Vince Gill is many things: a prolific singer-songwriter, dexterous musician, incredible producer, and all-around nice guy, but one thing he isn’t is an egotistical fame-chaser—a humble attitude that helped him take people’s reactions to him after he released “When I Call Your Name” on the chin. The 1989 album of the same name was Gill’s breakthrough commercial success, placing him in the spotlight for the first time in what would become a decades-long career.
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That transition from relative obscurity to country stardom led to subtle changes in the way the public reacted to Gill “in the wild,” so to speak, which the ever-modest Gill has no trouble laughing about years later. During a 2017 performance at the Ford Community and Performing Arts Center in Dearborn, Michigan, Gill delighted the audience with tales from the road during his career come-up.
People’s Reactions Changed After “When I Call Your Name”
Vince Gill is undoubtedly one of the most beloved members of the Nashville country music community, but he doesn’t have quite the same level of household recognition as other stars in the genre like Tim McGraw or Kenny Chesney. And generally speaking, Gill wouldn’t have it any other way. He’s frequently talked about how he doesn’t like to think of himself as a star, and he’s even hidden his identity while enjoying a karaoke night during an off-day on tour.
But he never really had to worry about any of those things until the late 1980s, when he released his third studio album and first commercial success, When I Call Your Name. Slowly but surely, Gill was becoming a household name. While he was on the road promoting his hit record, Gill started to notice how people reacted to him. “I spent most of my life in anonymity and never got recognized. Then, after [“When I Call Your Name”] came out, I had a mullet, I had a video, things were going crazy. I would occasionally get recognized, and that was always interesting and strange.”
Gill recalled talking around a shopping mall one day when he noticed two women walking toward him down the thoroughfare. “I walked past them, and one of them did a double take and said, ‘That fella looks like Vince Gill.’” He said the other woman turned to her friend, laughed, and said, “He wishes.”
On Occasion, Vince Gill Even Took Part In His Own Roasts
The “nicest guy in Nashville” was in a unique position in the early 1990s. His songs were ubiquitous enough for many people to know them, but his face wasn’t readily recognizable enough for those people to identify him as a star when he was out in public. This paradox was almost like an invisibility cloak to Gill, allowing him to hear people’s opinions of him sans filter. One such moment happened when Gill was eating at a hotel restaurant. Fleetwood Mac had stayed at the hotel the night before, and Gill’s server, spotting the table’s road-worn appearance, asked if they were with the band.
Gill told the server they were with a different act, Vince Gill, and that he and his buddies slung merch for the country singer. “She comes over a little bit later and brings our food, and then she starts eyeballing me a little bit,” Gill said. “She says, ‘You know what, you kind of look like him.’ I said, ‘Ma’am, that is no compliment. I think he’s kind of, you know, a little puffy. Roly-poly, this and that.’ She said, ‘Yeah, you know, you’re right. He has put on a lot of weight.’ She proceeds to completely dog me the rest of this breakfast.”
That is, of course, until Gill handed her his credit card. “She walked off, and she came right back to the table, and she goes, ‘You are a son of a b****.’ Those were always funny.”
Photo by Featureflash Photo Agency/Shutterstock
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