Until two or three months ago, RCA was Nashville`s only major label that didn`t boast a young, male, second-generation traditionalist on its roster
–whereas Warner Bros. had John Anderson, MCA had George Strait and CBS had Ricky Skaggs. Now, lo and behold, RCA suddenly has the countriest one of all. Whitley, like Skaggs, apprenticed in the bluegrass groups of Ralph Stanley and J.D. Crowe and, before that, worked with Skaggs in a little Kentucky aggregation called Keith Whitley, Ricky Skaggs & The Lonesome Mountain Boys.
But they have gone separate routes. Whereas Skaggs` music is heavily laced with bluegrass influences, Whitley has gone `50s-style country, sounding at various times like Lefty Frizzell (or the late Lefty`s living brother, David Frizzell), Merle Haggard, and practically anybody else who ever sang soulfully and nasally at the same time.
This so-called ”mini-LP,” featuring six songs, is memorable for its wide-scale disclosure of a great cutting-edge voice and its superior treatment of three ballads: ”Living Like There`s No Tomorrow (Finally Caught Up With Me Tonight)” on Side 1 and ”If A Broken Heart Could Kill” and ”Don`t Our Love Look Look Natural” on Side 2.
The only problem Whitley faces is that, like the early John Anderson, he doesn`t quite seem to have decided who he wants to be. Again like Anderson, though, he almost surely will find his own style, and whatever it proves to be, it seems certain to be great.
