It is crazy to think that Vince Gill has been preforming for over thirty-years! If he did not attend that faithful night where he was signed we would of never had one of our favorite pioneering Country Musician's!

You Have To Hear The Story Of How It Happened:

When Eddie Rabbitt abruptly canceled his appearance at the 1983 Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo, rodeo officials called in a little-known country singer and bona-fide cowboy from San Marcos named George Strait. He rode into the arena on a horse, and before even singing a note sealed his spot in RodeoHouston history. But also pinch-hitting for Rabbitt that day was Rosanne Cash, still flush from the success of “Seven Year Ache,” and in her band happened to be an Oklahoma-born guitarist named Vince Gill. An A&R scout from RCA Records was also there that night, and signed Gill to his first major-label record deal.

“It was a fun night for me,” Gill says from his home in Nashville. “Made a lifelong friend in George and got a record deal all in the same night.”

Now 58, Gill notes he has a “long, neat” history with Houston, which will continue Thursday night on the Arena Theatre’s rotating stage. He first came here as the lead singer of country-tinged light-rock band Pure Prairie League, and says he remembers how bad Gilley’s smelled.

“One of my forgettable evenings of being overserved was spent in Houston,” he chuckles.

More than 30 years later, Gill's credentials are impeccable. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame, has sold more than 26 million albums, and could fill a couple of golf carts with all the Grammy, ACM and CMA trophies he’s won; plus a couple of more for all his humanitarian awards. Like Brad Paisley a generation before him, he can trade lick for lick with the most serious session cats in Music City, and be charismatic enough to play witty and gracious emcee of the CMA Awards, which he hosted or co-hosted from 1992 to 2003. And some of his hit songs — “Go Rest High On That Mountain,” “I Still Believe In You,” “Liza Jane,” “When I Call Your Name,” among many others — are as good as country music gets.

These days Gill can do what he wants, so he makes records like 2013’s Bakersfield, a tribute to the rockin’ twang sound of Buck Owens and Merle Haggard; or the Time Jumpers, the old-timey hillbilly-swing outfit he started in 1998 with about a dozen of Nashville’s other top session players. (They played Stagecoach, California’s top country-music festival, this year.) The day we called, he had just finished producing the next solo album by Ashley Monroe, a member of Miranda Lambert’s Pistol Annies, which he says is “pretty of-the-hook good” was three-quarters of the way through the next Time Jumpers record; had recently recorded a tune for an upcoming Roger Miller tribute album; sang on young buck David Nail’s new record; and just tracked a session with jazz pianist Bob James; all in the name of “trying to stay creative.” He’s also one of Nashville highest-profile golfers, but — incredibly — Gill has never played a round with maybe the one country musician who loves the links more than he does.

“I think it's because I'm not a partaker of Willie's Reserve,” he laughs. “The contact high might be too much for me. Could you imagine how much I'd weigh if I hung out with Willie all the time?”

All kidding aside, Gill says it “meant the world” when Nelson recorded a song of Gill’s on last year’s Band of Brothers album, “Whenever You Come Around,” which Gill wrote for his wife, Christian pop/rock star Amy Grant.

“It floored me that he liked one of my songs enough to record it,” he says.

You Have To Be Insane To Not Listen To Vince Gill

This Cowboy has been around for ages and produces some of the best Country Music ever played.

What Are Your Favorite Songs By Vince Gill – Tell Us About It!

Article Source: Houston Press

Photo Source: Jim Wright/Courtesy of Morris Public Relations