VINCE GILL PACKS 16 SONGS IN TO GUITAR SLINGER

Posted by admincw on Apr 27, 2012 in News | Comments Off

The title character on Vince Gill’s latest album, “Guitar Slinger,” is one of those fast-fingered, heavy-drinking cowboys you hear about in a million country songs. But in the middle of writing the song, Gill realized the title rhymed with something impossible for him to resist. So he threw in this lyric in the third verse: “Oh, I knew I was in trouble the first time I seen her / I went and married that contemporary Christian singer.”

The line, of course, is a reference to the contemporary Christian singer — Amy Grant, whom Gill married in 2000. “I thought, ‘If I can get that in there, this’ll be hysterical,’ ” says Gill, 55, by phone from his Nashville home. “Amy all but doubled over. She said, ‘You’ll say anything, won’t you?’ Yeah, pretty much.”

Gill’s approach these days is, in fact, to toss just about every idea he can think of into a song, then put it on a record. The Norman, Okla., country superstar has sold 26 million albums in his solo career, and, for the first time in years, he’s free. After Nashville label MCA Records signed him in 1989, Gill spent the next few years putting out a string of smash albums with a strict 10 songs apiece, including the No. 1 singles “One More Last Chance,” “The Heart Won’t Lie” and “Tryin’ to Get Over You,” and the Grammy-winning “When I Call Your Name.” All this time, he was feeling a bit repressed, so in 2006, he spewed out four discs’ worth of material called “These Days.”

ALL-AROUND TALENT VINCE GILL STILL SLINGING GUITAR

Posted by admincw on Apr 26, 2012 in News | Comments Off

By Allison Stewart, Special to the Tribune

These days, it’s easy for a guy like Vince Gill to get lost.

He’s one of the best all-arounders in country music: a soulful singer, a dexterous songwriter, a renowned guitar player. But he’s defiantly unflashy in a genre that has increasingly come to prize overstatement. Last October, Gill, 55, released “Guitar Slinger,” which was recorded over the course of a year in his new home studio. It’s a solid, pyrotechnics-free outing with an attention-grabber of a centerpiece track: “Billy Paul” details the murder-suicide of an acquaintance of Gill’s, with backing vocals provided by Corrina Gill, his then-10-year-old daughter with singer Amy Grant.

On the phone from Nashville, Gill talked about the track, discussed his fears of his own professional obsolescence, and took a few polite swipes at his pop-metal-minded country counterparts (he means you, Luke Bryan. We think.):

ENGINE 145 LISTS GUITAR SLINGER ONE OF 2011′S TOP ALBUMS

Posted by admincw on Jan 4, 2012 in News | 1 comment

Vince’s NEW album GUITAR SLINGER made Engine 145′s list of Best Albums of 2011!

Following up on a tour de force project like These Days is no easy task, but if anyone’s up to the task, it’s Vince Gill. On Guitar Slinger he covers a wide variety of country styles, even dabbling into soul and R&B, with typical Gill finesse. Make sure to give a listen to murder-suicide song “Billy Paul,” which features backing vocals from Gill’s preteen daughter. Read Ken Morton, Jr.’s review here.

POP MATTERS REVIEWS GUITAR SLINGER

Posted by admincw on Oct 31, 2011 in News | 2 comments

By Philip Majorins – Pop Matters

Vince Gill has earned a lot of respect over the course of his illustrious Nashville career. An exemplar of the country gentleman, his sweet tones and tasteful pickings have attracted fans from both sides of the modern/classic country divide. As a session player and solo artist his credentials proceed him in the soon to be released album Guitar Slinger. His first release since 2006’s These Days, a four-CD (43-song) box set that garnered much deserved critical acclaim. The thematic and rootsy These Days is an intimidating opus to follow, but one gets the sense that Vince Gill feels no pressure to repeat the artistic success of that formidable batch of tunes.

REVIEW: VINCE GILL SHOWCASES SONGWRITING STRENGTHS

Posted by admincw on Oct 25, 2011 in News | Comments Off

By MICHAEL McCALL – The Associated Press

The title of Vince Gill’s new album focuses on his instrumental skills. But the music more intently highlights another talent: songwriting. On “Guitar Slinger,” Gill concentrates on lyrics about friends and issues, turning out stories that are sometimes entertaining and often touching.

Some draw on his sense of humor: The title is a roadhouse rocker inspired by Gill’s catastrophic loss of musical equipment in Nashville’s 2010 flood. Others confront tragedy: “Bread and Water” is based on the death of Gill’s older brother, who struggled with daily existence after suffering a severe head injury. “Billy Paul” questions why a close friend took such a deadly turn, while “Buttermilk John” honors the late steel guitarist John Hughey, who worked with Gill for many years.

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