Keith Whitley Cover Songs
On The Acoustic
Welcome to my Keith Whitley cover songs page you'll find a collection of demo covers and full lesson tutorials available for purchase along with several free chord sheets in pdf. format. Help yourself to the free chord sheets where available.
Keith Whitley Cover Songs - Tutorials
Jump links to quickly access sections
Bitch At The Bottom
Dance With Me Molly
Don't Close Your Eyes
If A Broken Heart Could Kill
I'm No Stranger To The Rain
I'm Over You | Kentucky Bluebird
Miami My Amy | Tennessee Blues
Will You Miss Me
1. A Hard Act To Follow
This song A Hard Act To Follow was from the 1984 album of the same name and only reached #76 on the country charts.
Conway Twitty had released the song a bit earlier in 1984 as well. This album of songs was sort of a warm up before Keith hit the big times with later releases.
- Drop D Tuning = No
- Capo = 2nd fret
- Rhythm = root up down up bass up down up
- Picking = a few riffs
- Chords = C, F, G, Dm, Am
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2. Dance With Me Molly
Dance With Me Molly hails from the 2000 album called Sad Songs and Waltzes but this one was never released as a single.
Of course this song was recorded well before this time as Keith had died in 1989.
- Drop D Tuning = No
- Capo = No
- Rhythm = a root down up down up - bass down up down up pattern pretty much all the way through except where you see a quick shuffle pattern in the chorus
- Picking = a few hammer-ons and slides in 2nd verse
- Chords = C, G, A7, D, D7
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3. Don't Close Your Eyes
This song was the third single release from the album of the same name in 1988. Probably the most well known of Keith Whitley songs was Don't Close your Eyes which was a #1 hit for Keith in the US and went to #2 in Canada.
Bob McDill penned 31 #1 hits for many country artists and this song was one of them. On the 1995 tribute album, Alan Jackson covered this song.
- Drop D Tuning = No
- Capo = No
- Rhythm = you have the option to play a bit of arpeggio and strumming as the song begins with piano, that's often what I do .. or play root up down up root up down up
- Picking = a little in the break
- Chords = G, C, D, D/Gb, Em, A, Am7, G6
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4. If A Broken Heart Could Kill
A song from Keith's A Hard Act To Follow album from 1984.
The song was never released as a single.
- Drop D Tuning = No
- Capo = 4th Fret
- Rhythm = root up down up bass up down up and repeat
- Picking = a few riffs
- Chords = C, G, D/Gb, Em, D
Chords & Lyrics
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5. I'm No Stranger To The Rain
This was the last single released from the "Don't Close Your Eyes" album and Keith Whitley lived long enough to see I'm No Stranger To The Rain peak at #1 in the US and Canada.
One of those Keith Whitley cover songs Joe Diffie covered on the 1995 tribute album to Keith.
- Drop D Tuning = No
- Capo = No
- Rhythm = root down up down up down up and repeat
- Picking = Yes
- Chords = E, A, B7, D, Dbm, Abm, Gbm, Gb
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6. I'm Over You
In 1990 after Keith has passed away, the album "I Wonder Do You Think Of Me" had this song released as a single entitled I'm Over You.
This song peaked at #3 on the country charts and Chris Young covered the song in 2010 but never released his version as a single.
- Drop D Tuning = No
- Capo = No
- Rhythm = Root down up - root up down up and repeat
- Picking = No .. but you could add one
- Chords = E, A, B7
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7. Kentucky Bluebird
This song appeared on the album of the same name from 1991.
There were two singles released from the album but this song was not one of them.
- Drop D Tuning = No
- Capo =No
- Rhythm = root up down up root up down up and repeat
- Picking = a few riffs
- Chords = E, Asus2, B, Abm
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8. Lonely At The Top (It's A Bitch At The Bottom)
Keith Whitley only released 5 studio albums during his short music career between 1985 and 1989. This song was never recorded for those albums and therefore was never released as a single. And I'm not sure which compilation it's on so I'm just guessing it may be this album cover.
The only known recording of the song is Keith playing acoustic by himself with a few background singers in the chorus. I couldn't find much history on this song but Jamey Johnson also does a great version of this number.
- Drop D Tuning = No
- Capo = No
- Rhythm = root down bass up down up and repeat
- Picking = Yes
- Chords = E, A, D, D7
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9. Miami My Amy
Keith Whitley released the album "LA To Miami" in 1985 and had several singles come from the album including this one called Miami My Amy which peaked at #14 on the country music charts.
This was his first full length studio album.
- Drop D Tuning = No
- Capo = 3rd Fret
- Rhythm = root up down up - root up down up and repeat
- Picking = there is one noticeable riff throughout this song and you'll here right in the beginning. It continues in the middle and end portion of the song
- Chords = G, D, Em7, Am, Gbm, A7, D7, Bm
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10. Tennessee Blues
Keith Whitley and Ricky Skaggs were bluegrass musicians before they migrated over to country music. In fact both played in the Ralph Stanley Church Mountain Boys group during those early days.
Tennessee Blues is an old bluegrass number and Keith sang it with JD Crowe and The New South in the 1970's. His nephew, John Whitley also recorded this song and is also now deceased.
- Drop D Tuning = No
- Capo = No
- Rhythm = down down up down up and repeat
- Picking = Yes blended within the rhythm
- Chords = G, C, G6, Am, D7, G6, G7
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11. Will You Miss Me
Will You Miss Me is another bluegrass standard that Keith often sang while part of the Ralph Stanley bluegrass band.
I'm not 100% sure if Keith is singing on this particular album.
- Drop D Tuning = No
- Capo = 4th fret
- Rhythm = root down up down up down up and repeat
- Picking = Yes
- Chords = G, C, D
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Keith Whitley Documentary
Thanks for stopping by the Keith Whitley cover songs page. I'll be covering more of Keith's songs in the months ahead.
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