If you were an aspiring balladeer, you’d hope to be born with a voice like Vince Gill. The country star, who’s also a restrained, yet no less jaw-dropping, guitarist, may be best known for how he’s perfected the country tearjerker. Country music has a long history of lonesome singers, from Merle Haggard to Patsy Cline, and Gill became a legend by following the tradition of these and other great sad song crooners.
For those already familiar with a tearjerker like “Go Rest High On That Mountain”, this is all familiar territory. But for those discovering Gill’s powerful balladeering, let this list be an introduction to one of the greatest living American voices.
“When I Call Your Name”
Gill’s narrator arrives home from work to find a goodbye note on the table. The lovestruck speaker couldn’t wait to get home, and his romantic partner couldn’t wait to leave. “Oh, the lonely sound of my voice calling is driving me insane,” he sings. It’s a heartbreaking tune where the feelings are no longer mutual, and the speaker is left with only the sound of his own voice calling for someone who no longer answers. Following the weeping pedal steel break, Gill dials up the despair with a key change.
“I Still Believe In You”
The title track to Gill’s fifth studio album is part apology and part promise. Written by Gill and John Barlow Jarvis, this earnest tune features a banger of a chorus. Now you might not think that’s the right word to describe a country tearjerker, but a Vince Gill ballad exists in a class of its own. A conversational lyric, instead of garnishing the subject with metaphor or poetry, the selfish narrator puts it straight, and Gill’s delicate tenor does the rest. “I still believe in you / With a love that will always be.”
“Threaten Me With Heaven”
A mortality tale where Gill sings about a couple grappling with the reality that one of them will die first. “What’s the worst thing that can happen?” Gill asks. And even when one believes in the afterlife, it never seems to ease the painful finality of losing a loved one. I’m not a religious man myself, but the thought of clinging to hope, to each other, remains eternally moving, especially in Gill’s voice. Then, of course, he burns a solo of mournful blues on an album fittingly called Guitar Slinger.
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