Vince Gill is a prolific songwriter, penning most of his own hits. Gil, a member of the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, has been writing songs since he was part of Pure Prairie League, before his solo career began. We uncover three songs that prove he really is one of the best songwriters in country music.
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“Whenever You Come Around”
Vince Gill and Pete Wasner wrote “Whenever You Come Around” together, for Gill’s 1994 album, When Love Finds You.
“Whenever You Come Around” begins with “The face of an angel, pretty eyes that shine / I lie awake at night wishing you were mine / I’m standing here holding the biggest heartache in town / Whenever you come around / I get weak in the knees and I lose my breath / Oh I try to speak but the words won’t come I’m so scared to death / And when you smile that smile, the world turns upside down.”
At the time, Gill was still married to his first wife, Janis Oliver. But he had already become enthralled by Amy Grant, the woman he married in 2000, after divorcing Oliver in 1997. Gill recalls first meeting his future wife and the immediate impact she had on him.
“When I met [Amy] years ago, I was just completely taken with her smile,” Gill later recounted. “We were doing a TV show together, and she walked in and smiled at me. I haven’t been the same since.”
“I Still Believe In You”
Gill released “I Still Believe In You” in 1992, as the title track of his fifth studio album. Written by Gill and John Barlowe Jarvis, the lyrics to the sweet love song read like an apology of sorts, when his career was taking off, at the expense of time with Oliver.
“Everybody wants a little piece of my time,” Gill sings. “But still I put you at the end of the line / How it breaks my heart to cause you this pain / To see the tears you cry fallin’ like rain / Give me the chance to prove / And I’ll make it up to you / I still believe in you.”
“Vince and I talked about writing backstage at one of the CMA shows,” Jarvis remembers (via Songfacts). “We finally booked an appointment on a Sunday at my house. He forgot to tell his wife, and they had a bit of a spat about it, apparently. So he was in the mood to write a make-up song. I pretty much had the music idea fleshed out before he got there. I would say he wrote 90 percent of the lyrics while I wrote about 90 percent of the music.”
“Go Rest High On That Mountain”
Gill just added a third verse to his iconic “Go Rest High On That Mountain,” which was first released in 1995. Keith Whitley’s passing first became the inspiration for the song, finishing it a few years later, when his brother Bob also passed away.
“I know your life on earth was troubled,” Gill begins. “And only you could know the pain / You weren’t afraid to face the devil / You were no stranger to the rain / So go rest high on that mountain / Son, your work on earth is done / Go to heaven a-shoutin’ / Love for the Father and the Son.”
Gill not only never imagined “Go Rest High On That Mountain” would become such a big hit, but he wasn’t even sure he would release it at all.
“I wrote this song, and I didn’t have any idea if anybody would want to hear it, or like it,” Vince Gill concedes. “All I wanted to do was grieve for [my brother] and celebrate his life.”
Photo by Scott Dudelson/Getty Images
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