NASHVILLE, Tenn. (January 29, 2016)- Multi-Grammy award winner and MCA Records Nashville recording artist Vince Gill announced today during a live Facebook chat at Ernest Tubb Record Shop in downtown Nashville with legendary Opry announcer and Country Music On-Air Personality Hall of Famer Eddie Stubbs that he will celebrate his 25th Anniversary as a member of the Grand Ole Opry® with two special shows on Saturday, August 13. Gill, one of the Opry’s most beloved and frequent players, was inducted as an Opry member on August 10, 1991.
Gill will release his 18th album, Down To My Last Bad Habit, on February 12 on MCA Records Nashville. Beginning today, Opry fans can purchase autographed copies of the CD along with tickets to Gill’s 25th Opry anniversary show at opry.com.
Gill is also scheduled to reunite with Lyle Lovett on February 17 for their 13-city “Songs and Stories” Tour. For a complete list of tour dates and more information go to www.VinceGill.com.
“We’re excited both about Vince’s recording coming out next month and about celebrating his entire Opry career to date later this year,” said Opry Vice President and General Manager Pete Fisher. “We’ve had a preview of some of Vince’s new music at the Opry over the past few months, and it has been a reminder of why he has been an award-winning artist and a favorite of fans and fellow artists alike for more than a quarter century.”
Combining unequaled musicianship and creativity with a strong sense of tradition — and a personality that has won him a reputation as one of the nicest people in country music — Vince Gill is one of the most honored artists in the music’s history, and one of the youngest to earn membership in the Country Music Hall of Fame.
A talented guitar picker by the time he was in his teens, Vince began his career playing with bluegrass bands — first in his native Oklahoma, then in Kentucky with the Bluegrass Alliance and, briefly, Ricky Skaggs’ Boone Creek. Moving to Los Angeles, he signed on with fiddler Byron Berline’s Sundance before joining the pop-country-rock Pure Prairie League. He followed that with a stint in the Cherry Bombs with Rodney Crowell and work backing Rosanne Cash. In 1984, he moved to Nashville and signed his first recording contract as a solo artist, occupying himself with work as a sideman in studios and onstage.
Though several of his songs flirted with Top 10 status, Vince’s real breakthrough came in 1990 when “When I Call Your Name” reached No. 2. For the next decade, he was a steady presence in the Top 10, racking up several dozen hits that ranged from soulful country ballads (“I Still Believe in You,” “Tryin’ to Get Over You”) to feel-good country rockers (“Liza Jane” and “What the Cowgirls Do”).
Rewarded by his peers with a long list of Country Music Association awards and Grammy trophies (the most for a male country artist), he's sold more than 26 million albums while being hailed as a soulful singer, innovative instrumentalist, and creative force who showed a strong grasp of country traditions from bluegrass to honky tonk.
In more recent years, Vince has settled into a unique role as one of country music’s youngest “elder statesmen.” An eloquent spokesman for the Grand Ole Opry and for the Country Music Foundation, he has headed all-star casts at prestigious venues around the country, hosted the CMA Awards for multiple years, made guest appearances onstage and on recordings with artists ranging from the world-famous to the obscure, and toured extensively.
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