“Worried Myself in a Frenzy”: The Tough Lesson Vince Gill Had To Learn Early in His Career

In a perfect world, a musician would only have to focus on writing and playing great music to be successful. But a perfect world this is not, and as Vince Gill learned early in his career, being a musician is more than becoming a proficient writer, vocalist, or instrumentalist. A successful artist must also be a promoter, data analyst, public relations manager, and more. While most of these obligations can be outsourced to other professionals, it can be difficult for a burgeoning artist not to feel compelled to keep up with them.

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That’s how Gill felt, anyway, until one day, he opted for a different approach.

Vince Gill Had To Learn A Tough Lesson Early On In His Career

Vince Gill might be one of the most prominent names in the country music industry now, but that wasn’t always the case throughout his career. Despite his impressive vocal abilities and skillful guitar playing, Gill struggled to make any major headway with his albums when he first began pursuing a music career. His career path matched artists like Bonnie Raitt, who similarly didn’t get her well-deserved props until much later in her career. While Gill didn’t have to wait quite as long as Raitt, we don’t doubt it felt just as long in the years leading up to his breakthrough hit, “When I Call Your Name.”

Sometime after achieving the success he was after in the late 1980s and early ‘90s, Gill (clad with an impeccable ‘90s mullet, might we add) sat down with Ben and Butch McCain for an interview on The McCain Brothers Show. A casual Gill sat in his Tennessee home with a dog in his lap as he described the shift in his mentality toward record promotion and radio airplay.

After the McCains asked Gill how closely he monitored the charts for his record performance, Gill replied, “Not as much as I used to. I’m pretty much of the mentality now that once I’ve made the record and turned it in, my job is done. There’s really not a lot I can do.” Still, that wasn’t always the case.

The Country Star Had To Work Hard To Develop A New Mindset

As admirable as Vince Gill’s easygoing perspective about his career sounds, it took hard work to get there. “When I first started making records and having them come out, I was, ‘Who added it? What station? How many points are they worth?’” Gill told the McCain brothers. “I counted the points. I just worried myself into a frenzy. [Now], I’m the last one to find out how far it’s gone up. If a [promoter] likes it, they’ll play it, if they don’t, they won’t, you know. It’s no big deal. I’m just having a big time making records. If you like it, fine, if you don’t, fine.”

The country star wasn’t afraid of implementing this mindset in person with radio promoters, either. “There’s one story that the record company used to get a kick out of,” he continued. “There’s this big, hard station in Washington, back in Seattle. This guy was a real tough program director. I went into his office, and I was just getting ready to release my first record. He’s, you know, fairly arrogant. And I sit down in his office and introduce myself, and he says, ‘Well, what have you got? What are you doing?’ Something like that. He was real rude. And I said, ‘Well, I got this record coming out in a few months. I’m going to send you one. If you like it, play it, if you don’t, fine. I got up and left.”

Gill said that his frankness caught the radio promoter’s attention, and after that, he never had a problem getting airplay on the notoriously tough radio station. Of course, it helps that Gill’s music was good. But we don’t doubt his blunt delivery that fateful day in the promoter’s office helped push the needle.

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