Latest Gene Watson News

Today (Friday 9 May 2008) is the 19th anniversary of the passing of the great Keith Whitley.



A native of Sandy Hook, Kentucky where he was born on 5 July 1955, Keith Whitley learned to play guitar by the time he was 6 years old & appeared on Buddy Starcher's regional television show at the age of 8.

When they were 15, Keith & his friend Ricky Skaggs were asked to play a local show when Ralph Stanley's band were running late.  Upon hearing them sing, Ralph recruited both of them for his band.  Ricky & Keith stayed with Ralph Stanley for two years until Keith went to work for Carl Jackson in 1972.

By 1974, Keith was back with Ralph Stanley.  In 1978, Keith joined JD Crowe & the New South but his heart was closer to traditional country music than bluegrass.  RCA Records issued a single, 'Turn me to love', in 1984 with Patty Loveless singing harmony.  It was at this time that Keith's excessive drinking was making him unreliable, but it did give him a hardened, honky-tonk voice; all he needed was the right song.

In 1986, Keith married Lorrie Morgan & cracked the Top 20 with the single 'Miami, my Amy'.  Three Top 10 singles then followed, namely 'Ten feet away', 'Homecoming '63' & 'Hard living'.

In 1985, Gene Watson recorded 'I want my rib back' (written by Keith Whitley & Fred Koller) & included the track on his 'Memories to Burn' album which was released on Epic Records.  Songwriter Fred Koller graciously provided a quote about Gene Watson on Tuesday 31 December 2007 & you can read Fred's words here.

Keith Whitley finally reached No.1 in 1988 with tracks from his acclaimed 'Don't Close Your Eyes' album on RCA Records; 'Don't close your eyes' (No.1 for 1 week in August 1988), 'When you say nothing at all' (No.1 for 2 weeks in December 1988/January 1989) & Sonny Curtis' 'I'm no stranger to the rain' (No.1 for 2 weeks in April 1989).

The 'Don't Close Your Eyes' album also included Keith's heartfelt rendition of the Lefty Frizzell/Whitey Shafer classic 'I never go around mirrors'; Gene Watson also recorded 'I never go around mirrors' & included the track on his 'From the Heart' album on RMG Records in 2001.

However, in the midst of all this success, Keith Whitley's excessive drinking finally caught up with him.  At 12.30pm on the afternoon of 9 May 1989, his brother-in-law found Keith's lifeless body.

At the time of his death, Keith Whitley had been working on a new album project with producer Garth Fundis.  The subsequent album, 'I Wonder do you Think of Me', was released posthumously & the title track spent 1 week at No.1 in September 1989.

The 'Ernest Tubb Collection' album was originally released on First Generation Records in 1979 under the title of 'The Legend & the Legacy'.  The record label & this Ernest Tubb tribute album was the brainchild of famed session steel guitar player Pete Drake (8 October 1932 - 29 July 1988).



Gene Watson contributed guest vocals to Willie Nelson's composition 'Sad songs & waltzes'; this track did not see the light of day until Laserlight Records released their version of this Ernest Tubb set in 1992 ('The Legendary Ernest Tubb & Friends'.  The track was also included on 'Ernest Tubb & Friends' on Prism Leisure Records in 2004.



When Keith Whitley was a member of JD Crowe & the New South in the early 1980s, the hardcore, traditional country album 'Somewhere Between' was released in 1981.

In 2000, Rounder Records re-released the album as 'Sad Songs & Waltzes'; the set included five previously unreleased tracks including Willie Nelson's title track along with 'Honk Tonk Crazy'.  This latter track was recorded by Gene Watson & was included as the title track of his Honk Tonk Crazy album which was released on Epic Records in 1987.

Keith Whitley: 1 July 1955 - 9 May 1989

It is with great sadness that The Gene Watson Fan Site reports the passing of country music legend Eddy Arnold (at 4.40am) in the early hours of today (Thursday 8 May 2008), some seven days short of his 90th birthday.



A native of Henderson, Tennessee where he was born on 15 May 1918, Eddy was known affectionately as 'The Tennessee Plowboy' & was country music's all-time most successful artist.

On the singles longevity charts, he placed four of his 1940s hits: 'Bouquet of roses' (54 weeks), 'I'll hold you in my heart' (46 weeks), 'Anytime' (39 weeks) & 'It's a sin' (38 weeks).  During the 1940s, Eddy records were also achieving Top 20 positions on the pop charts.  Eddy's highest pop listing, 'Make the world go away' in 1966, reached No.6 & also achieved a No.1 place on the country charts.  It was also in 1966 that Eddy Arnold was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.

Thanks to his hit duet, 'Cattle call', with LeAnn Rimes, which charted in the first week of 2000, Eddy Arnold can rightly claim that his records have charted in seven decades.

Sadly, Eddy's lifetime partner & wife Sally passed away on Tuesday 11 March 2008 (Eddy & Sally had been married for more than sixty-six years).

Eddy Arnold's final album, 'After All These Years', was released on RCA Records in 2005 & was produced by 'Cowboy' Jack Clement & Jim Malloy.  The album includes 'Old porch swing' which was written by Joe Allen & Charlie Williams (RIP).

The track 'Old porch swing' was originally included on Gene Watson's 'In Other Words' album which was released on Broadland Records/Mercury Canada in 1993.