Years before they were a couple, Vince Gill and Amy Grant started collaborating shortly after appearing together on Gill’s TV holiday special, Christmas With Vince Gill in 1993. A year later, both collaborated on “House of Love,” the title track from Grant’s and again on Gill’s 1994 album When Love Finds You, and co-writing “If I Had My Way.” In 1998, Gill also covered Grant’s holiday song “Breath of Heaven (Mary’s Song),” just two years before they married.
By the 2000s, the couple continued working together, co-writing and duetting on “When I Look Into Your Heart” and “Look What Love’s Revealing” from Gill’s ninth album Let’s Make Sure We Kiss Goodbye.
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“Threaten Me With Heaven”
In 2011, Gill’s 12th album Guitar Slinger featured another collaboration, “Threaten Me With Heaven,” which they co-wrote with musician Dillon O’Brian and Grant’s touring guitarist Will Owsley.
“‘Threaten Me With Heaven’ is a song that I was fortunate to be a part of,” said Gill. “My wife Amy, Dillon O’Brian, and Will Owsley were at our home working on that song. I think I had been playing golf or something. I walked into the house and they said, ‘Hey, we’re kind of stuck.’ I’m glad I came home because I got to sit down and help finish a great idea.”
[RELATED: Vince Gill and Amy Grant’s Pre-Romance First Duet “House of Love”]
“Threaten Me With Heaven” was initially inspired by Amy’s ex-father-in-law, who once joked “Well, what are they going to do? Threaten me with heaven?” after receiving bad news from a doctor. The song took on a different meaning later on when co-writer Owsley, a close friend of Gill’s who toured with Grant for more than 16 years, took his life just months after its release.
Gill performed the song at Owsley’s funeral. When it was nominated for a Grammy for Country Song of the Year in 2011, Gill took Owsley’s then 13-year-old son to the ceremony as his guest in Grant’s place.
“It was Amy’s idea,” said Gill. “Amy came to me and said, ‘I think you should take Walker to the Grammys instead of me.’ I said, ‘That’s why you’re Amy.’”
I can see the tears upon your face
No hiding place
And you’re afraid that soon I will be gone
But time will still go on
You’re searching for the answers you can’t find
All in good time
What’s the worst thing that could happen?
If they say my time is through
Can they take away the love
Or the years I’ve shared with you?
What’s the worst thing that could happen?
What’s the worst that they can do?
Threaten me with Heaven
It’s all they can do
Threaten me with Heaven
If they want to
Threaten me with Heaven
I believe that it’s true
Threaten me with Heaven
I’ll be waiting on you
I hear angels through the window pane
Calling my name
Someday when they carve my name in stone
I won’t be, I won’t be alone
And if by chance a miracle appears
I’ll dry your tears
“I miss my dad every day,” said Walker, “but I know he is waiting on me just like Vince sings in this song.”
Amy’s Rendition
In 2013, Grant recorded her version of the song for the Target exclusive release of her album How Mercy Looks From Here.
The album was inspired by and dedicated to Grant’s mother, who died after years of dementia, features backing vocals by Gill, James Taylor, Sheryl Crow, and Carole King, and went to No. 1 on the Christian chart and peaked at No. 12 on the Billboard 200.
Photo: Kevin Dietsch/UPI/Shutterstock
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