When Jesse Keith Whitley stepped on stage at The Listening Room Cafe in Nashville in 2016, he revealed someone had already played the song he prepared for the night.
That’s okay, though. The night was called Celebrating The Music Of Conway Twitty, so it was probably normal that the same song was played more than once. Plus, Jesse had a good reason.
“This song I’m gonna do is actually one of the first songs I ever heard recorded by my dad doing Conway, and I figured it might as well be the one I do today. I hope you all enjoy it,” he said introducing the song.
His dad, of course, is the legendary Keith Whitley, who passed away a month before Jesse’s second birthday. The younger Whitley grew up listening to his father’s music and decided to follow in his dad’s musical footsteps. He also had help from his mom, country singer Lorrie Morgan.
He began singing Twitty’s 1980 number one hit “I’d Love To Lay You Down” and the audience was loving it. His version possesses the same sort of growl as Twitty’s original, but is his own in every other way.
Both Keith Whitley and Conway Twitty must be proud of this performance. Watch it below.