Vince Gill Celebrates 50 Years In The Business With New Curated EP Series

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Vince Gill. Photo: David McClister

Vince Gill is celebrating 50 years as a hit-making artist, and to honor the major career milestone, he’s curating a series of EPs, 50 Years from Home, to be released over the course of a year.

The first EP of the series, I Gave You Everything I Had, will be released on Oct. 17 via MCA, Gill’s longtime label home where he recently signed a new a lifetime deal. I Gave You Everything I Had contains six brand new songs all penned by Gill as well as one from his catalog, “Go Rest High On That Mountain,” which includes a new third verse.

It’s been 50 years since Gill chose a path toward music and left his home in Oklahoma to launch his career—a journey that’s taken him to Kentucky then California and finally Nashville, and, as a touring artist, around the world. It has seen him find success as a member of bands such as Pure Prairie League, Rodney Crowell’s Notorious Cherry Bombs, The Time Jumpers and the Eagles, and as an iconic recording artist in his own right. Gill culled the new collections in the 50-year series from over 100 songs written either solo or with others over the past few years, and each of the 50 Years From Home volumes have been meticulously selected to reflect a particular theme, idea, or aspect of his life.

Nostalgia, sentimentality, and mourning are the hallmarks of I Gave You Everything I Had. The title track and “Made Me” examine Gill’s journey in music, gentle songs that reflect the joy and pride that came from the sweat equity of the past five decades. With “Her Heart” Gill honors wife Amy Grant‘s kindness and welcoming spirit toward everyone who crosses her path.

“I Hope Everybody Lives to Be 100” is a country flavored wish Gill wrote shortly after John Prine passed away, and the aching “Benny’s Song” is specifically about the morning Benny Garcia, Gill’s oldest friend and longtime guitar tech, passed away, “When a Soldier Dies,” is a tear-jerker from the viewpoint of the ones left behind, and “Go Rest High On That Mountain” the extended version, closes out the EP.

Gill has even taken part in the design of each EP cover in the series by thoughtfully choosing an instrument from his personal collection to be featured. On I Gave You Everything I Had, he uses a photo of his 1942 Martin D-28 Herringbone guitar purchased in 1975 by selling a Martin given to him by his parents, and using his entire life savings, an important investment in himself at the onset of his career.

“The more I’ve done it, the more I’ve learned how to do it better – how to be more patient, where not to waste my time, what to do and not to do, to be willing to edit myself and keep digging,” says Gill about his process. “Experience is experience; there is no shortcut. This is what comes from doing this for 50 years.”

I Gave You Everything I Had Track List:
1. “I Gave You Everything I Had” (Vince Gill)
2. “I Hope Everybody Lives To Be A Hundred” (Vince Gill)
3. “Her Heart” (Vince Gill)
4. “Made Me” (Vince Gill)
5. “Benny’s Song” (Vince Gill)
6. “When A Soldier Dies” (Vince Gill)
7. “Go Rest High On That Mountain” * extended version (Vince Gill)

Lorie Hollabaugh
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