Biography - Vince Gill

During his storied career in country music, Vince Gill has consistently set the bar higher and higher for himself.

The singer, songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist has recorded more than 17 studio albums, sold more than 26 million copies and won 20 Grammys and 18 CMA Awards. The two-time CMA Entertainer of the Year is the only man to ever win five consecutive CMA Male Vocalist of the Year awards and the only songwriter to win Song of the Year four times.  

Those winning songs -- “When I Call Your Name,” “Look At Us,” “I Still Believe In You” and “Go Rest High On That Mountain” -- were among the stellar compositions that led to Gill’s 2005 induction into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. Two years later, he became one of the youngest performers ever inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.

Then he achieved the seemingly impossible – he raised the bar again. In 2006, Gill released the ambitious and unprecedented four-CD, 43-song album called These Days, which garnered an overall Grammy Album of the Year nomination and won the 2006 Grammy for Best Country Album. USA Today ranked him the No. 1 “Most Prolific Artist,” and numerous media outlets proclaimed the platinum-selling project the year’s best.

With that tremendous level of success, how on earth would Gill be able to follow up such a landmark project? Quite well, as it turns out.  Guitar Slinger is the perfect next step in Gill’s singing and songwriting sojourn.  The strength of the new project comes from making a 180-degree turn from his earlier winning blueprint.  Whereas the previous project was big and bold, Guitar Slinger is personal and poignant. Yet it remains equally potent. It’s a collection of songs about love, reflection, redemption and spirituality, including three of the most powerful songs of his career – “Threaten Me With Heaven,” “Bread And Water” and “If I Die.” During the best time of his life, he’s making the best music he’s ever made, and it remains quintessential Vince Gill.

As hard as he is to please, Gill likes how the CD turned out.  “I think the songs are better, I play better, I sing better and it sounds better,” he says.   “Everything’s improving that’s supposed to. I feel like if there is a place I can improve most, it would be in writing songs, and these songs seem to have grown a notch from those on the last record. There are some beautiful, powerful songs here. There’s fun and tons of guitar playing. The first half of this record is as much about guitar playing as anything else, with long, extended and different styles of solos.”

Gill says his main goal now is just to get better. “I have an interesting reaction to the Hall of Fame induction,” he explains. “Most people would surmise, ‘OK, I’ve accomplished that. I can go relax and take it easy. I’ve accomplished the greatest of whatever it is I could possibly accomplish.’ It has the reverse effect on me: it made me want to go earn it and fortify my place in the Hall. I say, ‘OK, now I want to prove to myself and to everybody else that it was warranted and good.’”

That proof is in the album’s first single, the moving “Threaten Me With Heaven,” written by his wife Amy Grant, Dillon O’Brian, Will Owsley and Gill.

“Since the song was recorded, my friend Will Owsley took his own life, so the song has a profound impact on me now,” he laments. “In my lifetime, ‘Go Rest High On That Mountain’ has been the song that helped a lot of people through their grief. I think this one will in turn hopefully do the same thing. It’s a powerful, powerful song.”

He co-wrote two songs with young singer/songwriter Ashley Monroe (Pistol Annies) -- the haunting “Who Wouldn’t Fall In Love With You” and one of the album’s crown jewels, “If I Die,” which seems like a drinking song in the beginning, until it quickly evolves into a message of self-reflection and spirituality. The last verse says, “If I die a-prayin’ to Jesus on my knees/Everyone I’ve ever loved will be waiting there for me.” Gill says, “I don’t think I’ve written a song in years that had the instant impact on people that this song has.”

“Bread And Water” is the story of a homeless man who finds a kind place and face to help soothe his aching soul.   “It’s a moving song that is loosely based on my brother. He struggled mightily in his life,” Gill says.

It’s not surprising that the music is extremely personal because Gill wrote and recorded it when he was experiencing extreme highs and lows. In May 2010, Nashville was hit with a flood that claimed 10 lives and caused billions of dollars of damage. Gill lost an extensive amount of musical equipment.  A few days after the flood waters began subsiding, he walked his daughter Jenny down the aisle.

He was also coming to terms with the loss of an influential father figure, steel guitar player John Hughey, who died at age 73 in 2007.  “This is the first record I made without him in 20 years,” says Gill, “and I think it’s one reason why I took so long to make another record. I knew it was going to be hard.” In response to that loss — and in Hughey’s honor -- he wrote and recorded “Buttermilk John” and invited many of those who had performed with Hughey to join him on this musical send-off.

Another reason this project is special to Gill is because he recorded from start to finish at the studio he recently built in his and Grant’s Nashville home. But the recording wasn’t contained within his studio walls.  To use the piano and B-3 Organ housed in his living room, he ran cables through the walls and he wired a bathroom for microphones and amps.  “It’s been quite a gift to this house, to put music in it and have it be filled with musicians floating around and making coffee,” he says. “Amy is gracious about welcoming all things into the house. Having that here has given me a unique sense of home. Music lives and breathes in my home.” 

That sense of home was strengthened when Amy joined him for the duet “True Love,” which also features their 18-year-old daughter, Sarah Chapman. Daughter Jenny, an aspiring singer/songwriter, and the couple’s 10-year-old daughter Corrina sang on the album as well. Corrina harmonizes on “Billy Paul,” a true story of Gill’s friend who took someone else’s life and then took his own. “I thought, ‘This could either be the worst idea I’ve ever had in my life or it could be hauntingly great,’” he says of the collaboration.  “It’s kind of unexpected that it’s dark and there’s this little kid’s voice singing, ‘What made you go crazy, Billy Paul?’”

After decades of collaborating with artists from virtually all genres -- from Alice Cooper, Bonnie Raitt and Eric Clapton to Gladys Knight, Diana Krall, Emmylou Harris and Sheryl Crow -- he calls it “unbelievable” to record with his children.  “I spent all that time trying to be that brother, trying to be that seamless harmony with somebody, whether it was Rodney Crowell or Emmylou or Patty Loveless, whoever it was that I recorded with,” he says. “I wanted them to feel like I was their little brother or older brother, like it was family. I always felt like family harmony, like the Everly Brothers and Louvin Brothers, people like that who had the same blood line, was somewhat seamless in a really beautiful way.

“Now in the last few records I’ve gotten to hear that with Jenny singing, and then Corrina, just hearing her little voice show up has been pretty great. I love seeing them get interested in it. I didn’t know whether my kids would be interested in music. It’s a great feeling. Amy’s dream is that we are the Partridge Family and we all go out on one bus as a family band. I don’t know that I’m quite ready for that! But it’s wonderful that they’re all interested.”

The first song he wrote after completing These Days was the vivid “The Old Lucky Diamond Hotel,” a fond and colorful remembrance of days and places gone by along the iconic Route 66. “What struck me as good news about this song is that it was unlike anything on that record, and it had 43 songs,” he says. “I’m going, ‘Great, what are you going to write about now, smart guy?’  This song came flying out and it was nothing like anything that was on that previous record. I felt really good about that.”

However, Gill didn’t feel any pressure to follow up These Days, nor did he have a goal or concept in mind when he began writing. Gill describes himself as an “in-the-moment personality.” Thus, the album was a result of whatever creativity flowed naturally out of him. “I have been lucky in that a lot of my work has been well-received critically in all kinds of places,” he says. “So I don’t feel the pressure that I’m not going to live up to that record. This record is the same guy; it shouldn’t change dramatically and it hasn’t.

“I have come to the realization that the results aren’t dictated whether they are number-one records and you sell 20 million copies. None of the notes change because of it. I don’t think I will ever let the results of something I like or don’t like be dictated to me by how well it does commercially. 

“I’m doing the best work I’ve ever done, and that makes me happy.”

Read Album's Cut by Cut

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VINCE GILL
GUITAR SLINGER
CUT-BY-CUT

“Guitar Slinger”
(Writer: Vince Gill)
“I like songs with tempo to have a bit of wit to them. There are certain songs that are well-suited for lots of guitar playing. With those kinds of songs, I just want a great feel so I can play a lot. It’s the same thing with the feel of this song. But it’s funny because it’s all about this guy who is a nightlife kind of wild child. It’s about me and Amy, in a sense. It says, ‘Well, I was living the life of a guitar slinger/Womens and wine and whiskey for dinner/Oh, I knew I was in trouble the first time I seen her/ I went and married that contemporary Christian singer.’ To me, it’s very, very funny. She heard it and just shook her head and said, ‘You’ll say anything.’
 
“In the process of recording, the flood came and wiped out a big part of my collection of guitars and amps that I’ve been buying. I had 30-40 guitars and 30 amps that were lost in the flood. In the last verse, it has a reference to the flood: ‘Well, there’s a few licks left in this guitar slinger/ Even though half of my stuff’s in the Cumberland River/ Well, now all I really need is just one six stringer/ Yeah, I might have slowed down a little but buddy, I can still bring her.’ It’s got a great sense of humor. It’s fun and it feels great. I always want the lyrics to make you chuckle.”

 

“Tell Me Fool”
(Writers:  Vince Gill and Pete Wasner)
Bekka Bramlett sings on this with me and we’ve been friends for a long time. I love singing with her, about as much as anybody. She heard this song and said, “Hey, way to stick up for the girl.”  It’s that kind of sentiment – “What did she ever do to you?”  That was actually the original title. It’s about this guy who goes out and roars and does all of the things that he shouldn’t. “Tell me fool, what did she ever do to you?“

 

“Threaten Me With Heaven”
(Writers:  Vince Gill, Amy Grant, Dillon O’Brian & Will Owsley)
“Threaten Me With Heaven” was written with my wife Amy and Dillon O’Brian and Will Owsley. Since the song was recorded, my friend Will took his own life. So the song has a profound impact on me now. 
In my lifetime, “Go Rest High On That Mountain” has been the song that helped a lot of people through their grief. I think this one will in turn hopefully do the same thing. It’s a powerful, powerful song.  It’s unique to see every single soul that hears it respond.  I feel like it’s the crown jewel of the record.

“When the Lady Sings the Blues”
(Writers:  Vince Gill & Pete Wasner)
I wrote that with my old partner Pete Wasner, and we also wrote “Tell Me Fool” together. We’ve been making music and traveling and writing songs together for 30 years. We have always had a great kinship musically. More than anybody, when we play together, we know exactly what the other one is going to do.  It always feels right to play music with him and write songs with him.
When I was 13 or 14, we had a little movie theater a block from my house.  One of my favorite movies at that time was Lady Sings The Blues with Diana Ross.  At that time, I had never heard of Billie Holiday.  Anyway, I saw that movie 50 times.  I was just mesmerized by this music and became a huge fan of that bluesy big band sound. I was a young sponge and I couldn’t get enough of it. 
I wanted to pay tribute to Billie, so the last verse finds a way to use some of her song titles like “God Bless This Child” and “Ain’t It Nice What A Little Moonlight Can Do When The Lady Sings The Blues.”
There’s a lot of bluesy guitar playing on it. I feel like my guitar playing on this record has taken a step up. It’s interesting now, 30-something years into a career, that people are really starting to get a great sense of my guitar playing.  It’s almost as much a guitar record in spots as it is a singing record. This is one of the tracks that is kind of funky and Little Feat-ish or Steely Dan-ish with a lot of guitar playing on the end of it.

 

“Who Wouldn’t Fall in Love With You”
(Writers: Vince Gill & Ashley Monroe)
This is a haunting-sounding record and I love the way it sounds.  I wrote this song with Ashley Monroe (Pistol Annies), one of the really great young kids to turn up in town.  She is a writer well beyond her years and a great singer with a one-of-a-kind voice. Together we wrote some of my favorite songs on this record. I asked her to come and sing on it and it’s the kind of thing that every time somebody hears it, they ask, “Whose voice is that?” It’s really compelling. It’s like a cross between Dolly Parton and Alison Krauss.

 

“When Lonely Comes Around”
(Writers: Vince Gill, Will Owsley & Amy Grant)
This is another song that I wrote with Will Owsley. Will was one of the most musical guys that I had ever known. It just devastated me that he took his life last year.  I was talking to my friend Joe Glaser, who repairs guitars in town. We both tried to help Will through his struggles.  We were talking the other day and said, “Man, I wish he could have hung on. He had a couple of songs on this record and he might have been helped.”
Once again, a whole lot of that melody came from Will -- those chord changes. The changes are very Beatles-esque. Amy came and helped us finish the song.  Will played and sang on it. It’s special to me in that it attaches me to a dear friend who isn’t here anymore. I can still hear him play and sing a little bit.

“True Love”
(Writers:  Vince Gill & Amy Grant)
“True Love” is a song Amy had written about me and I asked her if I could write a bridge for it with changes. It’s mostly her song, with just a little help from me. She was sweet enough to say that we wrote it together.  It also was the first thing we recorded in our new studio, so it’s really special. She did not want to do it as a duet. She has trouble with how slow I like to do some songs. She says, “I can’t sing that slow.” “Yes you can. I promise you that you can.” It’s really beautiful. There’s a little piano part that John Hobbs did that is very reminiscent of Norah Jones -- very smoky.
What I love about this song is our daughter Sarah sings on it. Her voice has really got great character. It’s a compelling voice. She sings the answers with Amy and it’s hauntingly beautiful.

 

“Bread and Water”
(Writers:  Vince Gill & Leslie Satcher)
“Bread and Water” is the story of a homeless man who finds a kind place and face to help soothe his aching soul.   It’s a moving song that is loosely based on my brother. He struggled mightily in his life.  It’s a song about forgiveness.
My band that travels with me played on that track and they did a fantastic job. We’ve been playing it live for several months and had a great arrangement that we all loved.

 

“The Old Lucky Diamond Motel”
(Writer:  Vince Gill)
Where I grew up in Oklahoma, Route 66 came right through our back door, basically. We spent a lot of time hanging out on that road. That’s the road where my brother had his really bad wreck. Route 66 had those old great roadside motels that had a restaurant and swimming pool, and they would advertise the swimming pool in neon as you were driving past. There are so few of these places left. They are a part of Americana to me.
So this song is a story about this fictitious place I call The Old Lucky Diamond Motel, where there are two gals, Lucille and Madonna, slinging cheese enchiladas and smoking non-filtered Pall Malls. It’s a Guy Clark kind of song, and I don’t mean that braggingly. It’s very picturesque and very much a story song. There’s a reference in there, “just east of El Reno,” which is where my brother had his wreck, and “next to Ted’s Escondido,” which is a restaurant I go to all the time now. It’s a tip of the hat to one of my favorite restaurants, but it wasn’t there when I was growing up. It talks about this goofy little place of cowboys and Shriners and old five-and-dimers and teenagers and two-timing lovers.  It has a verse in there, “Room 23 was the first time for me/A stripper named Rita Cantrell/I spent all my money on that sweet Spanish honey/at the Old Lucky Diamond Motel.” (That part’s not true!) 
The guy is reminiscing about the beauty of this old place, and they are tearing it down and a piece of America fell. “I am all for progress, but God knows that I miss the old Lucky Diamond Motel.”

 

“Billy Paul”
(Writer: Vince Gill)
It’s a true story that happened a year or so ago. Billy Paul was a friend of mine that caddied out at the golf club where I play golf. We had been friends for 20 years. Unfortunately he took a woman’s life and then took his own. I was crazy about him. I wanted to understand how it happened. He meant enough to me to write a song about him. “What made you go crazy, Billy Paul? Was it true love or too much alcohol? Was your back all the way against the wall? What made you go crazy, Billy Paul.“  It’s a story song that talks about redemption and has a spiritual side to it, even as dark as it is.
My  daughters  Corrina and Jenny sing on this with me.  It sounds like a Haggard record, maybe reminiscent of the song “Leonard” that Haggard wrote about Tommy Collins or Waylon’s  “Clyde.”

 

 “If I Die”
(Writers:  Vince Gill & Ashley Monroe)
I don’t think I’ve written a song in years that has had the most immediate impact with people that this song does. I wrote this with Ashley Monroe and she had the start of it, “If I die a-drinkin’.”  Then I said, “That song would be interesting if it went from drinking to something different.  If it wasn’t all about that.”  So it went from, “If I die a-drinkin’, that is just who I am,” to, “If I die a-cheatin’, I will live with the shame.”  Then I said, “This could be really neat if it went the complete opposite way. If I die a singer, the last song I’ll ever sing is ‘When the Saints Go Marching In.’” The last verse is, “If I die a-praying to Jesus on my knees, everyone I’ve ever loved will be waiting there for me.” It goes from what you think is this drinking song to this really powerful ending.
I sang this at the Ryman last year after we had just written it. The place went nuts in a way I hadn’t felt in years and years and years. They wouldn’t stop clapping. I don’t know what it was about this song that spoke to people, but it did in the most profound way.

 

“Buttermilk John”
(Writer: Vince Gill)
This is a tribute to my longtime pal John Hughey, the steel guitar player on all of my records from 1990 on and he played with me on the road. He passed away four years ago. It’s a tribute song to him and his wife Jean.  They had a wonderful relationship. They were the kind of couple you aspired to be like. They always went everywhere together. If John had to run to Walmart, Jean went with him. They were never apart. A few years before he passed, he had retired and didn’t want to travel anymore.  The year that he died, I talked him into coming out on the road one weekend to fill in for someone and he brought Jean. They just sat on the couch everywhere we went, holding hands.
His nickname was Buttermilk John because he loved buttermilk and cornbread. It’s about our relationship and their relationship. He was a father figure to me. This is the first record I made without him, and I think it’s one reason why I took so long to make another record. I knew I was going to make it without him, and it was going to be hard. Paul Franklin is a world-class steel guitar player and he played a three-minute fade of just steel guitar. It’s ridiculous how good it is.  He played a lot of John’s stylings. Paul now plays with me on the road and we play together in The Time Jumpers.
The record has all of the Time Jumpers playing on it and most all of my band playing. All of the people that knew John -- so it’s a big cast.  This is our send-off to him.

 

Press Releases - Vince Gill

April 21, 2015 - Vince GillTo Be Spotlighted April 21 on Dan Rather’s The Big Interview

January 21, 2015 - Vince Gill Tour Features Ashley Monroe, Charlie Worsham, Jenny Gill ...

January 19, 2015 - Vince Gill - January 19-2015 - America's Best Communities Prize Competition Welcomes Vince Gill

November 18, 2014 - Vince Gill, Lyle Lovett Bring “Songs and Stories” To East Coast Tour

February 26, 2013 - Vince Gill Featured on ABS'S “Nashville”

March 5, 2012 - Vince Gill's These Days Makes People's Top 10 Discs of The Century List

March 1, 2012 - Vince Gill Takes on Series of High-Profile Projects

November 2, 2011 - Vince Gill - The Twelve Days of Christmas - Amy Grant and Vince Gill

October 20, 2011 - Vince Gill Hits the Trail On Monday With Guitar Slinger

June 8, 2011 - Vince Gill Plays Duane Allman's 1957 Les Paul Top Standard Guitar

September 25, 2010 - GRAMMY-Winner Vince Gill Headlines Free Outdoor Concert - Presented by Beaches of South Walton

July 23, 2010 - Vince Gill to be Featured in Film

June 30, 2010 - Vince Gill - THE TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS With Vince Gill and Amy Grant

June 29, 2010 - Vince Gill and Albert Lee at Crossroads

May 13, 2010 -  Vince Gill is Father of The Bride

April 6, 2010 - Belmont University invited Vince Gill and Amy Grant to participate in their student seminar.

March 25, 2010 - Moontoast To Host Vince Gill Auction Event Proceeds to Benefit Challenge America

March 1, 2010 - Eric Clapton Invites Vince Gill to Join Him at Sommet Center in Nashville

January 26, 2010 - Valentine's Day goes Country with Vince Gill's First Collection of "Love Songs"

July 28, 2009 - Vince Gill - Recording Academy® Hosts Grammy Salute To Country Music™ Honoring Vince Gill

September 26, 2008 - Amy Grant, Vince Gill - Launch 15-Date Christmas Tour Dec. 4

July 23, 2008 - Vince Gill- Embarks On Major U.S. Tour

June 12, 2008 - Vince Gill and Amy Grant along with daughter, Corrina to Serve as Family Golf Spokesfamily

March 31, 2008 - Vince Gill - “Back in Class” Concert Raises $100,000 for Elementary School Auditorium Renovation in Oklahoma City

December 6 - Vince Gill - Garners Two Grammy Nominations

November 27 - Vince Gill- Tune in to Oprah!

October 9 - Vince Gill - Songbird or Hummingbird?  You Decide

September 7, 2007 - Vince Gill- Rides his own trail to Wente

July 12 - Vince Gill - HDNet To Broadcast “Vince Gill And Friends Live At The Ryman”

April 3, 2007 - Vince Gill - Launches New Tour

March 20 - Vince Gill - Follows Grammy-Winning Debut Single With "What You Give Away," Featuring Sheryl Crow

February 12, 2007 - Vince Gill - Scores His 18th Grammy For Performance of “The Reason Why”

January 10, 2007- Vince Gill- On XM's The Bob Edwards Show

December 11, 2006- Vince Gill - It’s An Early Christmas For Vince Gill As These Days Goes Platinum, Snags Grammy Nomination

December 8, 2006- Gill- Garners 35th Grammy Nomination

December 4, 2006- Mr. Gill- Goes To Washington

November 27, 2006- Vince Gill’s - These Days Goes Gold Only 5 Weeks After Its Release

November 20, 2006- Vince Gill - Waltzes with Patti Pages, Remembers Buck Owens

October 25, 2006- Vince Gill - MCA Rushes to Meet the Demand for These Days

October 23, 2006- Vince Gill - Blitzes New York: A Week With The Maestro

October 17, 2006- Vince Gill - Is Everywhere All The Time As Media Embraces These Days Rollout

August 31, 2006- Vince Gill’s - Tour Reflects Diversity of These Days Album

August 8, 2006- Vince Gill - Launches His These Days 4-CD, Multi-genre Set With New Single-"The Reason Why"-and National Tour

June 29, 2006 - Vince Gill - Will Release 4-CD Set Of New And Original Songs October 17

December 8, 2004 -Vince Gill - Nominated for Three Grammys

December 5, 2004 -Vince Gill & Amy Grant Dec. 6 Christmas Show Will Be Broadcast Live To U. S. Troops In Baghdad

June 22, 2004 - Vince Gill - Scores A Hole-In-One In Next Week's Prize Hole

February 8, 2004 - Vince Gill - Wins 8th Best Country Vocal Performance, Male Award At 46th Annual Grammy Awards

January 21, 2004 - Vince Gill - CMA Awards Host Steps Aside After A Dozen Years at the Podium

December 4, 2003 - Vince Gill and Amy Grant caroling with the Boston Pops Orchestra

December 4, 2003 - Vince Gill - Ascends to a Career Milestone of 32 Grammy Nominations

September 3 , 2003 - Vince Gill - “Simply Christmas with Amy Grant and Vince Gill”

February 4, 2003 - Vince Gill - The Next Big Thing is Almost Here!

January 31, 2003 - Vince Gill - Vince Gill's New Album, Next Big Thing Featured on 2-Hour Westwood One Radio Special

December 12, 2002 - Vince Gill - Vince Gill Previews New Music Live at Historic Exit/In

October 25, 2002 - Vince Gill - Vince Gill Only Country Act on Gala New York Benefit

Sept. 26, 2002 - Vince Gill - To Appear On ABC's Primetime Thursday, October 3

September 25, 2001 - Amy Grant/Vince Gill Unite Nov. 30 - Dec. 16

April 2, 2001 - Vince Gill - Vince Gill’s "Shining Tenor" A "Highlight" Of Brian Wilson Tribute

March 21, 2001 - Vince Gill - Vince Gill To Join TNT's An All-Star Tribute To Brian Wilson

March 13, 2001 - Vince Gill - She's Got A Name!

March 12, 2001 - Vince Gill - It's A Girl For Amy Grant And Vince Gill

April 18, 2000 - Vince Gill- Releases Let's Make Sure We Kiss Goodbye

March 11, 2000 - Vince Gill - Vince Gill and Amy Grant Wed

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Vince Gill / Grand Ole Opry photo – (copyright symbol )2015 Grand Ole Opry Photo by: Chris Hollo

Vince Gill & Amy Grant photo credit Kristen Barlowe

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