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"This one is country from top to bottom."
That's how Vince Gill describes The Key, his latest MCA Nashville collection. At a time when "country" is used to describe just about any style recorded in Nashville, leave it to Vince to remind us that this music does have authentic roots and branches.
"There are a lot of left-field country records out there," he observes. "And I've certainly made my share of them. But lately I've found myself just missing real, true country music. Searching the radio, you don't hear very much of it. And I just miss singing those kinds of songs.
"This time, I had a very definite idea of how I wanted the album to sound. In the past, I'd get with my fellow songwriters and just go with whatever came out. But I knew I wanted to write a very traditional record. I knew the kinds of songs that needed to be written. So I just decided to buckle down and do it."
Vince Gill wrote solo all but three of the 13 tunes for The Key. They include "My Kind Of Woman/My Kind Of Man," his first true duet with his frequent harmony partner Patty Loveless; "Hills Of Caroline," a folk song featuring Alison Krauss; "The Key To Life," which honors the memory of his late father, and a jukebox weeper with Lee Ann Womack on harmonies titled "Kindly Keep It Country." The last could serve as the theme song of The Key.
Along the way he zips through the western swinger "I'll Take Texas," a toe-tapping Bakersfield Sound homage called "I Never Really Knew You 'Til You Said Goodbye" and the instant-classic roadhouse shuffle "Don't Come Cryin' To Me." The lead-off hit single, "If You Ever Have Forever In Mind," is Vince's way of tipping his hat to the grand masters of The Nashville Sound.
"I'm not afraid to tell somebody where I got a musical idea. The acoustic guitar solo on 'Let Her In' is kinda reminiscent of 'Garden Party.' I'm trying to emulate Buck Owens on 'I Never Really Knew You.' I would be thrilled to death if somebody heard 'If You Ever Have Forever In Mind' and walked up to me and said, 'You know, that reminds me of those Ray Charles records of the '60's where he sang country standards.' You flatter someone by trying to be like them, by being inspired by them. I hope that somewhere guys like Owen Bradley and Floyd Cramer are smiling down on this. Because I sure loved their records. I learned how to do what I do from those records."
Vince Gill was one of the most popular mainstream country performers of the early'90s. He grew up in Oklahoma playing banjo and guitar with local bluegrass musicians. At age 18 he joined the Bluegrass Alliance in Louisville, Kentucky andplayed alongside band members Sam Bush and Dan Crary. After one year, he went to L.A. to play with Byron Berline and his band Sundance.
Two years later he accompanied a friend to an audition for Pure Prairie League. The band members remembered Gill because his high school band Mountain Smoke had opened for them years before, and immediately offered him a job. In 1979, he became the band's lead singer. During his three years with them, the band had a Top 40 pop hit with his song, "I'm Almost Ready" (1980). He left Pure Prairie League soon after the single's success to spend time with his then-pregnant wife Janis Oliver, a well-known bluegrass singer on the West Coast. After the birth of the child, Gill contacted Rodney Crowell to see if his band the Cherry Bombs needed a guitarist. He joined Crowell's group and, shortly afterward, former Cherry Bomb keyboard player Tony Brown signed Gill to a solo contract at RCA.
In 1984, Gill moved his family to Nashville and cut his debut EP, Turn Me Loose.His second single, "Victim of Life's Circumstances," cracked the country Top 40, beginning a string of hit singles that ran well into the '90s. In 1985, Gill had two Top Ten hits including "If It Weren't for Vince Gill was one of the most popular mainstream country performers of the early '90s. He grew up in Oklahoma playing banjo and guitar with local bluegrassmusicians. At age 18 he joined the Bluegrass Alliance in Louisville, Kentucky and played alongside band members Sam Bush and Dan Crary. After one year, he went to L.A. to play with Byron Berline and his band Sundance.
Two years later he accompanied a friend to an audition for Pure Prairie League. The
band members remembered Gill because his high school band Mountain Smoke had opened for them years before, and immediately offered him a job. In 1979, he became the band's lead singer. During his three years with them, the band had a Top 40 pop hit with his song, "I'm Almost Ready" (1980). He left Pure Prairie League soon after the single's success to spend time with his then-pregnant wife Janis Oliver, a well-known bluegrass singer on the West Coast. After the birth of the child, Gill contacted Rodney Crowell to see if his band the Cherry Bombs needed a guitarist. He joined Crowell's group and, shortly afterward, former Cherry Bomb keyboard player Tony Brown signed Gill to a solo contract at RCA.
In 1984, Gill moved his family to Nashville and cut his debut EP, Turn Me Loose.
His second single, "Victim of Life's Circumstances," cracked the country Top 40, beginning a string of hit singles that ran well into the '90s. In 1985, Gill had two Top Ten hits including "If It Weren't for Him," which featured harmonies from Rosanne Cash. In addition to his hit singles, Gill sang harmonies and played guitar on over 120 records, wrote and co-wrote songs with artists like Rosanne Cash, and toured with Emmylou Harris's band during the latter half of the '80s. In 1989, his career fired up again after he signed with MCA. His first album with the label, When I Call Your Name, produced the Top 25 hit "Never Alone," a song co-written with Cash. Following "Oklahoma Swing," a hit duet with Reba McEntire in 1990, Gill released "Never Knew Lonely," a number three hit in the fall of 1990 that began a string of Top 10 hits that ran for five straight years.
Gill's 1991 album Pocket Full of Gold went platinum a year after its release, and more hits and accolades followed. By the time he was asked to joined the Grand Ole Opry in 1992, Gill had become a bonafide superstar -- his '92 album I Still Believe in You went platinum within two months of its release. He had three Top Three hits in 1993, including "One More Chance." In 1993, Gill's RCA best-of album went gold, as did his Christmas album Let There Be Peace on Earth. In 1994, he released When Love Finds You, which hit the Top Three on the country album charts and crossed over to land on the Top Ten pop album chart. In June of 1996, Gill released High Lonesome Sound; The Key followed two years later, as did the seasonal collection Breath of Heaven. Let's Make Sure We Kiss Goodbye arrived in early 2000, and featured Gill's daughterJenny on supporting vocals.
Source: livebyrequest.com
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