"My career has been all over the map," Vince Gill acknowledges. "It's been real traditional country; it's been real pop. It still rocks pretty good; it's bluesy — all these things. I never wanted to do just one thing over and over."
Since emerging in the mid 1980s as a country crossover hit maker, Gill has released a string of impeccable solo albums that showcase his sterling songcraft, his high, lonesome, Orbison-esque tenor voice, and his formidable six-string prowess.
But Gill also found time for side projects, like the Time Jumpers, a loose collection of musicians who present bluegrass and Western swing concerts in Nashville. And since 2017, he’s been a member of the Eagles, playing alongside Joe Walsh as the country-rock legends continue their reign.
Yet despite his versatility, Gill is, at heart, a country musician.
"I feel a real commitment to traditional country music because I think it's waning from popularity and people don't hear it so much anymore," Gill told Guitar Aficionado in 2017. "So I want to stick up for it. There will always be an element in me that wants to be reverent toward great traditional music. People don't realize how soulful country music can be. It can be just as soulful as Ray Charles."
Gill’s devotion to the genre — along with his philanthropy — were the impetus for him to receive the Willie Nelson Lifetime Achievement Award at the CMAs this past November. As he explained to Guitar Aficionado, he grew up in a guitar-centric environment, which ended up shaping his destiny.
"My father played a little bit, and he had an old Harmony, a Gibson ES-125, and a banjo, too," Gill recounted.
"Those are the first instruments I remember being around as a little kid. My dad also had a little tenor guitar, which was like an ES-125 as well. It only had four strings on it, so it was easy for my little hands to make chords on it. That's where I got going, until my hand got big enough to play all six strings.
"When I was 10, my father and mother got me for Christmas-in 1967, I think, a red Gibson ES-335 and a Fender Super Reverb amp, and I was on my way. I had my own gear and a red coil cord, and I was a force to be reckoned with."
That guitar, which now resides in the Country Music Hall of Fame, served Gill well in many teenage rock bands.
But by the time of his sophomore year in high school, he'd become obsessed with bluegrass music. Shortly after graduating, he acquired a guitar that is still one of the cornerstones of his collection: a 1942 Martin D-28 herringbone acoustic in mint condition.
"It cost $2,500 in 1975, which was a lot of money," he recalled. "I traded in a newer Martin I had, a ’71 D-41, plus $1,600, and I got that guitar."
As Gill explained to CBS Mornings in 2019, he and a friend were at a bluegrass festival in the mid 1970s when he found the guitar with which he’d create his future.
“I saw this guy, and he had it in a case and had a sign on it: ’Pre-War D-28 $2,500.’
“So I said, ‘Can I see that guitar?’ and he said, ’Kid, can you afford it?’ I said, ‘No, sir, but I’d sure, like to see it.
“So he opened up the case, and it was this guitar. And I had a newer Martin from like, 1971. I said, ‘Would you consider a trade?’ He goes, ‘Hell, no!’ He was a crafty old dude.
“And so I gave him, like, 1,600 bucks and my guitar. It was all the money I had in the world. It was every dime, and I was broke… But I had a gig for a couple hundred bucks a week. And I figured I’d be all right.”
The D-28 was with Gill during his early professional bluegrass tenures with Ricky Skaggs’ Boone Creek and Byron Berline's Sundance, a journey that also took him from Oklahoma, where he was born, to Louisville and Los Angeles.
That Martin is the subject of his song "This Old Guitar and Me," where he describes its magical nature and beautiful voice, while documenting its adventures.
What he doesn’t mention in the song is the wear and tear the D-28 acquired over its years of service.
“Pretty much remember every scratch I put in it,” he says in a video posted to TikTok. “I was playing it one day, and our dog — Tillie, I think the name was — jumped up and scratched the hell out of it.”
@vincegill Vince chose a specific instrument to showcase on the cover of each 50 Years From Home EP. The first one? His 1942 Martin D-28 Herringbone he bought when he was 18. What will EP 2 be? You’ll find out… soon!
♬ I Gave You Everything I Had - Vince Gill
Martin guitars became something of an obsession for Gill, who had about 50 of them when he spoke with Guitar Aficionado. Among the specimens he has owned are a 1928 000-45 and a pair of 1936 000-28s, including one in a rare shade-top, or sunburst, finish.
"I also have two OM-45s, which are extremely rare," he added. "Rarer than the D-45. Martin only made 41 of the OM-45s"
One of these, a 1930 model, was a 50th birthday gift from Gill's wife, singer and guitarist Amy Grant.
"She knows what to get," he explained, laughing "She calls [Nashville vintage dealer] George Gruhn or somebody like that and says, 'What doesn't he have that he really likes? What's the nicest thing you've got?"
Gill's 1936 000-28 shade-top Martin was also a gift from Grant. He returned the favor by buying her a Gibson Nick Lucas model.
"She really likes Gibson guitars," he said. "This one was built around the same year as her mother was born, so there's a connection there. I like that kind of thing."
Of course, when it comes to sentimental value, nothing can compare to the treasured 1959 Gibson Les Paul ’Burst he acquired from a dying friend. But that's another story.
