VINCE GILL: Breathing Room

You’ve also written songs for other artists, not with the intention of your doing them.

Well, the number of people who have recorded my songs is really not very big. But the ones that have are pretty neat. I’m pretty lucky there. My personality will never allow me to promote myself. I’m not ever going to be good at picking up the phone and calling somebody and saying, “Hey, I’ve got the perfect song!” That’s not in my make-up. The times that I get my songs cut by anybody else have been totally accidental. The Clapton thing [Clapton recorded Gill’s “Back Home” for his latest album]…I had nothing to do with it. I mean, I met him at the guitar festival, but it was the tenacity of Beverley [Darnell], who I wrote that song with, that found a way to get that song in front of him. And I sure was grateful. I think I’m insecure for thinking this, and I don’t really believe that everybody else feels this way, but I can’t help but think that if, say, Kenny Chesney was being pitched one of my songs, I can’t imagine he wouldn’t say, “Well, if this is so good, why aren’t you doing it [laughs]?” You can’t help but think that way! Bruce Hornsby gives me grief every time I see him…”I can’t believe you passed on ‘Mandolin Rain'”…Well, it was the ‘80s, I was an idiot, what can I say [laughs]? Maybe that’ll change, now that I’m not really one of the big guns, going full-blazes in that world-like I was. I’m okay with that, but as time goes on I think I will try to prod myself as a songwriter to see if people would be interested in some of these songs. That’s another big reason behind the way this [four album project] turned out. I had so many songs written that I really liked. I said, “Dang it, I’m so tired of writing neat material that never sees the light of day.” When I started this record, I never intended it would be four CDs with all this new music, but it wound up there.