Tim McGraw - Don’t Close Your Eyes (Keith Whitley Cover)

For Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum’s BIG NIGHT (At the Museum), Tim McGraw performs his favorite Keith Whitley song—“Don’t Close Your Eyes,” penned by Bob McDill— on the C.W. Parsons guitar that Keith Whitley bought in his home state of Kentucky for a dollar and a handshake. McGraw idolizes Whitley, who died at age 34 after recording major country hits and bringing back into vogue the vocal styles of forerunners including Lefty Frizzell and Merle Haggard. Whitley’s early death remains an emotional topic for McGraw, who has come to the Museum in the past, after hours, to privately experience Whitley’s exhibit, “Still Rings True: The Enduring Voice of Keith Whitley.” Hear Tim McGraw perform Keith Whitley’s “Don’t Close Your Eyes” here, and to watch the full BIG NIGHT (At the Museum) program, click here: