One of country music’s most famous power couples. Keith Whitley and Lorrie Morgan were married back in 1986, the second marriage for both artists. Their love was forever immortalized with the posthumous release of “Tell Lorrie I Love Her,” a song that Keith wrote for their wedding and recorded as a worktape in his home. But their love story started years before that, backstage at the Grand Ole Opry. Lorrie and her son, Jesse Keith Whitley, recently joined hosts Bobby Johnson and Barrett Hobbs on The Nashville Palace Podcast, where she recalled the first time she ever met her future husband. As it turns out, they were both married at the time of their first meeting on the morning show of legendary Nashville radio host Ralph Emery. But it was another encounter with Keith Whitley that Lorrie recalled as the time she fell in love with his iconic voice. At the time, she was working as a receptionist for Acuff-Rose Music, a legendary publishing company here in Music City. And as she was walking through the office, she heard what she calls “the best country voice” she’d ever heard: “He was singing, ‘Does Fort Worth Ever Cross Your Mind.’ He did the demo on it before George Strait released it. So I stuck my head in the studio … and I was just mesmerized by his voice.” Well after that session, she introduced herself to Keith – but as it turns out, he already knew who she was: “He came out into the studio room and I said, ‘Hi, I’m Lorrie Morgan.’ He said, ‘I know who you are, I loved your record Someday We’ll Be Together.’ I said, ‘What?’ I didn’t know anybody ever heard that song.” The song Lorrie was talking about wasn’t released until 1991, two years after Keith’s death, so it sounds like he had somehow got ahold of a demo or an earlier version that she had recorded. But however he heard it, apparently he was impressed. But unfortunately for Lorrie, she soon found out that Keith wasn’t on the market: “He said, ‘Well this is my wife Kathi.’ And I went, ‘Aw, shit.'” It wasn’t long, though, before Lorrie would run into Keith again when the two found themselves playing the Grand Ole Opry on the same night. She recalls finding out that they were on the same show while listening to WSM radio announcer Keith Bilbrey on her way to the Opry: “I pulled my car over on Briley Parkway to listen to ‘Miami, My Amy,’ and all of a sudden Keith Bilbrey said, ‘That’s Keith Whitley with #15 this week on the charts, and Keith’s going to be on our show tonight.’ And man, I hauled butt to the Opry. I said, I’m going to see him.” Well by that point both Keith and Lorrie were single, and while backstage at the Opry that night Keith finally asked Lorrie out for the first time – and the rest, as they say, is history. (Jesse Keith jokes that he’s “the history,” as Lorrie and Keith’s only child together. Keith would also go on to adopt Lorrie’s daughter, Morgan, from her first marriage). Of course we all know what would happen just a few years later, when Keith tragically passed away at the age of 34 on May 9, 1989. But lucky for us, we’ve still got Lorrie and Jesse Keith around to keep his memory – and these incredible stories – alive. The post Lorrie Morgan Recalls Keith Whitley First Asking Her Out While Backstage At The Grand Ole Opry first appeared on Whiskey Riff.