Vince Gill Archives - Bluegrass Today

Wall Guitar from Steve Martin and Alison Brown, with Vince Gill

The fertile partnership of banjoists Steve Martin and Alison Brown for Compass Records has brought forth another gem, a new song called Wall Guitar (Since You Said Goodbye), sung by Vince Gill.

It’s a heartbreak song, and there are few who can deliver such like Gill, who appears with Alison and Steve on banjo in the accompanying video.

Martin is quite pleased with how the song turned out, saying…

“Vince Gill melts me heart. Working with him and Alison makes me feel humble for once.”

Also assisting on the track were Stuart Duncan on fiddle, Rob Burger on piano and accordion, Garry West on bass, and Jordan Perlson on bass. Andrea Zonn added harmony vocals.

Alison recalls putting the song together.

“Steve has such a great instinct for crafting strong melodies, and it’s almost effortless to pick up on his melodic thread and carry the idea forward. What was amazing to me, though, was to see the lyrics come together. I was really struck by the emotional intimacy Steve conjured.”

The music video shares the song’s somber vibe, using black and white imagery. Check it out…

For Gill, participating on this song was a delight.

“I’ve known Alison since I was 19 years old — what a joy to watch her become the musician she is. And Steve Martin has made me laugh for 50 years. On top of that, he’s an amazing banjo player. What a great experience it was to record this song with them.”

Steve and Alison appeared yesterday (11/11) on The Kelly Clarkson Show, and discussed Wall Guitar, and other topics. You can see that segment online.

Wall Guitar (Since You Said Goodbye) is available now from popular download and streaming services online, and to radio programmers via AirPlay Direct.

Vince Gill plays bluegrass on the Opry

Vince Gill grasses up the Opry (5/17/24) – photo © Chris Hollo for the Grand Ole Opry

Vince Gill had a previously scheduled Opry set last Friday evening, and he decided to dedicate it in the memory of the late banjo great, Jim Mills, and pick some grass for the assembled crowd. True fans know that Vince got his start in bluegrass before crossing over to country, and still does bluegrass shows on occasion. When he did, he always called on Jim Mills to play the five.

For Friday’s set, Gill brought on Stuart Duncan on fiddle, Russ Carson on banjo, Jeff White and Jack Schneider on guitar, and Dennis Crouch on bass. Vince played mandolin.

Needless to say, they killed it, and Vince offered a lovely tribute at the beginning when he first came out.

“I had a real desire to play some bluegrass music (tonight). I started as a young bluegrass musician back in the early ’70s. Recently, I lost a really dear friend, banjo player extraordinaire, Jim Mills. I wanted to play some bluegrass music in memory of Jimmy.”

They started with a gospel number, All Prayed Up, followed by the Stanley classic, Think of What You’ve Done, and Bill Monroe’s Rose of Old Kentucky.

Many thanks to Laura Weber White, who shot this video, and Gill’s PR folks, especially Alison Auerbach, for getting it to us.

As always when there’s bluegrass at the Opry, the crowd went wild.

Well done Vince, et al! A wonderful tribute to a great musician and a fine man.

Vince Gill sings Bury Me Beneath the Willow on new Tony Trischka single

The latest single from Tony Trischka’s upcoming Earl Jam: A Tribute To Earl Scruggs project, a star-studded recording featuring his transcriptions of Scruggs’ solos from jams with John Hartford, is an arrangement of the timeless mountain folk song, Bury Me Beneath the Willow, with Vince Gill singing the lead.

We’ve described this unique album previously with earlier singles, but nothing beats hearing it from the horse’s mouth. Here’s Tony on ABC News in New York talking about its genesis, and some of the hot young artists who pick and sing with him on Earl Jam.

Tony chose an interesting way to record this familiar song, asking Michael Cleveland to open the track with a slow and somber solo fiddle in the key of E. When the full band comes in a moment later, they are in the key of A.

He says that it makes for a powerfully emotional impact.

“This is the first song the Carter Family recorded for Ralph Peer at the storied Bristol Sessions in 1927. The result [of Michael’s intro and the key change] is achingly beautiful!”

Gill became a household name through his career in country music, but he got his start playing bluegrass, which he demonstrates he hasn’t forgotten on this new single from Down The Road Records. Vince plays guitar and sings the lead, supported by Trischka on banjo, Brittany Haas on key of A fiddle, Dominick Leslie on mandolin, and Mike Bub on bass. Jeff White adds harmony vocals.

Have a listen…

Bury Me Beneath the Willow (feat. Vince Gill) by Tony Trischka

Bury Me Beneath The Willow from Tony Trischka and Vince Gill is available now from popular download and streaming services online. Pre-orders for Earl Jam are enabled now online ahead of its June 7 release date.

We asked Tony recently if a banjo tab book might be forthcoming for all those Scruggs solos he transcribed. While not committing to such an endeavor, he liked the idea, but asked that we let him get this album out first. He also hinted that he has enough material for a followup Earl Jam volume 2!

Trischka is touring this spring and summer performing material from the new album, so catch him if you can.

Del McCoury and Vince Gill together for Honky Tonk Nights

Vince Gill with The Del McCoury Band – photo by Chris Hollo © Grand Ole Opry

Nashville superstars Del McCoury and Vince Gill are singing together on the latest single from The Del McCoury Band. Honky Tonk Nights finds Vince and Del trading verses, and tenoring each other. Oh my!

The song has that funky, bluesy sound that Del and the Boys have made famous, and will be included on their next album, Almost Proud, set for release on February 18.

Vince shows that he hasn’t forgotten a thing from his years in bluegrass before hitting it big in country music. Del, of course, doesn’t miss a lick, despite his 82 years, and his band of sons Ronnie McCoury on mandolin and Rob McCoury on banjo, with Jason Carter on fiddle and Alan Bartram on bass, gives this track the perfect sheen.

Have a listen…

Honky Tonk Nights is available now from popular download and streaming services online.

Doyle Lawson presented with Bill Monroe mandolin replica

David Harvey presents Doyle Lawson with a Bill Monroe Hall of Fame Gibson F5 – photo by Styx Hicks

When Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver played their final show at Nashville’s Station Inn on November 27, David Harvey with Gibson Mandolins was on hand to make a special presentation.

Harvey honored Doyle for 60 years of performing bluegrass music professionally, and 20 years as an endorser and representative for Gibson, with his very own Bill Monroe Hall of Fame Gibson F5 mandolin. These are painstaking replicas of Monroe’s mandolin as it sits today in the Country Music Hall of Fame & Museum, with all the wear from hard playing, and the exact specifications of Bill’s 1923 Loar-signed F5. A completely hand made instrument, it is only the seventh such built by the Gibson custom shop, with an estimated value around $25,000. The labels in these instruments were signed by Bill Monroe years ago when they made a special Master Model for him while he was still living.

David also presented Doyle with a mandolin back signed by all the luthiers and craftspeople at the Custom Shop, a tradition for those who retire from the shop going back many years at Gibson. Lawson is retiring from regular touring with his band at the end of 2021.

Here is video of the actual presentation.

Couldn’t have said it better ourselves!

When we spoke with David this afternoon, he shared just how much he admires Doyle, both personally and professionally, and that his feelings are shared by everyone at the company. His suggestion to present this mandolin to Lawson as an expression of Gibson’s gratitude for years of loyalty and appreciation was immediately embraced by management, enthusiastically so.

Harvey shared a copy of this draft of the remarks he made at the presentation…

Tonight we honor Doyle Lawson…

I think back 50 years ago, I was ONLY 3 years old…seeing this man for the first time with the Award Winning Country Gentleman, and what an impression it made on me. I tried to learn all your licks from the record! You still inspire every listener and mandolin player today!

I thought a lot about what I would say tonight, and your contributions are immeasurable, your career is so vast, and you have done it all with excellence and professionalism. What do I mention…what do I leave out? I can’t begin to summarize your legacy.

We all know your music has been a benchmark in quality, and your records have been a soundtrack of our lives. One thing that stands out to me is how many careers you have launched. What knowledge and instruction you have handed down to all in your study.

In addition to the Country Gentleman, let’s not forget the Bluegrass Holiday record, all the Bluegrass Album Band recordings, and every Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver album must be on our desert island playlist. I think I can speak for all that this body of music is timeless.

Doyle, in honor of your more than 60 year career, it is my pleasure to present this signed mandolin back from the Gibson Custom Shop. This is a long standing tradition at Gibson Custom when someone retires. These signatures are the Gibson Custom Shop Management, the Mandolin Department, and the old timers that represent over 250 years of instrument building experience.

Finally, on behalf of Gibson Original Acoustic Instruments and the Custom Shop, I am proud to present you with The Gibson Hall of Fame Bill Monroe F-5 mandolin.
I am proud to call you friend and personally want to thank you for your gifts of music.

Vince Gill was also on hand Saturday evening to honor and introduce Doyle, and he even made an appearance with the band later in the evening.

Here is video of the first instrument tap Doyle offered up on his new instrument, his version of Pike County Breakdown, played very much in the Monroe style. Before they start you can hear Harvey joke with Lawson telling him not to scratch it.

Vince joined the band on stage to do the Osborne Brothers’ classic, Making Plans.

What a marvelous night for bluegrass music in Nashville. Many congratulations to Doyle Lawson for this honor.

Birmingham Jail from Barry Abernathy, featuring Vince Gill

Billy Blue Records has announced the imminent release of a new album from Barry Abernathy called Barry Abernathy & Friends, that is actually four years old.

Bluegrass fans remember Barry well from his time with Mountain Heart, and these days for his output with Appalachian Road Show. But what about the time in between? Well, that’s where this upcoming record comes in.

When Abernathy said his goodbyes to Mountain Heart in 2014, a band he had helped form with Jim VanCleve and Steve Gulley 16 years earlier, he was facing uncertainty about his musical future. Difficult neck surgery was on the horizon, along with a warning from his doctors that it could have a negative impact on his vocal chords.

So Barry set to work recording a solo project, not necessarily for release but mostly for posterity.

“I really hadn’t sung lead on that many recordings. I was thinking about something my kids could have one day, and I was wishing I had recorded a project of my own, if I wasn’t able to sing again.”

He started collecting songs, and making scratch recordings on his phone before discussing the idea with VanCleve, who convinced him to do a full-fledged album. He brought in some of the top vocalists in bluegrass to sing with him, like Doyle Lawson, Rhonda Vincent, Shawn Lane, and Dan Tyminski.

Barry and Jim already had plans for the Road Show in the works, and Barry said that the two projects really couldn’t be merged together.

“These are songs I love, recorded with friends and musical heroes I love, but they didn’t necessarily fit the style and theme we were considering for the Appalachian Road Show concept, they were more down the middle of the bluegrass road.”

Since ARS took priority on his attention in recent years, Barry Abernathy & Friends took a back seat for a while. But now Billy Blue Records has set a release date of February 26, with a new single out to radio today, a new version of the blues/folk song, Birmingham Jail. And he included yet another top vocalist in the track in the person of Vince Gill. The two turned in a nice duet on the chorus of this old standard.

Have a listen.

Birmingham Jail is available now to radio programmers via AirPlay Direct. Pre-orders for the Barry Abernathy & Friends album are available online.

Vince Gill has eye on Bluegrass Homecoming

If digital recording sites had a bin for remainders—products that didn’t live up to the hype or sales—they’d be filled with projects by country stars who, for one reason or another, tried the bluegrass route at some point in their careers.

It’s usually not for lack of talent on the part of the carpetbaggers, but for not understanding that playing country music with bluegrass instruments doesn’t make the music bluegrass.

Vince Gill won’t have that problem when he comes back to bluegrass, which he says he will do at some point. “I was bluegrass first,” he reminds. “I’m part of the family.”

Don’t get too excited just yet. There’s no firm date for Gill’s return after several decades of country stardom and 21 Grammy awards. But the mere fact that he’s talking about it—as he did with me recently—is exciting news while fans wait for the new festival season to get into full swing.

“I’ve always kept my ear in the world of bluegrass,” Gill said during a recent phone call to talk about his guest slot on Darin and Brooke Aldridge’s latest CD, Faster and Farther. “I only got to spend couple of years (in the bluegrass world), but I always thought I’d come back and do another record. I still want to, and some day I will.”

Gill’s dabbling in bluegrass covered a chunk of the mid-1970s, including stints with Bluegrass Alliance, Boone Creek (with Ricky Skaggs) and Sundance, led by Byron Berline, before he hooked up with Pure Prairie League for a few years, then launched a long and fruitful solo career in country.

Gill gets why bluegrass audiences don’t go for imitators from the country world. He feels the same away about some of those projects. But he did offer some friendly advice for some of the self-appointed gatekeepers of bluegrass:

“I think it’d be much more beneficial if they were a little more accepting” of music that doesn’t fit a narrow definition of traditional bluegrass. “It reeks sometimes of arrogance. We all have our curmudgeon tendencies, but it’s got to change. It can’t be emulating somebody over and over.”

For his part, instead of limiting himself to chestnuts that have been cut over and over again, Gill said he wants “to try to write some new songs that sound old.”

But aside from dipping toe into the old “what’s bluegrass” argument, Gill had nice things to say about the bluegrass community. “I’ve always been impressed in bluegrass by how nice the people are,” he said. “I’m glad that’s how I grew up to be.”

With his typical brand of self-deprecating humor, he also noted that he’s fortunate to have found success: “I’m glad this all worked out, because I wasn’t very handy, and I’m allergic to hard work.”

I, for one, wish that Gill’s return to bluegrass had something firmer than “someday” in the equation. But that mere fact that there is an equation is, in itself, is worthy of a late-winter smile.

Bluegrass Museum benefit with Vince Gill and The Time Jumpers

The International Bluegrass Music Museum in Owensboro, KY has been announced as the beneficiary of a gala event at the Owensboro Convention Center on April 17.

Billed as the 2015 Mayor’s Gala, the event will feature entertainment from Vince Gill and The Time Jumpers. More than a dozen themed food stations will be located in the lobby and exhibit hall starting at 6:00 p.m., and a number of cash bars will be available prior to the 8:00 p.m. concert. Guests are invited to come early, social with friends, and then enjoy the music.

The Museum is in the midst of a capital campaign to raise the remaining funds for their International Bluegrass Music Center & Museum along the Ohio River in Owensboro. Proceeds from the Mayor’s Gala will be added to funds already committed to this purpose, which includes generous pledges from the city.

Tickets are being offered for $75/person, or $1500 for a VIP table.

Additional details and ticket purchase are available online.

Nathan Stanley to Willow Creek Records

Nathan Stanley has signed with Nashville-based Willow Creek Records, who focus primarily on the Southern Gospel market. A new Stanley CD, Every Mile, is set for an April 15 release on Willow Creek.

The label is run by Terry and Rhonda Thompson. He is an award-winning producer/engineer, and she is a celebrated promoter who has been named Southern Gospel Music Association radio promoter of the year five times.

Nathan tells us that the new project will be all Gospel, combining Southern Gospel, bluegrass and country music. He will be joined by many of his Nashville friends like Vince Gill, The Isaacs, T. Graham Brown, Judy Marshall, Jeff & Sheri Easter, on a set of new and familiar songs.

New songs to be included are…

Every Mile (with Wes Hampton)
Piece of Clay
I Know Jesus Will See Me through
Where Will you Go
Let Me in your Heart

…along with several of Stanley’s favorite Gospel numbers:

Where No One Stands Alone
Heart That Will Never Break Again (with Jeff & Sheri Easter)
Would You Be Ready (with Adam Crabb)
Baptism of Jesse Taylor (with T. Graham Brown and Judy Marshall)
Green Pastures (with Jeff Bates & Judy Marshall)
Lord You’re The Best Thing That Ever Happened To Me
Hand In Hand With Jesus (with Vince Gill)

Nathan will continue to tour with his grandfather Ralph’s Clinch Mountain Boys, and on select shows as a solo act. His weekly televisions show, The Nathan Stanley Ministry Show, airs every Saturday night on the Living Faith Television Network.

Photos, video from Scruggs Center opening

Our Special Bluegrass Correspondent captured some images and video from the grand opening of the Earl Scruggs Center on January 11.