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Vince Gill talks 2018 tour, proud moments, success, fans and golf (Includes interview)

On his 2018 tour, Gill will be playing 28 shows across the country. His band members include Glenn Worf on bass, Billy Thomas on drums and vocals, John Jarvis on keyboards, Jeff White on guitar and vocals, Tom Bukovac on guitar, Jedd Hughes on guitar and vocals, Wendy Moten on vocals, and Paul Franklin on steel guitar.

On September 28, Gill will be performing at the Bloomsburg Fair in Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania. “I’m 61, I just hope I make it,” he said, with a sweet laugh. “I am going to show up and sing those songs that allowed me to do what I have been doing for the last 40 years,” he added.

At the upcoming 2018 International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) awards, Gill has been nominated for “Recorded Event of the Year” for “I’ll Just Go Away,” his collaboration with bluegrass sensation Dale Ann Bradley. “Dale Ann Bradley can really sing,” he said, complimenting his duet partner. “She is a good girl.”

Each day, Gill is motivated by his desire to get better. “Believe it or not, I am 61 years years old, and I feel I play better than I ever have, and I sing better than I ever have, and I write songs better than I ever have,” he said. “I feel I am continuing to improve and that is pretty positive.”

On his plans for the future, the country crooner said, “I am just going to keep at it. I have grand-kids now and I am excited. Life is pretty good. Nothing to whine about. My youngest daughter is about to graduate high school, and Amy and I will be ’empty nesters.’ I am in a new band called The Eagles and that’s fun.”

This year, Gill was a part of a rigorous and acclaimed tour with The Eagles. The iconic rock group will wrap their 2018 tour in Cleveland, Ohio, on October 20. On October 9 and 10, The Eagles will play two concerts at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

This November and December, Gill will join his wife, Christian music star Amy Grant, for their annual Christmas at the Ryman Auditorium shows. They will perform 12 concerts at this iconic venue in Nashville, Tennessee.

Throughout his illustrious career in the country music industry, Gill has won 18 Country Music Association (CMA) awards, eight Academy of Country Music (ACM) awards, as well as 21 Grammy awards. In August of 1991, Gill was made a member of the Grand Ole Opry.

As a prolific songwriter, Gill was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2005, and two years later, in 2007, he was inducted into the coveted Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. “The Country Music Hall of Fame induction was very surprising and very life-changing,” he said. “When that happened, all I wanted to do was to earn it.”

On the key to longevity in the music business, Gill said, “I hope it is attributed to the work itself, that it is quality and it is good. If you look at anybody in the history of music that has had longevity, such as James Taylor, their quality of work has been pretty good.”

As a producer, Gill has produced albums for such diverse musical acts as The Time Jumpers, LeAnn Rimes, Amy Grant, and Ashley Monroe, and he has made guest appearances on over 1,000 albums (which include projects by Barbra Streisand, Eric Clapton, Willie Nelson, Dolly Parton and the late George Jones). “Recently, we figured out that in my career I worked on over 1,000 albums, and that is a staggering number. I didn’t know that any of them would ever happen, so I like to be surprised with my future collaborations and see what’s at the other end of a phone call. We will see what comes down the road,” he said.

For aspiring country singer-songwriters, Gill encouraged them to not lose their focus on why they want to do it. “I hope you do it because you love it. Creativity is the real gift of music, and loving something. It is so deep and powerful,” he said.

As his alternate career choice, Gill would love to do something with the sport of golf. “I would be a skinny, broke, golfer somewhere,” he said, with a laugh. “I would have tried to be a professional golfer, and I probably would have starved to death cause I probably wasn’t good enough.”

Digital transformation of the music business

On the impact of technology on the music industry, Gill said, “It’s a different world and it is foreign to me. I don’t understand it since it’s not my way of how I grew up. Growing up, I would buy the records and put them on and listened to them. Now you can look at the song, and you can see everything and it’s very visual and very different. People have a single song mindset. Albums are not the same, and technology is a different animal that I just don’t understand.”

“I loved to put on records on vinyl and feel how peaceful they are playing them,” Gill said. “They are not in my face, they are not compressed, squashed or loud. Records are like a soft rain falling on you. I love listening to vinyl.”

For his fans, the Country Music Hall of Famer concluded, “I am grateful to them for responding and liking my music. Music has been about having a conversation with people through the word of a song, as well as singing and playing. I am thankful when people return the conversation with applause or by buying a record or listening to the song on the radio before they get out of the car. I hope I moved somebody.”

To learn more about Grammy-winning country star Vince Gill, his music and his tour dates, check out his official website, and his Facebook page.

Markos Papadatos
Written By

Markos Papadatos is Digital Journal's Editor-at-Large for Music News. Papadatos is a Greek-American journalist and educator that has authored over 20,000 original articles over the past 18 years. He has interviewed some of the biggest names in music, entertainment, lifestyle, magic, and sports. He is a 16-time "Best of Long Island" winner, where for three consecutive years (2020, 2021, and 2022), he was honored as the "Best Long Island Personality" in Arts & Entertainment, an honor that has gone to Billy Joel six times.

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