Vince Gill Reveals His Favorite Duet Partner of All Time—and It Couldn’t Be Any More Obvious

Vince Gill got his start in 1978 as the lead singer of soft rock band Pure Prairie League. Ten years later, he embarked on his solo country career, and it’s safe to say that’s worked out well for him. Gill has scored four No. 1 solo hits and leads all solo male country artists with 22 GRAMMY Awards. However, the “When I Call Your Name” singer does some of his best with other artists. The hitmaker has teamed up with everyone from Kelly Clarkson to Little Big Town. So, who’s his favorite duet partner?

Vince Gill Credits This Singer For One of His Biggest Hits

Most country fans already know that Vince Gill and Patty Loveless are a match made in country music heaven. The pair started making music together in the mid-’80s, when the “Lonely Too Long” singer made her first record.

“There’s something magical about our voices together that I was always drawn to,” Gill told the Houston Press in 2015. “She sang on ‘When I Call Your Name,’ ‘Pocket Full of Gold,’ and I sang on a bunch of her hits — ‘If My Heart Had Windows,’ and then backgrounds on probably 15 or 20 of her records over the years.”

[RELATED: 3 Incredible Vince Gill and Patty Loveless Collaborations]

Gill’s breakthrough came in 1989 with his third studio album When I Call Your Name. The title track climbed to No. 2 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart. And the “Go Rest High on That Mountain” hitmaker says that was all Loveless.

“One of the reasons ‘When I Call Your Name’ did so well was because of Patty singing that high harmony,” Gill told Vulture. “When we were in the studio recording — I had tracked it, all the solos were done — nobody thought, ‘This is the one.’ Nobody said anything about it until Patty’s voice got on it.”

Gill Shares His Best Songwriting Tip

When it comes to putting words to music, Vince Gill knows what he’s doing. The 67-year-old Oklahoma native is the only songwriter to win the CMA Song of the Year award four times. What’s his secret?

“Guy Clark used to say, ‘If one word doesn’t add to the story, then it doesn’t belong,’” Gill told Vulture. What’s interesting about writing now is that I’m so much more willing to wait for the right word, for the right phrase, for the right cadence, than I used to be. It all has to work, it all has to matter, and it all has to have a point.”

Featured image by Rick Diamond/Getty Images for Nancy Jones