at this link<\/a>).<\/p>\nGill\u2019s career actually kick-started in the mid 1970s (he was a late addition to Pure Prairie League), which is why he\u2019s calling his recent series of extended play (EP) recordings Fifty Years From Home. Eight of the collections (with seven or eight songs each) are now available; the plan is to string them out through the end of this year.<\/p>\n
The EPs include brand-new songs along with a few earlier favorites from his illustrious career.<\/p>\n
In this exclusive Catalyst interview, Gill talks the whys, hows and wherefores of the new series of recordings, about his most famous song \u201cGo Rest High on That Mountain\u201d and his nearly 10-year \u201cguest\u201d membership in the Eagles and their residency in Las Vegas\u2019 super high-tech showroom The Sphere \u2026 along with a few surprises along the way.<\/p>\n
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St. Pete Catalyst: It doesn\u2019t take a rocket scientist to figure out that the music business has changed from what it was 40 years ago. How do you adapt? Was that the reason for this series of EPs? Because of the way people get their music?<\/p>\n
Vince Gill: I guess it\u2019s partly that, but it\u2019s also that I never get tired of, hopefully, singing a great song. I think that\u2019s the one thing that stays constant. A great singer singing a great song is kinda timeless, and you never know when you\u2019re gonna strike a nerve with folks, and sing something they like.<\/p>\n
And part of it is, also, I\u2019m 69 and I\u2019ve more than acknowledged the fact that I don\u2019t have as much time left to be creative as I\u2019ve had to this point. So it has a much deeper connection and a much deeper meaning, and it\u2019s just so ingrained in me from my whole life that I\u2019m so compelled to do as much as I can with the time that I have left. That\u2019s big part of it.<\/p>\n
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As for the EPs \u2026 are people buying records any more? I don\u2019t know.<\/p>\n
You know, I\u2019m not sure I do either! I know my way that I grew up in, and I know it pretty well, but the new way I don\u2019t. I always tell people, look, if American Idol or The Voice had been around in 1948, Little Jimmy Dickens would have been on them. You just gotta find a way to, y\u2019know, find your way in. However the wave of it is, it\u2019s always gonna change, the format\u2019s gonna change, whether it\u2019s an LP, a 78, a 45, an 8-track, a cassette or a CD \u2026 that\u2019s all evolved and changed and been different throughout the whole time.<\/p>\n
So you just kinda go with what the majority rules is and do the best you can.<\/p>\n
All I\u2019m trying to do is get better. I\u2019m trying to write a better song, I\u2019m trying to sing a better song, and play a better song. So my agenda has not changed in all these years. It\u2019s really about improving, and my ears \u2013 in so many ways \u2013 never lie to me. They tell me that I\u2019m maybe writing the best songs I\u2019ve ever written, I\u2019m singing better than I\u2019ve ever sung and playing better than I\u2019ve ever played. That\u2019s real positive, so I\u2019m leaning on that in a big way.<\/p>\n
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It reminded me of the box you put out with four CDs of new material. That was a new format.<\/p>\n
Yeah, These Days, in 2007. This (the EP project) came from me coming up with a whole lot of songs. I wrote a boatload of songs. I was getting together with these young, cool songwriters and I said well, I don\u2019t want to see these songs just never see the light of day.<\/p>\n
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I don\u2019t know if you knew who Roy Book Binder was \u2026<\/p>\n
Oh, yeah.<\/p>\n
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He passed away this year, here in St. Petersburg. One of your new songs is called \u201cGoin\u2019 to Tampa.\u201d Roy had a tune called \u201cGoing Down to Tampa.\u201d<\/p>\n
Oh really?! I never knew that.<\/p>\n
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They\u2019re very different songs. Roy wrote in that old-timey style and your song, of course, is a rockin\u2019 blues \u2026<\/p>\n
Well, glad I didn\u2019t steal something! [Laughter] That song came from an old joke I remembered from my Pure Prairie League days: \u201cI didn\u2019t say was going to take you to Florida, I said I was goin\u2019 to Tampa witcha.\u201d It always struck me as funny. And I though well, someday maybe it\u2019ll make a song. And it finally did, 40 years later.<\/p>\n
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I watched the NPR Tiny Desk Concert you guys did recently, and you played a song you\u2019d just written called \u201cHeroes.\u201d And it\u2019s not on any of the EPs.<\/p>\n
Yeah, it\u2019s gonna wind up in here somewhere. I cut it, and I wasn\u2019t crazy about the version I cut, so I think I\u2019m going to re-cut it.<\/p>\n
But it\u2019s one of my favorite songs, of all these songs that I\u2019ve come up with.<\/p>\n
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Who were you thinking about when you wrote that?<\/p>\n
All of \u2018em. And there\u2019s so many. You know, it doesn\u2019t matter if it\u2019s music or sports, or it\u2019s whatever it is, you\u2019ve gotta have people you looked up to and learned what you\u2019ve learned to be able to do what you do. It\u2019s a tune about pretty much everybody that comes to this town (Nashville). Everybody comes here with dreams, and a suitcase full of songs, hopes they hit a lick. And it\u2019s kinda all about that.<\/p>\n
People that taught me how to write songs, people that taught me how to play the guitar, people that taught me how to sing, and the records I love and the people I looked up to. It\u2019s all that.<\/p>\n
The funny thing, to me, is a lot of these songs reflect the entirety of my life, the entirety of my career. The whole project\u2019s called Fifty Years From Home, and it\u2019s been amazing how many of these things turning up in these songs have a 50-year connection. Whether it\u2019s a guitar I got, or whether it\u2019s some guys I played with, or somebody that just recently passed \u2026 it\u2019s almost eerie how many of these things are turning up that have that 50-year kind of connection.<\/p>\n
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Your song \u201cGo Rest High on That Mountain\u201d was recently added to the Library of Congress. Can you reflect on that song a little bit, and why that was an honor? That\u2019s a big deal.<\/p>\n
It is a really big deal. I\u2019ve written songs my whole life. And if you write a handful of songs in your life, in your career, that really strike a chord, you\u2019ve done well, I think. Not every song is \u201cYesterday\u201d; not every song is gonna trip the switch in a big way. So to have one that I think I\u2019ll be remembered for, that\u2019d be the song. Without a doubt.<\/p>\n
When my brother died, I had no intention of even recording the song. I just wanted to write a song and grieve the loss of my big brother. He was such a good big brother, y\u2019know, and always sweet to me.<\/p>\n
Just to have something that people go to when they\u2019re really struggling is powerful. It\u2019s different than a hit song. This is a connection that\u2019s deep, and is really about people in their hardest of times.<\/p>\n
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You\u2019ve sung that song at a lot of services. How do you keep it together?<\/p>\n
I have to go somewhere else. I have to kinda disengage and do my best to get through it. Sometimes I can get through it, and sometimes I fall apart. As you know from over the years, it\u2019s not hard for me to fall apart, and I\u2019ve done it plenty of times. So it\u2019s nothing new.<\/p>\n
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Do you still enjoy touring? You\u2019ve always struck me as a people person, so I wondered if it was rewarding to get out there and re-connect with fans all over the country? Like \u201cYou\u2019re still here. I\u2019m still here. Great to see you again.\u201d<\/p>\n
Yeah! I\u2019m just grateful people still show up. And I love doing it. It\u2019s all I\u2019ve ever known, so it\u2019s familiar like breathing is.<\/p>\n
And doing the Eagles gig for the last 10 years has given me less and less opportunities to go out with my own band and my own songs. So it\u2019s even more special at this juncture.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve got a killer band put together, great players, great singers \u2013 it\u2019s gonna be a blast.<\/p>\n
I do still love it. The real fix, and the real pull, is that immediate response of a conversation. And there\u2019s nothing like it in the world when you do something and people respond. You can\u2019t describe the feeling.<\/p>\n
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What\u2019s it like to have a residency in Las Vegas? It must be nice not to have to get back on the bus after every show? Do they treat you like kings at The Sphere?<\/p>\n
Well, I have a running gag that people hear me say and they go \u201cWhat a prima donna,\u201d but I only mean it humorously. If they say \u201cWhat\u2019s it like playing at The Sphere?\u201d I say, it\u2019s the most people I\u2019ve ever been ignored by.<\/p>\n
[Laughter] Because they\u2019re all watching all the stuff, all the bells and whistles \u2026 and really, it\u2019s astounding to see it. People are gobsmacked when they walk in there and see the magnitude, the size and the scope of it all. And I get it, you know, I would be the same way.<\/p>\n
What I think is so cool about it is the music is so familiar to people, and has been for 50-plus years, that they can sit back and watch the thing. And be entranced by it. We\u2019ve done close to 60 shows in there now, something like that.<\/p>\n
We play Friday and Saturday night, and the Friday and Saturday night after that. And we don\u2019t stay; the guys let me go back home for five days, then come back out for two days. Then off for three or four weeks and then go back out, so it\u2019s totally do-able. And pretty cool.<\/p>\n
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So, are you filling in for both Glenn Frey and Don Felder, at the same time?<\/p>\n
Kinda, but not too much Felder, really. Chris Holt has taken over the guitar duties that Steuart Smith had been (doing) there for close to 25 years. If I had to do that as well, I think my head would explode.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not as much of a guitar gig as it is a singing gig. They didn\u2019t need the guitar playing as much as they needed a singer, so that\u2019s really my role.<\/p>\n
And I sing as many songs as Don (Henley) does, so I\u2019m featured and out front and it\u2019s been an unbelievable experience, that I was the guy that they thought enough of to call and come do that.<\/p>\n
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\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For over 40 years now, Vince Gill has been a major presence in country music. He has more…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":307986,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[202,204,203,199,201,200],"class_list":["post-307985","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307985","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=307985"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307985\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/307986"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=307985"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=307985"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=307985"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}