The Eagles’ Vince Gill recently sat down with Variety and talked about authentic country music. When pointed out that Gill is not in competition with younger country singers, he mentioned that the length of his career has allowed him some freedom:
“Well, we’ve been teasing that we’re going to take down Dan + Shay and Brothers Osborne and Maddie & Tae [in the best duo categories]. We’re coming for them… I’m teasing. But, you know, we’ve lived a lot of life, and in a way… This sounds weird to say out loud, but I think we’ve earned it — the ability to kind of go do what we want, follow whatever we want to, scratch what itch we want to scratch. And it’s a blast.”
Vince also emphasized that claims about country music are not accurate and explained the importance of giving a platform to country music:
“I think that at the core of all of this is we just miss hearing a lot of this music. You know, people say all the time, ‘Country music’s dead.’ I go, ‘No, it’s not. It’s not dead. It’s just not real popular.’ That’s a big difference, you know?
So we’re doing our part, sticking up for it a little bit, and giving it a voice and giving it a place, and giving people that may not know a lot of this music the opportunity to hear some of the stuff that was so powerful in our history. We get to teach young people a little bit about their history and show them how some of these records were made and how some of these songs were written, and all those kinds of things I think are nothing but good, you know?”
The guitarist also gave the green light about a new solo album coming four years after his last one, ‘Okie’:
“Paul came and played on it in February or something when we came in here in the studio for a couple of weeks and cut about 30 songs. So I’m going to give Morgan Wallen a run for his money. I’m going to put out more songs than he did. I have to because I’m old. I’m not gonna get many more chances, so I’m stockpiling.”
Before joining The Eagles in 2017 upon Glenn Frey’s passing, Gill was a member of The Time Jumpers, a swing band. He’s been a member of Grand Ole Opry, a weekly live country music broadcast radio, since 1991. Also, in 2016, he was selected among 30 musicians to celebrate the 50th year of Country Music Association Awards.
You can listen to Vince Gill’s ‘Okie’ below.