It was so cold when Dylan Scott filmed his upcoming episode of CMT Campfire Sessions that he could see his breath when he sang and worried that he couldn't keep the chill-induced quiver out of his voice. There was a fire, he said, but it didn't put off any heat. And by the time he made it to the last song – his cover of Keith Whitley's "Don't Close Your Eyes" – grit and determination was the only thing that got him through it.

"Oh, it was freezing," he explained. "It's hard to sing. It's hard to play guitar. My fingers were frozen. Your body starts shivering and stuff. I think we sat there for about four hours."

He made it through "Don't Close Your Eyes" in one take, delivering a performance so raw and emotional that it had many crew members in tears. Fans can catch that performance now. Scott's full episode of CMT Campfire Sessions will post on February 7.

The Louisiana native and father of three played his current single, "This Town's Been Too Good To Us," along with "Good Times Go By Too Fast" and a few more in the stripped-down style for which CMT Campfire Sessions is known.

"We don't get to do that very much," he said. "We're always playing live shows with the full band, so this was a cool moment for us to just strip it all down and play 'em and hear 'em that way. Honestly, we've never really even heard 'em that way, so it was really cool."

Scott chose to sing "Don't Close Your Eyes" because his connection to Whitley goes back to his childhood. "Keith Whitley's Greatest Hits" was the first album Scott's dad gave him. He learned to play guitar listening to Whitley's songs and "Don't Close Your Eyes" has always been his favorite.

"It's just one of them songs that's really been with me from the beginning of my career," Scott said. "My first ever talent show was 'Don't Close Your Eyes.' I won it. It's one of them special songs that's, like I said, been with me from the very beginning."