When You Say Nothing at All

Keith Whitley took When You Say Nothing at All to number one in 1988, months before his death, and Alison Krauss recorded it with Union Station in 1994 for a tribute album to him. Her version became a hit in its own right and is the one most UK couples ask for, partly because Ronan Keating's 1999 cover made the song a British wedding standard. Krauss sings it with bluegrass restraint over gentle acoustic playing, and the lyric about a love that needs no words suits couples who are not given to speeches. It moves at a slow, even pace. Krauss has twenty seven Grammys, and held the record for a woman until Beyoncé passed her in 2021.