Vince Gill Interview (page: 5 / 7) Country Music Hall of Fame	Print Interview

In the late '90s, you returned to a hardcore country sound. Was there a connection between going through tough times and going back to that sound?

Vince Gill: Yeah. I'm sure you're referring to a record called The Key.

Get the Flash Player to see this video. My dad died in '97, and I guess more than anything -- I went through a divorce and all that -- but what drew me to want to make a country record -- real traditional country record -- is I saw it waning in the amount of it that was being recorded, and the amount of it that was getting played on the radio. And I missed it. It's that simple. I love it to begin with, but I missed it. And then there was my father passing on. He was gone, and it made me remember all those records as a little boy that I heard, that he and my mom would play in my house, and you know, going through the record collection and singing Patsy Cline and Merle Haggard and Buck Owens and Johnny Cash and Webb Pierce. You know, on and on and on. All these great, great records. And I wanted to, I don't know, I just always followed my heart and that's what my heart was kind of all about in that period of time. And, you know, a little bit of the rebel in me was wanting to prove a point that they wouldn't play any really traditional country music, and I was right! And they didn't play that record very much!

I always want to follow what's in my heart and be honest about it. I'm at the mercy of whatever songs turn up. I love to write songs, and I love to write songs with people that I have a connection with. I've got a lot of folks that I've written songs with for years and years and years.

I make new friends, I write songs with new people, young people, try to get a perspective from a 25-year-old kid that's really talented, but who's going to see life totally different at 25 years than I will at 50-something. And once again, just trying to experience it, and I want to be welcoming of the next generation of young people. Not necessarily that they could learn something from me, that's not the exercise. The fact is that we could just collaborate together and have something that might be great.

You've played for presidents, you've played for heads of state in small rooms, and you've played for crowds, tens of thousands of seats filled with the energy from your fans. How different is that? What do you love about performing?

Vince Gill: Well, the reason any of us perform is we want to be responded to. We love that instant gratification, hoping what we do is inspiring, is enjoyable, whatever you want to call it. It's not more fun to play for the President than it is a bunch of guys in the honky tonk, you know. There's a fun factor in both, and there's also a factor that's not so fun in both.

Get the Flash Player to see this video. You get the best feeling when you're playing live. It's not who it is you're playing for, but it's what they respond with. So if you're playing and you get the polite "golf clap," you feel like, "Man, I'm not doing so good here." Then you get a "Raahh!" That's a great feeling. It's adrenalin, it's all that stuff. You can feel the warmth of a crowd by the way they applaud. I know that sounds crazy, but there's crowds that are screamers, you know, there might be 15,000 people -- and I love seeing it with younger acts. They'll say, "Now watch the reaction. There's 15,000 people in here, but very few of them are going to clap, they're all going to scream, and then there's going to be this giant scream and then it's going to be nothing." And then maybe an older crowd, they're going to all applaud, nobody's going to yell or anything, but that applause is deeper and there's a warmth to it. It's all totally different.

Then there's the indifferent crowd that's still talking while you're performing. There's a Texas crowd that, if they like you, they dance. You know, you're playing a beer joint or a honky tonk. The beauty of a crowd is every one of them is different. Every single one of them is different. It took me years to realize that if you play in Texas and they don't dance, they don't like you. You know, when you play in the beer joints in Texas, if they're dancing, they like you. They don't applaud, but they dance. You always want to play for people that are crazy about you. That's the greatest feeling in the world. It's like a kid, you know. When he does something great, he's looking for... "Where's Mom and Dad?" They want that. And a musician is no different. You can play for a private function where they're paying you a fortune, but you're just part of the window dressing in that sense. Nobody bought a ticket to come and see you. They're all different.

Get the Flash Player to see this video. The best feeling I've ever had in my life -- playing for, oh, 40 years in front of people now -- was in Ireland. And they didn't know my music that well there, but there's something about music in that country that it goes deeper. It means more. It has more depth. And I'll never, ever forget that. That reaction was spiritual. And it was unlike anything I'd ever heard, you know. And I've been in front of a lot of great audiences. Being in the world of bluegrass for so many years was a great training ground for me, in that the crowds that came to that kind of music were big lovers of that music or they wouldn't be there. So you're getting started and you're feeling like, "Man, they really love this." And it's the best feeling in the world when you're playing and people are listening, and they show their appreciation. It's the only way you know really how you're getting on.

You've played with Ricky Skaggs, Amy Grant, Barbra Streisand. What is it like to perform with these people and for their audience?

Vince Gill: I've done every conceivable kind of gig there is. There's nothing that's going to surprise me anymore. I've been the opening act, I've been the middle act, I've been the headliner. I've been the act that nobody's ever heard of. I got booked in a gig one time at a college during spring break, nobody came. You have to have tolerance, you know. And the older you get... Before, I'd go out and I'd be real disappointed that more people didn't come. Now I go out and I go, "Somebody came! Yippee!" Your perspective changes, just like with anything else, with a little bit of life experience and some wisdom and hard knocks and what not.

Get the Flash Player to see this video. One instance really stands out. I played, when I was playing in Pure Prairie League, and one of my heroes opened for us, it was Larry Carlton. He's a guitar player that most people aren't going to know, not a household name, but he played on Steely Dan records and was one of the greatest session players in Los Angeles. A brilliant guitar player, one of my favorites of all time. And I went up to him afterwards, and I go, "Man, this is wrong! You're one of the greatest guitar players ever and there's no way that you should have opened for us." He goes, "Man, it doesn't matter where you play. Just play." It was great advice to get as a kid.

So I don't worry too much about it. If you have enough savvy, you know what kind of crowd you're playing to. They came to see you, so give them what they want. Striking that balance, after a long career with a lot of songs that are familiar, but you have new songs that you want to play. Striking that balance where everybody feels like they enjoyed what they saw.

Get the Flash Player to see this video. My mind is never on the show so to speak, it's about the playing and the singing. And we don't dance around, we don't jump off the stage, we don't do anything other than sing and play. So some people would come to my show and go, "Man, this guy's boring! All he does it just stand there and sing." But that's my definition of what it is that I love and what I like. So I just do what it is that I've always enjoyed in other people. I never went to hear anybody and see how good they could run around. I wanted to hear them play and sing! That was entertaining to me.

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