Spotlight On Vince Gill Story
& Photos by Glenda S. Paradee
Vince Gill performed for nearly three hours at the Ikeda Theater
in Mesa, Arizona on October 19, 2010.
Wow, does that man know how to entertain. With his 8 piece
band, Gill rocked the house. Gill's voice was in perfect form
and he also looked great too.
I just have to mention the set list because it was so amazing:
Last Chance, Let's Do Something. Tryin' To Get Over You, Take Your
Memory, Pocket Full of Gold, High Lonesome Sound, Some Things Never
Get Old, I Still Believe In You, Old Time Fiddle, Kindly Keep It
Country, No Future In The Past, Look At Us, Next Big Thing, Oklahoma
Dust, It's Hard To Kiss The Lips At Night, If You Ever Have Forever,
Adriana, Go Rest High On That Mountain, Bread & Water, Key To
Life, If I Die, When I Call Your Name, Oklahoma Borderline, Folsom
Prison (with Gary Mule Deer), What The Cowgirls Do, Whenever You
Come Around, Liza Jane.
So you can see by the set list, that Vince wanted to give a great
show for the money. Gill jammed on the guitar on most every
song. His band was fantastic.
Gill also told many stories of growing up years with his Dad,
stories about his brother, stories about the songs he wrote and his
career moves. He said he even once turned down an offer from
Mark Knopfler to join Dire Straits before When I Call Your Name came
out.
It was just a beautiful night with Mr. Vince Gill. I can't
wait to see him again in the future.
Gill will be coming out with a new album soon. It will have
Bread & Water, which was written about his brother and also
another song he wrote with Ashley Monroe called If I
Die.
Comedian Gary Mule Deer opened the show. He was
hillarious. He had the crowd laughing the whole time. He
sounds alot like Johnny Cash and he used Cash's music in his
show. Check out his website: www.garymuledeer.com
Check out Vince's website: www.vincegill.com
Thanks For The Music Vince!
MORE ON VINCE:
"Vince Gill is quite simply a living prism refracting all that is
good in country music. He uses the crystal planes of his
songwriting, his playing, and his singing to give us a musical
rainbow that embraces all men and spans all seasons." - Kyle
Young/Country Music Foundation on Vince's induction into the Country
Music Hall of Fame Vincent Grant Gill was born April 12, 1957 in
Norman, Okla. His father encouraged him to learn to play guitar and
banjo, which he did along with bass, mandolin, dobro and fiddle.
While in high school, he performed in the bluegrass band Mountain
Smoke, which built a strong local following and opened a concert for
Pure Prairie League.
After graduating high school in 1975, Gill moved to
Louisville, Ky. to be part of the band Bluegrass Alliance. After a
brief time in Ricky Skaggs's Boone Creek band, Gill moved to Los
Angeles and joined Sundance, a bluegrass group fronted by fiddler
Byron Berline. In 1979, he joined Pure Prairie League as lead singer
and recorded three albums with the band, the first of which yielded
the Top Ten pop hit "Let Me Love You Tonight" in 1980. Departing the
group in 1981, Gill joined Rodney Crowell's backing band the Cherry
Bombs, where he met and worked with Tony Brown and Emory Gordy Jr.,
both of whom would later produce many of his future solo albums.
In 1983, Gill signed with RCA Records and moved with his wife
Janis and daughter Jenny to Nashville to pursue his dream of being a
Country Music artist. His debut mini-album Turn Me Loose (produced
by Gordy) was released the following year, featuring his first
charting solo single, "Victim of Life's Circumstance." The Things
That Matter, his first full album was released later that year,
featuring two Top 10 hits: a duet with Rosanne Cash on "If It
Weren't For Him" and a solo hit with "Oklahoma Borderline." In 1987
he achieved his first Top 5 single, "Cinderella," from his album The
Way Back Home. In addition to performing as a solo artist, Gill also
worked frequently as a studio musician, wrote songs for other
artists and toured with Emmylou Harris.
Gill signed with MCA Records in 1989, reuniting with Brown as a
producer, and released the album When I Call Your Name. While the
debut single "Oklahoma Swing" (a duet with Reba McEntire) reached
the Top 20, it was the title cut that firmly established the singer
as a new force on the Country Music scene. The song peaked at No. 2
and earned Gill his first CMA Award (Single of the Year) and his
first Grammy Award (Best Male Country Vocal Performance) in 1990.
The next single, "Never Knew Lonely," peaked at No. 3 and the album
was certified Platinum by the RIAA for sales of more than one
million copies.
Declining an offer from Mark Knopfler to join Dire Straits as a
full-time member, Gill went on to record his next album Pocket Full
of Gold, which also became a Platinum certified album after it was
released in 1991. The album featured four Top 10 hits including the
title cut, "Liza Jane," "Look at Us" and "Take Your Memory With
You." That year he also earned his first CMA Vocal Event of the Year
Award for his performance with Mark O'Connor and the New Nashville
Cats (featuring Gill, Ricky Skaggs and Steve Wariner). In 1992 he
released the quadruple-Platinum certified I Still Believe In You.
The title cut became Gill's first No. 1 single, followed quickly by
"Don't Let Our Love Start Slippin' Away." The album also featured
the hits "One More Last Chance," "Tryin' to Get Over You" and "No
Future in the Past." Gill also topped the charts with "The Heart
Won't Lie," his second duet with McEntire, which was featured on her
album It's Your Call.
Vince Gill co-hosted the CMA Awards for the first time in 1992.
He continued to host "Country Music's Biggest Night" for 12
consecutive years, ending his run in 2003. Gill not only set a
record for the most times anyone has consecutively hosted a
televised award show, but he set the bar for other television awards
emcees with his respect for his peers and the audience, quick ad
libs and gentle humor.
Gill recorded his first Christmas album Let There Be Peace on
Earth in 1993, before releasing When Love Finds You in 1994. This
album also sold more than four million copies and featured six hits
including the title cut, "What the Cowgirls Do," "Whenever You Come
Around," "Which Bridge to Cross (Which Bridge to Burn)," "You Better
Think Twice" and "Go Rest High On That Mountain." Becoming an
in-demand duet partner, Gill sang with Amy Grant on "House of Love,"
the title cut of her 1994 album which became a hit on adult
contemporary radio stations, and with Dolly Parton on a duet version
of her signature "I Will Always Love You" from her Something Special
album that earned the duo the CMA Vocal Event of the Year Award
1996.
His 1996 album High Lonesome Sound featured Gill's eclectic
musical stylings. Hits included the title cut, "My Pretty Little
Adrianna," "Worlds Apart," "You and You Alone" and "A Little More
Love." The Key, released in 1998, was a return to hardcore Country
while chronicling the turmoil in his life including the death of his
father and the breakup of his first marriage. The album, which was
one of his most critically acclaimed releases and his first to top
the Billboard Country Albums Chart, featured the hits "If You Ever
Have Forever In Mind" and his duet with Patty Loveless on "My Kind
of Woman/My Kind of Man." His status as an in-demand duet partner
continued with his 1999 duet "If You Ever Leave Me" with Barbra
Streisand on the latter's album A Love Like Ours.
Gill married singer Amy Grant in 2000, and released Let's Make
Sure We Kiss Goodbye that same year. The album celebrated his new
relationship and featured the hit "Feels Like Love." The couple
celebrated the birth of their daughter Corrina Grant Gill in 2001.
Three years later, Gill released Next Big Thing, his first
solo-produced album, featuring the title cut and "Young Man's Town."
He reunited with Rodney Crowell, Tony Brown, Richard Bennett and
Hank Devito (as well as new additions Eddie Bayers, John Hobbs and
Michael Rhodes) as the Notorious Cherry Bombs, and the supergroup
released an album in 2004 on Universal South Records featuring the
single "It's Hard to Kiss the Lips at Night that Chew Your Ass Out
All Day Long."
In 2006, Gill released These Days, a groundbreaking, four-CD set
featuring 43 new recordings of diverse musical stylings. Each album
in the set explored a different musical mood: traditional Country;
ballads; contemporary, up-tempo; and acoustic/bluegrass music. The
set features a variety of guest performers including John Anderson,
Guy Clark, Sheryl Crow, Phil Everly, daughter Jenny Gill, wife Amy
Grant, Emmylou Harris, Diana Krall, Michael McDonald, Bonnie Raitt,
Leann Rimes, Gretchen Wilson, Lee Ann Womack, Trisha Yearwood and
more.
Gill has sold more than 26 million albums. He has earned 18 CMA
Awards, including Entertainer of the Year in 1993 and 1994. He is
tied with George Strait for having won the most CMA Male Vocalist
Awards (five), and is currently second only to Brooks and Dunn for
accumulating the most CMA Awards in history. Gill is a member of the
Grand Ole Opry, and has received 19 Grammy Awards to date, the most
of any male Country artist. An avid golfer, he helped create the
annual Vince Gill Pro-Celebrity Invitational Golf Tournament ("The
Vinny") in 1993 in order to help support junior golf programs
throughout Tennessee. Besides being known for his talent as a
performer, musician and songwriter, Gill is regarded as one of
Country Music's best known humanitarians, participating in hundreds
of charitable events throughout his career.
In August of 2007, the Country Music Association inducted Gill as
the newest members of the coveted Country Music Hall of Fame.
Check out his website: www.vincegill.com
Thanks For The Music! |