Vince Gill
For Down to My Last Bad Habit, his 18th studio album, it would have been easy for Vince Gill to kick back a bit. After all, when you’ve sold more than 26 million albums, won 20 Grammys, and earned 18 CMA Awards (including two Entertainer of the Year trophies), you’ve done it all, right?
Not a chance, says this musician extraordinaire, who produced his new album with engineer Justin Niebank. Down to My Last Bad Habit, available February 12, is his first solo album as part of a new deal with MCA, the label he joined in 1989.
“Forty years into this, it’s still as much fun as it’s ever been to play music,” says Gill, sitting in his home studio in Nashville. “At the end of the day, what I get excited about is doing something I haven’t done before. When I record a song, I feel successful if I’ve accomplished something new.”
That’s no small feat, considering that on his first solo album since 2011’s Guitar Slinger, Gill returns to his favorite theme, love in all its incarnations: Love sweet and celebrated (“Me and My Girl,” “My Favorite Movie”), love on fire (“Take Me Down,” “Make You Feel Real Good”), love denied (“I’ll Be Waiting for You,” “Down to My Last Bad Habit”), and love lost and mourned (“I Can’t Do This,” “Reasons for the Tears I Cry”).
The Oklahoma native wrote or co-wrote all of the songs on the album. “I love the diversity of the songs. Some of them are brand new, and some of them have a lot of years on them,” he
notes. Gill took two years to make the record, during which he co-produced the second of two albums (Like a Rose, The Blade) with the old-soul vocalist Ashley Monroe. And with steel guitar wizard Paul Franklin, he recorded Bakersfield, an album composed of the hard-country songs of Buck Owens and Merle Haggard.
The new album likewise acknowledges country’s deep roots with the steel-guitar laced “Sad One Coming On (A Song for George Jones).” Gill, who approximates Jones’ clench-jawed vocal, sang at Jones’ funeral in 2013, but he was so broken up that he could hardly get through it. He wrote the new song as a way to assuage his own pain, and to give the King of Broken Hearts his due as perhaps the greatest country singer ever.
“If something’s country, I want it to sound about 1958,” says Gill, with a laugh. “I want it deep, as honest and authentic as it should be.”
The songs on Down to My Last Bad Habit run the gamut of styles, including the jazzy “One More Mistake I Made,” the down-and-dirty Chicago blues of “Make You Feel Real Good,” and the blistering “I Can’t Do This,” which hearkens to the pop power ballads of the ‘70s. One of the album’s highlights, “I Can’t Do This” captures the excruciating pain of a man who runs into his old flame with her new beau, and remembers the nights “I’ve seen that red dress hanging on our bedroom door.”
“Boy, you talk about torment!” Gill says. “But I like melancholy. It’s light years more fun to sing. There’s so much more emotion in it.”
As a producer, Gill wants every note to matter, and to feel equal to the others. He picks his musicians and guest vocalists much the way a film director makes a movie. “I’m always casting,” he explains. “I ask myself, ‘Who’s right for this part? Who will play it the best?’ That to me is the most fun part of making a record.”
While he chose such luminaries as Sheryl Crow, Alison Krauss, Bekka Bramlett, jazz trumpeter Chris Botti, Little Big Town and guitarist Sonny Landreth for this record, he also found new friends in Ellie Holcomb, Charlie Worsham and Cam, in addition to his favorite vocalists close by: daughters Jenny and Corrina. “I feel like the Partridge Family is rearing its ugly head in my life,” he says, laughing. “But in a great way.”
Fresh off a run of Christmas shows at Nashville’s famed Ryman Auditorium with his wife, Christian contemporary and pop legend Amy Grant, Gill reunites with Americana star Lyle Lovett for a 14-city tour in February and March, reprising their witty, wry, and musically superb concerts of 2015. In addition to his own solo concerts, he also does about 30 gigs a year with the Grammy-nominated The Time Jumpers, the sophisticated Nashville-based ensemble dedicated to revitalizing western-swing and classic honky tonk.
“Since I put this studio in the house, I think I’m playing, singing, and writing better than I ever have,” he offers. “And that inspires me.”
Though Down to My Last Bad Habit is sure to appeal to fans old and new. “I was meant to play music,” he says, summing it all up. “And I don’t want to leave anything in the bag.”
Releases
News
VINCE GILL & PAUL FRANKLIN’S SWEET MEMORIES: THE MUSIC OF RAY PRICE & THE CHEROKEE COWBOYS OUT TODAY
NASHVILLE, TN – August 4, 2023— “With this record, Vince Gill and Paul Franklin have taken their admiration for Ray Price to the next level, with one of the finest true-country tributes of all time,” states country music icon Bill Anderson in the liner notes for Sweet Memories: The Music of Ray Price & The Cherokee Cowboys. Now, 10 years after the release of Bakersfield, […]
“Danny Boy” Out Today Latest Release from the Upcoming Vince Gill and Paul Franklin Album Sweet Memories: The Music of Ray Price & The Cherokee Cowboys
NASHVILLE – June 30, 2023 – The internationally recognizable song “Danny Boy,” is the second track to be released from the upcoming album Sweet Memories: The Music of Ray Price & The Cherokee Cowboys, the latest project from country music icon Vince Gill and legendary musician Paul Franklin due out August 4. LISTEN TO “DANNY BOY” […]
Vince Gill and Paul Franklin Announce Release of Sweet Memories: The Music of Ray Price & The Cherokee Cowboys – Street Date: August 4
NASHVILLE – June 2, 2023 — Ten years following the release of the critically-acclaimed Bakersfield album, country music icon Vince Gill and legendary musician Paul Franklin, have joined forces again for their latest project, Sweet Memories: The Music of Ray Price & The Cherokee Cowboys. The 11-track album is set for release on August 4, 2023 on MCA Nashville and pre-orders for the much-anticipated project […]
Vince Gill Will Celebrate His 25 Years as Grand Ole Opry Member With Limited Edition Vinyl Version of Down To My Last Bad Habit
Fans Can Pre-Order Autographed Copies in Bundle with T-Shirt Grammy award-winning MCA Nashville country artist Vince Gill is celebrating his 25th year as a member of the Grand Ole Opry with the release of a Limited Edition Vinyl version of his newest album, Down To My Last Bad Habit. Fans can pre-order autographed copies of […]
Vince Gill’s Rollout of Down To My Last Bad Habit
Whatever Vince Gill’s last bad habit may be, it certainly isn’t indolence. He puts hummingbirds to shame. On the eve of the Feb. 12 release of his epic new album, Down To My Last Bad Habit, Vince journeyed to Los Angeles to be inducted into the Guitar Center’s historic RockWalk by one of his guitar […]
Vince Gill Prepares for Down To My Last Bad Habit Available Friday Feb. 12
There’s a new synonym for “everywhere” and it’s “Vince Gill.” Thanks to the excitement being generated by the Feb. 12 release of his new album—Down To My Last Bad Habit—Vince will be involving fans more intimately in more ways than ever before. “Take Me Down,” the first single from the album, features vocal assists […]
VINCE GILL ANNOUNCES NEW ALBUM DOWN TO MY LAST BAD HABIT
GRAMMY Award-winning MCA Nashville country star Vince Gill revealed via NPR his new album Down To My Last Bad Habit is set for release on February 12. As part of the announcement, NPR has an exclusive first-listen of Gill’s lead single, “Take Me Down” featuring Little Big Town (available HERE). Gill wrote/co-wrote, co-produced and is […]
VINCE GILL ANNOUNCES TOUR DATES FOR ‘VINCE GILL & FRIENDS.’
Nashville, TN – January 21, 2015 – Vince Gill will share the stage and sing along with Ashley Monroe, Charlie Worsham and daughter Jenny Gill on the four-date mini-tour, “Vince Gill & Friends,” March 19-22. The intimate musical experience is a thematic extension of his January round of shows with fellow musician Lyle Lovett. Singer-songwriter […]
VINCE GILL AND PAUL FRANKLIN WILL PERFORM IN SUPPORT OF THEIR BAKERSFIELD: DELUXE EDITION CD
(Feb. 4, 2014) – Country Music Hall of Fame member Vince Gill and steel guitar legend Paul Franklin will perform on ABC’s “The View” on Thursday, Feb. 6, and on FOX Business Network’s “Imus in the Morning” on Friday, Feb. 7, in support of their album Bakersfield: Deluxe Edition. The CD, an expanded edition of […]
Historical Tribute Album Bakersfield Recieves Praise
GILL & FRANKLIN TO APPEAR ON NPR’S “ON POINT,” “ALL THINGS CONSIDERED” AND FOX’S IMUS IN THE MORNING “A GREAT COUNTRY ALBUM IN ANY ERA.” – ASSOCIATED PRESS Nashville, TN – MCA Recording and 20 Grammy Award-winning artist Vince Gill and famed steel guitarist, Paul Franklin, released Bakersfield last week via MCA Nashville to thunderous praise. In support of the historical release, […]
VINCE GILL CELEBRATES 30TH ANNIVERSARY OF AWARD-WINNING ALBUM “I STILL BELIEVE IN YOU”
VINCE GILL CELEBRATES 30TH ANNIVERSARY OF AWARD-WINNING ALBUM “I STILL BELIEVE IN YOU” For over four decades, Vince Gill has been one of the most popular and most recorded writers and singers in modern country music. This month, Gill’s album I Still Believe in You celebrates its 30th Anniversary, having made its debut in September of 1992. The […]
CMT celebrates country icon Vince Gill with “CMT GIANTS: VINCE GILL,” premiering Friday, September 16th at 9p/8c Brad Paisley, Carrie Underwood, Chris Stapleton, Cody Johnson, Emmylou Harris, Keith Urban, Luke Combs, Maren Morris, Reba McEntire, Ricky Skaggs, Rodney Crowell, Sting and more appear in star-packed special honoring Gill’s storied careerFirst-ever televised performance to air from […]
COUNTRY MUSIC ICON VINCE GILL TO HELP RYMAN AUDITORIUM CELEBRATE 130TH ANNIVERSARY WITH FOUR-NIGHT RESIDENCY
COUNTRY MUSIC ICON VINCE GILL TO HELPRYMAN AUDITORIUM CELEBRATE 130TH ANNIVERSARY WITHFOUR-NIGHT RESIDENCY Nashville’s historic Ryman Auditorium has announced a four-night residency featuring GRAMMY Award-winning, Country Music Hall of Famer and Grand Ole Opry Member Vince Gill coming this August, with special guest Wendy Moten, to help celebrate 130 years of the venue’s storied legacy. Gill’s Ryman Residency will mark […]
Vince Gill Announces Summer Tour – Wendy Moten Joining as Featured Guest
Vince Gill Announces Summer Tour – Wendy Moten Joining as Featured Guest One of the most popular and most recorded singers of the past thirty years, superstar Vince Gill announced today that he will resume touring this summer, with 18 dates being released today and more to be announced in the weeks to come. It […]
VINCE GILL WINS 22ND GRAMMY AWARD
VINCE GILL WINS 22ND GRAMMY AWARD “When My Amy Prays” Takes Home Grammy for Best Country Solo Performance MCA Recording artist Vince Gill was just awarded his 22nd Grammy Award for his performance of “When My Amy Prays,” in the category of Best Country Solo Performance. Speaking from his home in Nashville, Gill commented, “No matter where someone is in […]
Vince Gill Releases Latest OKIE Track: “Forever Changed”
Gill to Perform the Song on TODAY August 27 Exclusive iHeartRadio Concert will Celebrate OKIE Release Multi Grammy Award-winning MCA Nashville country artist Vince Gill released the latest focus track from his upcoming album OKIE today. “Forever Changed” is a song that is both timeless and of the moment. Inspired by Gill’s personal experience with […]
VINCE GILL ANOUNCES NEW ALBUM
VINCE GILL ANNOUNCES NEW ALBUM OKIE AVAILABLE AUGUST 23 NASHVILLE, Tenn. – GRAMMY Award-winning MCA Nashville country star Vince Gill announced today that his new album, Okie, will be released on August 23. Along with the announcement comes the premiere of a new focus track titled “A Letter To My Mama,” listen HERE. Gill wrote or […]
