As one of the most beloved and prolific players of the country music world and beyond, it’s hard to imagine Vince Gill ever having a “low point” in his career. But before his breakthrough album, When I Call Your Name, that’s arguably where Gill found himself. His records weren’t paying off, commercially speaking. Despite his near-constant hustle in and out of the studio, Gill struggled to find a stable foothold in the country music charts.
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Gill had two options in the late 1980s. He could give up his artistic vision and prioritize sales over songwriting. Or, he could dig a little deeper and find inspiration elsewhere. Unsurprisingly, and thanks largely to a long-deserved Grammy win of an iconic blues guitarist, Gill chose the latter.
This Blues Guitarist Inspired Vince Gill During A Career Low Point
Although Vince Gill had been cutting his teeth as a bluegrass and country musician since he was fresh out of high school, he wouldn’t make his official debut until 1985, when he released his first RCA Nashville album, The Things That Matter. Only one single off the record made the top ten on the Billboard country charts: “Oklahoma Borderline.” While the album (and its follow-up, The Way Back Home) received positive feedback from critics and colleagues, Gill’s solo work failed to make significant headway on the charts.
In a 1994 interview with the Los Angeles Times, Gill recalled how difficult it was to solidify his artistic vision during his early years with RCA. “Nothing gave me any kind of vision of what people really liked,” he recalled. “Creatively, I wanted to make records the way I like ‘em, the way I hear ‘em. It was just nobody wanted to hear it for a while.” Gill said he knew he had the instrumental and vocal abilities to back up his music. “I don’t mean that egotistically,” he added. “My ears tell me that I have some talent.”
Nevertheless, Gill was at a loss for what to do or how to save his stalling career. Then, the 1990 Grammy Awards rolled around, and Gill saw the long-awaited rise of another artist who had skirted just around success for years: Bonnie Raitt. “[She] was a great example of a similar type situation,” Gill said. “In ‘89 when she won all the Grammys, I turned on the TV. ‘There you go, now, that’s fair.’ I felt like it kind of paralleled my situation in a sense.”
Two Artists Who Had To Try Again (And Again, And Again…)
Fortunately for Vince Gill, he might have found a kindred spirit in blues guitarist Bonnie Raitt, but he didn’t have to wait nearly as long to find his success. When Raitt won the Grammy Award for Best Album of the Year in 1990, it was for her tenth studio album, Nick of Time. She would have to wait nearly two decades after the release of her 1971 eponymous debut to receive that coveted award. For Gill, he had to wait around four years. His third album, When I Call Your Name, would prove to be his lucky ticket.
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“I wanted to do something really country that showcased my voice,” Gill told the Los Angeles Times. “For a long time, I was hesitant to shove my voice way out there on a record. I’d always been really band-oriented in my thinking. It just happened to be the right song at the right time. I never think about why it didn’t happen those seven years [with RCA] because it doesn’t matter in a sense. I figure that if it had happened then, then my career would be over now, and I wouldn’t be having any fun now.”
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