Will the Real Vince Gill Please Stand Up?

I discovered Vince Gill--well, I had been aware of him as a pop or country-pop singer, so I guess l rediscovered Vince Gill, a new Vince Gill--through videos from Eric Clapton's Crossroads Guitar Fest, especially his scorching performance of "Sweet Thing" in (I think) 2007, the one with Bill Murray as MC. Since then I've managed to find other "killer guitar" tunes, including one of his early hits, "Oklahoma Border Line," on You Tube, along with some terrific blues, bluegrass and traditional country songs featuring Vince Gill with the Time Jumpers.

And I've read that Vince Gill has become one of many--but, perhaps, one of the most prominent, most influential--cheerleaders for the history of country music and for country music traditions.

So, anyway, I had never seen Vince Gill live, so my wife and I packed up a suitcase and drove for 5 hours to see him at the beautiful Paramount Theatre in Cedar Rapids, IA. And, well, I suddenly remembered my first impression of Vince Gill as a pop/country pop singer. I could close my eyes and easily imagine that that was Celine Dion down there singing his big hits. Let's put it this way. For the first half of the show, the greatest pedal steel guitar player in country music today, Paul Franklin, had almost nothing to do.

But I gotta be honest. When he played "When I Call Your Name," his first really big hit from 1990, and "Take Your Memory with You" and "I Still Believe in You" and "One More Last Chance," well, the place went wild. So, of course, he's got to play 'em.

But he did play some killer guitar--he closed the almost 3-hour show with "Oklahoma Border Line,"  finished up with "Liza Jane" for his encore, and he showed why he's one of the great guitar players in the world.

Still, I thought the highlight of the show came when he sang real, intimate country songs like "A World Without Haggard," dedicated of course to the memory of his friend Merle Haggard, who passed away earlier this year. It was a heartfelt, passionate vocal performance. Even better was "A Sad One Comin' On (A Tribute to George Jones)" from his latest LP, Down to My Last Bad Habit.
Also in that softer, more intimate and more heartfelt mood and more countrified style were the title track from that new LP and "The Old Lucky Diamond Motel" from 2011's Guitar Slinger.

But not only was the show more pop than country, it also dragged a couple other times as well. Like I said, Gill played for 3 hours without a break, and that's a good thing. But his band got a break as Gill played solo for 40-minutes. But he only played 4 songs, spending most of the 40 minutes on stand-up comedy. He told some hilarious stories about his relationship with his dad. One night his dad called him up with an idea for a song. "If you finish (writing) this song," daddy said, "and if you record this song, you'll be bigger than Elvis." Vince replied, "Daddy, if I finish this plate of food I've got here, I'll be bigger than Elvis." So, OK, it was pretty funny, but it wasn't what I drove 5 hours to see.

And, then, near the end of the show, he brought out his daughter, Jenny, now 34, who has decided she wants to be a singer. She sang 4 songs that I would describe as blue-eyed, or in her case, brown-eyed soul. The fourth song was Alex Chilton's "The Letter," and the band surely rocked out on it. Jenny has a strong, pretty, but pretty much untrained voice. It has a naturally pleasing timbre to it, but there's not much style or art to the delivery. Again, not what I drove 5 hours to see.

Still, there's plenty to admire about Vince Gill and his band. The 3-part vocal harmonies were very nicely done (I didn't get the names of the 2 backup singers). The second electric guitarist was damn good and Vince gave him plenty of solos on the more rock and roll types of songs. Paul Franklin was, well, Paul Franklin on the pedal steel, eventually getting a chance to shine on the more traditional-sounding numbers like "A Sad One Coming On"and "A World Without Haggard." Willie Weeks was terrific on the bass guitar. I had no idea he was playing with Gill--he comes from here in Minnesota, where I first saw him in the 1960s in a cover band called Michael's Mystics.

Gill played for 3 hours non-stop, without a break, and it seemed heartfelt enough when he said, more than once, how much he and his band just love to play music and how blessed he is that people want to come out and hear it. All the more reason why it was so jarring when his daughter cheerfully introduced herself by saying she was here to "promote my EP."

I guess Vince is stuck with his pop songs and his pop fans. But if you asked the real Vince Gill to please stand up, I do believe it would be the Haggard/George Jones-lovin,' guitar-slingin' Vince Gill that I've come to admire. The mix was a little bit unsatisfying. Overall grade: B.