NASHVILLE -- Country music legend Keith Whitley returned to the mountains of Eastern Kentucky yesterday, cast in bronze and bigger than life.
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A caravan, escorted by motorcyclists, took the statue of Keith Whitley to the late singer's birthplace in Sandy Hook. It will be unveiled Thursday, the 45th anniversary of his birth. (David Perry)
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Escorted by rough-faced, rain-soaked bikers and Las Vegas millionaire Rick Snowden, the statue of the late singer traveled from Nashville through Lexington, to Sandy Hook.
Rain pelted the 7-foot, 6-inch, 500-pound statue nearly the entire way and thunder echoed overhead.
The weather seemed a fitting tribute to Whitley, who topped the charts in the late 1980s with the single I'm No Stranger to the Rain.
The sculpture was commissioned for $150,000 by Snowden, the Las Vegas businessman. It will be unveiled on Thursday, the 45th anniversary of Whitley's birth. It will remain in Sandy Hook forever, Snowden says.
``It's not an investment. It's a gift, an expression of love, and I'm happy to do it,'' he said. ``I'll do whatever I can do to preserve the memory of a man whose musical talent and musical expression moved me more than any other artist ever has.''
Snowden's girlfriend, Nora Smith, introduced him to Whitley's music and they visited Sandy Hook together in 1997 after the Kentucky Derby.
On the trip, they met Whitley's mother, Faye Whitley, ``a very wonderful and gracious woman,'' Snowden says. They became fast friends.
Snowden didn't find much to remember Whitley by in his hometown: A few signs, a few pictures, and a makeshift ``Keith Whitley Museum'' in Faye Whitley's detached, two-car garage.
``If his music and artistry and ability were going to be remembered, then somebody had to step to the plate and do something that would be meaningful and lasting,'' Snowden says. ``If Keith had been alive he would have been the superstar, the definitive male superstar of the 1990s.''
In November 1998, Snowden ordered the statue from Bill Rains, a Billings, Mont., artist who has also made statues of Elvis, Hank Williams, Jim Reeves and Buck Owens, and will create a statue of Shania Twain.
Snowden also bought a collection of memorabilia from Keith Whitley's mother and shipped it to Nashville where he plans to open a museum -- and possibly a restaurant.
Whitley is still extremely popular in Nashville, said Tim Walker, an employee at the Ernest Tubbs Record Shop.
Downtown, his records still move briskly, his posters hang on the walls and his T-shirts remain for sale.
Snowden has started a non-profit Keith Whitley Memorial Foundation. And he plans to eventually offer music scholarships to Tennessee and Kentucky students in Whitley's name.
Faye Whitley says she's glad that Snowden will take care of and display Keith Whitley's possessions.
The widow, who also lost a son named Randy in a 1983 motorcycle accident, was worn out after greeting the thousands of Keith Whitley fans who stop by her home and wanted to see his personal effects.
``I lived eight years walking through the clothes of my two dead sons and it just got to the point where I couldn't take it anymore.''
On Thursday, Snowden let Tennesseans see the statue. Ricky Skaggs and Ralph Stanley performed in Whitley's memory and gave the artwork high marks.
And country music fans who saw the statue as it journeyed across Kentucky were also impressed.
``It's beautiful,'' said Wendall Trent, 29, a corrections guard from West Liberty. ``It'll probably bring back loving, fond memories,'' he said.
``It really looks just like him. It's beautiful,'' said Barbara Cox, 60, of Versailles.
Whitley's mother is also impressed.
Faye Whitley says Rains did a ``wonderful'' job on the sculpture. ``Even down to the boots, I think it looks like him,'' she said yesterday.
Not all reviews have been positive.
``It doesn't do him justice,'' said Theresa Jackson, 39, of Harrodsburg. The real Keith Whitley was even better looking, Jackson said.
Dwight Whitley, Keith's older brother, is unhappy. He thinks Keith's items should remain in Sandy Hook and should be cared for by family members.
And he questions whether Keith Whitley's legacy should be left in the hands of a Nevada strip club owner.
``That man is a con artist and he has destroyed my family,'' Dwight Whitley says.
Dwight Whitley, who is also a recorded musician, says he won't have anything to do with Snowden or the statue.
But Mary Bailey, sister of Keith and Dwight, says the statue is a special gift for her family and Sandy Hook. ``Bill Rains' hands had to have love in them and he had to be guided by a higher spirit to do the work he's done,'' Bailey said. ``I think it's something that would've tickled Keith beyond words.''
