Vince Gill Releases 'Marty And Me' EP With Marty Stuart in Same Weekend as His 35th Grand Ole Opry Anniversary
NASHVILLE — Vince Gill announced on October 16 through his official website the release of Marty And Me, a new EP co-written with Marty Stuart. It is the eleventh EP in Gill's 50 Years From Home series, which marks five decades since he left home to pursue a career in music, and it contains five new songs the pair wrote together plus one cover, six tracks in all.
The uptempo opener, “Praying Like Hell For Rain,” features Stuart dueting on vocals and guitar, with the two singing as characters from their respective home states of Oklahoma and Mississippi. “Wanting Me” adds harmony vocals from Sonya Isaacs, and “My Broken Heart Can’t Take It Anymore” features backing vocals from John Meador of Gill's band. The EP closes with Gill's rendition of Merle Haggard's “The Bottle Let Me Down,” drawn from Bakersfield, the 2013 album he recorded with Paul Franklin. Gill produced and recorded the EP at his home studio near Nashville. Its cover shows two guitars once owned by the late Clarence White: Stuart's Fender Telecaster and Gill's custom Mark Whitebook acoustic.
Gill and Stuart first met more than 50 years ago, when Stuart was a teenager touring with Lester Flatt and Gill was playing in one of his teenage bluegrass bands. Gill says the two have been close friends ever since, and that he played on Stuart's first solo single, “Arlene,” in 1985. Both men later became Grand Ole Opry members and Country Music Hall of Fame inductees. Stuart said Gill can always be depended on to deliver integrity-based music regardless of what is trending in Nashville, and that this project confirms it yet again.
On the same weekend, Gill celebrated 35 years as a Grand Ole Opry member with two shows on Saturday, October 17, at 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. CT at the Grand Ole Opry House, joined by his wife Amy Grant, Patty Loveless, Ricky Skaggs, Wendy Moten, Charlie Worsham and others. According to American Songwriter, Gill stepped on stage during Grant's set to accompany her on guitar, and their daughter Jenny Gill later joined on vocals. Gill made his Opry debut on June 29, 1989, and was inducted as a member on August 10, 1991. He has won 22 Grammy Awards and 18 CMA Awards and was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2007. His 1991 platinum album Pocket Full of Gold also marks 35 years this year, and MCA will release a special gold vinyl edition featuring “Liza Jane,” “Look At Us” and “Take Your Memory With You.”
Next on Gill's published schedule, he performs on October 21 in the Country Music Association's Dolly Parton celebration at Belmont University, airing live on ABC; a new run of Eagles dates at Sphere in Las Vegas begins November 13; and he and Amy Grant resume their Christmas at the Ryman residency from December 14 to 23.
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: Vince Gill官方宣传照，David McClister摄，Vince Gill官网发布
