Album Review – Vince Gill’s “50 Years From Home…”

Country-inspired Americana (#570.2) on the Country DDS.

For Vince Gill, it’s been half a century of devoting his life to a single pursuit, even if it’s been in a myriad of capacities. From the shadows of the back stage as a band member and side player, to standing in the center of the spotlight, from the adulation of peers and the public as an elite performer of an era, to the inevitable shuffling to the side by a shameless and brutal industry, Vince Gill has done it all as a singer, songwriter, collaborator, guitar player, and country legend. And now he’s ready to take all that wisdom earned from a life in music, and impart it to you all in song.

It’s been six years since Vince Gill released an original album, but he’s about to make up for lost time in a big way. After signing an unprecedented lifetime record deal with MCA Nashville, Gill has promised to release a new EP every month for the next year. That sure sounds ambitious and enterprising, though one is fair to wonder if it’s in any way practical or productive.

Vince Gill isn’t the first ever to announce a “one per month” release cycle, but he might truly be first If he actually fulfills it. The rain checks music fans have on serial releases and “Vol. 2’s” to coincide with a “Vol. 1’s” would be enough to wallpaper the Ryman Auditorium. And you’re fair to wonder if just releasing an old fashioned 12-song album and following it up with another one next year would be a better, more prudent option. But we’ll see how this all plays out.

Artists, their publicists, and their labels love to tell you how an album is “their most personal yet.” With Vince Gill’s 50 Years From Home: I Gave You Everything I Had, that well-worn talking point might actually be warranted. Reflective, grateful, deeply personal, strikingly potent, touching, and completely self-penned, you can tell Vince put a lot of heart into composing this album. It might be the first of a dozen EPs. But Gill approached it like it might be the last album he ever releases.

The opening song “I Gave You Everything I Had” could be taken like a self-engraved epitaph, with Gill telling both his fans and his family that he left it all on the stage, and at home during his Hall of Fame career. “I Hope Everybody Lives To Be A Hundred” is the name of the second song, but it’s the hook of “but we’re all gonna die someday,” and the lesson of living in the moment, and resolving your grievances and debts that’s the biggest takeaway.

“Her Heart” has to be about Vince Gill’s bride Amy Grant. And why not write another ode about her? The last time he did, Gill won a Grammy for “When My Amy Prays.” “Benny’s Song” might be the most touching moment of the set as Vince venerates his long-time guitar tech Benny Garcia. Gill grew up with Benny, and they had been close friends with for 50 years when Garcia passed away in 2020. The way Vince sings about Benny, you would swear they were blood brothers.

But for all the memories and meaningful moments captured through Vince Gill’s soulful, stirring, and misty-eyed performances, the music of 50 Years From Home feels a little flat throughout. The music is this sort of this genre-neutral, adult contemporary, bland Americana music that lacks imagination, especially when compared to the passion Vince Gill put into the writing of the project. Self-produced by Gill himself, the music is not bad as much as aggressively nondescript, like Gill approached it as an afterthought.

Perhaps the songs Gill wrote for this EP just don’t lend to strong country sounds, or perhaps Vince got all the twang out of his system during the 2023 sessions for his Ray Price tribute with Paul Franklin called Sweet Memories. Or perhaps Vince purposely wants all the attention on the writing, which wouldn’t be a bad strategy. But this album makes you immediately appreciate the craft and care brought to it, but immediately question if you’ll only listen a few times, and rarely return to it.

You might see the title of “When A Soldier Dies” and think it’s just another stereotypical country song about supporting the troops. But what Gill deftly crafts is a “support the troops” message in a song that’s really about strongly decrying war. It’s a great lead into Gill’s new extended version of his classic “Go Rest High On That Mountain.”

Will Vince Gill be able to sustain this level of passion in his songwriting, and the high bar he sets on the emotional Richter scale for 11 more EPs in the impending months to come? Will he even fulfill that obligation? Will he look to add more musical texture to these top caliber songs to make the listening experience more enriching? We’ll have to see. But even if we don’t get a single other EP, 50 Years From Home: I Gave You Everything I Had includes moments that were worth the 50 year wait.

8/10

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Listen to 50 Years From Home: I Gave You Everything I Had