All these great, great records. I love to write songs, and I love to write songs with people that I have a connection with. And once again, just trying to experience it, and I want to be welcoming of the next generation of young people. The fact is that we could just collaborate together and have something that might be great. How different is that? What do you love about performing? Vince Gill: Well, the reason any of us perform is we want to be responded to. We love that instant gratification, hoping what we do is inspiring, is enjoyable, whatever you want to call it.
You can feel the warmth of a crowd by the way they applaud. The beauty of a crowd is every one of them is different. Every single one of them is different. You always want to play for people that are crazy about you. And a musician is no different. Nobody bought a ticket to come and see you. It means more. It has more depth. That reaction was spiritual. What is it like to perform with these people and for their audience?
I got booked in a gig one time at a college during spring break, nobody came. You have to have tolerance, you know. One instance really stands out. A brilliant guitar player, one of my favorites of all time. Just play. They came to see you, so give them what they want. Striking that balance, after a long career with a lot of songs that are familiar, but you have new songs that you want to play.
Striking that balance where everybody feels like they enjoyed what they saw. All he does it just stand there and sing. I never went to hear anybody and see how good they could run around. I wanted to hear them play and sing! That was entertaining to me. I love to pick on me first. It puts everybody else at ease. But in saying that…. His tone is always like unbelievably great. I know I can play, but I have to sound great. You have just completely obliterated this song and torched it into the dirt, you know.
And here, arguably, one of the greatest guitar players that ever lived — in Eric Clapton — is sitting behind the board. And once again, there was a neat lesson in that. What was that like the first time? And I enjoyed it and it went really well, and I made people laugh, I made people feel comfortable.
And I won an award that night, I think, or two. And so it was a win-win for me, and everybody liked it, and they asked me to do it the next year and the next and the next.
And so I felt like my role was to make everybody look good, even at my own expense sometimes, and that was okay with me too. And I did it for 12 years. I enjoyed doing it, I enjoyed doing that role for all of country music. I want people to see me as an artist again. You know, they started going to arenas to do the show, and I never felt like a host has a chance to own the room in an arena like they do in a small room.
The years that I did it was at the Opry House in Nashville, and it only seats 4, people. It feels so disconnected because the place is so big. I just wanted to step away. The people like when I mess with them and introduce them. I felt like I did a good job, but if that was the only job that I felt like I was contributing, I needed to honor the musician in me a little more. You just mentioned being a fan. Whose shows do you go to today as a fan? I still like clubs.
I like small venues. I went to see James Taylor when he came to town, Sheryl Crow when she plays in town. How long have you been a member of the Grand Ole Opry? What is its importance to you?
And I enjoy that place because it really honors the history of the music. So it has a reverence for its past, which I love. Anytime I hear music that makes me feel or think of the past, then I think it has reverence and it has honor. And my mom will be 84 this year. It holds all the history of country music, not just the top 20 of the charts today.
And I like that so much. I love getting to know them as people and become their friends. It just has an importance to me, that I feel like all those people paved the way, because that was the only thing that was going on in country music was the Grand Ole Opry. It was the end-all to end-all if you were on the Grand Ole Opry.
We wanted to ask about the parenting style you and your wife practice in teaching philanthropy to your own family. Vince Gill: Boy, being a parent is a hard job, I think, because in parenting you want your kids to like you.
Too much sometimes. My oldest daughter is 27, and off and gone and succeeding in the world, and is a great kid and happy, and people like her. Our youngest is the one we parent together, and I still try to pull Amy aside and talk about things.
Twenty-seven years ago I was trying to accomplish, trying to achieve — all the things that you want to do as a parent, and also as a person. You just try to arm them with the best possibility to make a good decision. What motivated you to do that? I had a great experience as a kid with junior golf, with the availability to play golf on all the courses in Oklahoma City, where I grew up.
I wanted to help other people out, and so I started this tournament to raise money for kids to have an opportunity for junior golf, for kids to have a place to play, and ability to play, and talent to play. I never felt like any cause was more important than any other.
It cost a lot of money, and it was trying to make it work, pay it off and all that. And so this was built for them by pioneers that have come before them, and so I had this idea. And just go out and play for the love of music one night during the year. Just book one more gig. Just really neat, great people that have written songs and had great careers.
Who else? Rascal Flatts. Vince Gill: That was a headscratcher. I was so grateful that it happened to me so young. A lot of people felt that I was too young. Me included, to some extent. But they passed a new law in the eligibility of being able to be inducted.
The laws that were in place said you had to start your career prior to , and there are so many people since that would obviously be great additions to the Hall of Fame.
So the first year was Alabama, the second year was George Strait, and the third year was me. And I also understand that the only reason it was possible is because they changed the eligibility.
I know who a few of them are. What do you see as the next great challenge in music, country music, American music? Vince Gill: The technology is kind of ahead of the curve of the ability for everybody to be paid properly in a sense. So there are great challenges because of the technology being able to decimate our industry. Because people are always going to want and crave and need the creative process.
So I never fear that music will go on. It will live on and it will inspire and it will change the world. I feel like the journey is more important than where I wound up at the end of the journey. And I feel the same way with my achievements — with the tools that I had to achieve them with — felt as great at 17 as they do at I know I sing better, play better, write better today than I did ten years ago, 20 years ago, 30 years ago. All the above. And I heard Kenny Rogers speak not long ago, and he said something that was pretty impactful to me.
Were you worried that it might not be successful? They have to be earned. In , Gill recorded When I Call Your Name , which was certified double platinum for 2 million copies sold, while the title track earned Gill a Grammy Award for best country song.
Gill has since won more than a dozen Grammys and several other awards. Gill's father, an appellate judge, taught him to play the guitar at an early age. Throughout his teens, he performed with local bluegrass groups, including the Bluegrass Alliance, Mountain Smoke and Boone Creek with future country star Ricky Skaggs.
The group's release, Firin' Up , featured six songs by Gill, including the No. However, after an impressive start, Gill achieved only moderate success with his subsequent recordings.
Eventually, the album was certified double platinum for two million copies sold, while the title track earned Gill a Grammy Award for Best Country Song. The albums, High Lonesome Sound and The Key , had phenomenal sales and helped make Gill one of the most recognized and beloved artists in the industry.
In , Gill released These Days —a four-disc project that included various types of music, such as bluegrass and traditional, and several popular artists, such as Leann Rimes, Bonnie Raitt and Michael McDonald. Though he'd enjoyed some success in his own right, Gill wasn't really a star. A duet with Reba McEntire , "Oklahoma Swing," made the Top 20, but the title track was the true break-out hit, climbing to number two and winning Gill his first Grammy.
Its follow-up, "Never Knew Lonely," hit number three, and the album went on to sell over a million copies. Perhaps partly as a result, Gill declined an offer from Mark Knopfler to become a full-time member of Dire Straits. Over the next few years, I Still Believe in You would sell over four million copies. Returning to his bluegrass roots, Gill crafted a tour of American roots music styles that earned him some positive critical attention, even if overall reviews were mixed.
Although country radio shied away from its more traditional approach save for the Top Five hit "If You Ever Have Forever in Mind" , it sold well, going platinum and, surprisingly, Gill 's first album to top the country charts.
Rumors about Gill 's relationship with pop singer and onetime Christian star Amy Grant proved to be true, and the couple married in early Gill 's next album, Let's Make Sure We Kiss Goodbye , was largely a tribute to his new romance that many critics found overly sentimental. It gave him another Top Ten hit in "Feels Like Love," but it was uncharacteristically snubbed come Grammy time, despite securing four nominations.
Gill returned to critical favor with his next outing, 's Next Big Thing , which marked the first time he produced an entire album on his own. He followed it with another album of original material, Guitar Slinger , five years later in The album was recorded at Gill 's home studio and featured contributions from Grant and the couple's three daughters, Jenny, Sarah, and Corinna. In , Gill appeared on his Grant 's return to recording, How Mercy Looks from Here , in a guest duet on Earl Klugh 's Hand Picked , and issued the roots country album, Bakersfield , in collaboration with pedal steel guitarist Paul Franklin.
In , Gill joined the Eagles as a touring member, playing many of the parts once performed by the late Glenn Frey. Titled Okie , Gill reclaimed the once derogatory term coined during the emigration of many of its citizens during the Dust Bowl years of the s. He wrote or co-wrote a dozen songs including the album opener, "I Don't Wanna Ride the Rails No More," and the first single, "A Letter to My Mama," which reflects country's time-honored traditions of family, faith, and home.
Another track, "When My Amy Prays," comes full circle to celebrate his marriage and spirituality.
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