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Morgan Wallen has dropped another hint that a new album is on the way, with the artist sharing a clip of an unreleased song, ‘Keith Whitley’.
The track is named after the late country icon, whose repertoire of hits include ‘When You Say Nothing At All’ and ‘Don't Close Your Eyes’.
Whitley died at the age of 33 after a long struggle with alcoholism, and Wallen's new track references the country crooner as one of many things that have ‘gone too soon’ (“The things I love got a way of gettin' gone too soon/Kinda like good whiskey, Keith Whitley, and you”).
In the heartbroken ballad, Wallen tips hit cap to an array of Whitley classics, including ‘I Never Go Around Mirrors’ (“There ain't a mirror in this house anymore/Cause it kills me to see the guy that let you leave/And walk right out the door”) and ‘I'm No Stranger to the Rain’ (“I'm no stranger to the rain/It starts rainin’, I start pouring”).
Wallen captioned the snippet, ‘Sittin here waiting on the sun in a deer blind..here's a new one’.
It comes after the country star racked up a suite of new accolades, with his 2021 double-album, Dangerous, setting a new Billboard 200 record in late December.
Swiftly after, Wallen's hit single, ‘You Proof’, became the longest running Billboard Country Airplay Chart No. 1 of all time.
Morgan Wallen certainly seems to be in a Keith Whitley phase this Winter, with the ‘Sand in My Boots’ hitmaker posting a cover of the late great's ‘Kentucky Bluebird’ on Christmas Eve.
Morgan Wallen is currently preparing to embark on a worldwide tour, which will be supported by Ernest, Bailey Zimmerman, HARDY and Parker McCollum.
In anticipation of this, Wallen dropped three new singles, ‘One Thing At A Time’, ‘Days That End in Why’ and ‘Tennessee Fan’.
The trio of tracks is expected to feature on Wallen's upcoming album.
‘Keith Whitley’ will presumably also be joining the track-list, alongside other post-Dangerous tracks released by the Tennessee native, including ‘Thought You Should Know’, ‘You Proof’ and ‘Don't Think Jesus’.
Towards the end of 2022, Spotify received flak for its inclusion of Morgan Wallen's Dangerous in its most streamed albums of the year list.
The country singer remains a controversial figure within the industry, after being filmed in early 2021 using a racial slur.
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