
“Why is it relevant that Rand Paul is going to bat for Keith Whitley?”
Over the last few years, Keith Whitley’s widow Lorrie Morgan, and the couple’s only son Jesse Keith Whitley, have been making a concerted effort to get Keith Whitley into the Country Music Hall of Fame. If we are to believe the rumors coming from the secretive Hall of Fame voting process, Keith Whitley has been one of the finalists for the Hall of Fame in the Modern Era category for the last few years, meaning he’s right on the cusp of induction. A ringing endorsement from a sitting US Senator—especially one from Kentucky—could most certain play into the voting for the next inductees, not just because a US Senator has a big bullhorn, but because it shows just how hard Keith Whitley’s surrogates are working behind-the-scenes to get him inducted. Rand Paul didn’t just randomly decide to make this endorsement. He is helping to represent his constituents.
I most certainly recognize that Rand Paul is a political figure, which gives this story a political element. But beyond him being a Senator, his stances on specific subjects, and arguments that would only descend into incessant back and forths about those subjects would distract from the topic at hand and a healthy discussion about Whitley’s Hall of Fame prospects, which has flourished in the vacuum of political acrimony, similar to how it would have been suffocated if I hadn’t started off this comments section with my request. I also recognize that Rand Paul specifically is a very polarizing political character. All the more reason to keep the discussion on topic, which is Keith Whitley and the Hall of Fame.
Years ago I very specifically chose to cover the Hall of Fame induction process as a specific, dedicated beat. I definitely think a United States Senator endorsing someone for the Hall of Fame is relevant to that beat.
October 17, 2021 @ 2:03 pm
You’re a public official; there’s a movement in your state to have an organization in a different state bestow an honor on someone who came from your state; and it’s not sparking any controversy. Why wouldn’t you sign your name to a statement in support?
This is about as meaningful and consequential as Rand Paul placing a charity bet on Kentuckty to beat Duke in an NCAA tournament game against a senator from North Carolina.
October 17, 2021 @ 5:49 am
Sadly, hype and celebrity backing is needed nowadays. Good on Rand Paul for speaking out in favour of Keith Whitley .
October 17, 2021 @ 9:27 am
About time! I think it is also important to consider that an artist is not solely judged by their hits, but by the impact they’ve had on other artists.
October 17, 2021 @ 4:16 pm
Rand is the man!!
October 18, 2021 @ 5:25 am
Didn’t he get his ass kicked by his elderly neighbor?
October 18, 2021 @ 11:21 am
@DACovid–The guy attacked Rand Paul from behind. Rand didn’t see until Rand was on the ground.
October 18, 2021 @ 6:43 am
Thank you Rand.
Now lets work on the next one:
Reinstate Hank
October 18, 2021 @ 11:23 am
@stogie
Hank Williams is in the h-o-f. He does not need to be reinstated.
October 18, 2021 @ 2:05 pm
@luckyoldsun
http://www.reinstatehank.org/
October 18, 2021 @ 2:59 pm
@stogie–Read it more closely.
Hank Williams is in the h-o-f. He does not need to be reinstated.
November 9, 2021 @ 4:08 pm
I think Sammy Kershaw should be in the Hall of Fame Country Music Hall of Fame I think he’s the best