Fans know Vince Gill as an incredibly talented musician with a golden voice. He can play guitar and mandolin with the best of them. At the same time, his vocal prowess is nearly unmatched. While he is hailed as one of the best in Nashville, he doesn’t claim to be the top picker or singer. In fact, Gill has found himself in over his head more than once.
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Gill sat down with Musicians Hall of Fame founder Joe Chambers to discuss his life and career. During the conversation, he talked about his influences, career highlights, and hit songs. He also revealed a couple of times when he felt like he had bitten off more than he could chew as a musician.
[RELATED: “I Went Nuts”: Vince Gill Recalls the First Time He Heard One of His Songs on the Radio]
Vince Gill Recalls Two of the More Challenging Moments of His Career
“Some advice I got early on was never be the best musician in the band, you’ll never learn anything. And that’s proven to be true. I’ve been in a few situations where I was in over my head. It forced me to bear down… and be patient enough and work hard enough to find your way in and it all worked out,” Vince Gill said.
Joe Chambers was surprised. He needed to know what situations made an accomplished singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist like Gill feel like he couldn’t cut the mustard. He said that it happened “plenty” of times. Two instances came to mind, though.
He Was Intimidated by Sting
The first was his CMT Crossroads performance with Sting. “They asked me to do it a lot of times but the artists they always asked me to pair up with never made enough since. When they said Sting, I go, ‘That sounds great.’ He’s a musician, he sings high, he writes his own songs. That could be something,” Gill recalled. “Then, I started going, ‘Oh, his music seems pretty complicated. It seems pretty over my head. But it made me bear down and go down in there and contribute. Maybe not note-for-note but I found my way to interpret what he had done. And it forced me to go down a road that I hadn’t really been down,” he said.
A Beach Boys Song Made Vince Gill Doubt Himself
Gill’s other example of a time when he was in over his head was during a Brian Wilson tribute show. “They said we’d like you to sing ‘Warmth of the Sun’ which I kind of knew a little bit. Beautiful song. They said we’d also like you to sing ‘Surf’s Up,’” he recalled. “I like the Beach Boys but I am not an aficionado of the Beach Boys. I didn’t know that song,” he added.
Gill thought “Surf’s Up” would be a bouncing surf rock anthem. He didn’t expect it to be a ballad with an incredibly wide vocal range.
“I got ‘Surf’s Up’ and I put it on and my eyes got really big. I was like, ‘This is like a classical piece. This is deep. This is all the way over my head. I can’t even touch the bottom here,’” Gill recalled. “I called my manager, Larry, and said, ‘Man, I can’t do this song.’ He was like ‘Just take some time with it,’” he added. He called the show’s producer and presented the same concerns. However, the producer told him he’d be fine.
He performed the song with David Crosby and Jimmy Webb and it went off without a hitch. Wilson was standing on the side of the stage as Gill was walking off. “I walked by him and he shook my hand. He goes, ‘That was really beautiful. We never did that song live. It was too hard,” Gill said, laughing.
Featured Image by Mickey Bernal/Getty Images
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