The Unexpected Vince Gill Album That Marked the “Most Rewarding Creative Stretch” of His Life
Some artists might notice that their record label isn’t beating down their door for another album and get worried that the label has lost interest. When Vince Gill noticed his voicemail suspiciously void of “where’s the record?” messages, he took it as an opportunity to stretch his legs and start experimenting. After all, by the mid-2000s, the country icon felt like he didn’t have much to lose.
Speaking to Clint Black on Talking in Circles, Gill said, “This was about 2007, and the radio world of country music had basically shown me the door. They weren’t going to play too much of my current music anymore. I saw the writing on the wall, and I got to thinking about records.” Specifically, Gill began thinking about all of the songs he had written and then stored away somewhere to collect dust for the sake of time, album length, and record label demands. With no real pressure from his label to put out another album, Gill no longer had to worry about these constraints.
Gill told Black he typically writes anywhere from 60 to 70 songs for a particular record before paring them down to a reasonable album length. Rather than repeating the process for his eleventh studio album, Gill decided to start in an unusual place: the cutting room floor. He began recording week after week, fleshing out half-formed songs into bona fide tracks he could put on a record. He completed around 32 songs before he brought his idea to MCA Nashville.
Vince Gill Wrote a Triple Album, but His Record Label Pushed for a Quadruple
Vince Gill noticed that of the roughly two-and-a-half dozen tracks he had, he could split them up into three distinct categories. Some were obviously country-oriented. Others leaned toward rock ‘n’ roll. Gill described others as “smoky, kind of sexy” love songs. During his interview with Clint Black, Gill recalled, “I went to the record company [and] said, ‘Man, I think I got a neat idea here. I don’t know what to do with it. I think I have about three records’ worth of stuff. We could maybe finish them up and put one out every three or four months.’ They said, ‘No, man. Go back in. Make a fourth record. We’ll do a box set of all new music.’”
Gill finished the fourth album, leaving him with four distinct collections of music: Workin’ on a Big Chill, his rock record; The Reason Why, the “groovy” record; Some Things Never Get Old, full of traditional country and Western songs; and Little Brother, an acoustic album. The quadruple album featured a multitude of musical stars performing alongside Gill, including Sheryl Crow, Bonnie Raitt, Alison Krauss, Emmylou Harris, and more. Gill joked with Black that personnel was (rightfully) the greatest expense when making a record, likening his quadruple album to a “Fleetwood Mac record, it cost so much.”
The making of Gill’s first box set, These Days, was well worth the effort, though. “It was easily the most rewarding, creative stretch of my life,” Gill told Black. “It was a lot of fun.” The platinum-certified quadruple album peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart and No. 17 on the Billboard 200. Not bad for someone whom country radio had already “shown the door.”
Photo by Ebet Roberts/Redferns
