Vince Gill Releases New Extended Version of Legendary Song
On August 28th, 2025, Vince Gill’s legendary eulogy “Go Rest High On That Mountain” celebrated the 30th Anniversary of its release. Saving Country Music marked the occasion with a retrospective on the song, and the impact it’s had. Though only a minor hit upon its release by reaching #14 on the charts, the song has since become one of the most beloved in the history of country music, let alone the history of Vince Gill.
Now to celebrate the 30th Anniversary of the song, an extended version of the song has been released. It includes a verse that Vince Gill commonly includes when singing it live. He first added the verse when performing the song with wife Amy Grant during a Christmas performance at the Ryman Auditorium in 2019.
“The last thirty years I’ve always felt like something was missing from this song,” Gill explained recently. “With this new third verse I finally feel like the song is complete.”
You’re safely home in the arms of Jesus
Eternal life my brother’s found
The day will come I know I’ll see him
In that sacred place, on that holy ground
Though the words and Vince Gill’s singing of them are new to the recording, they used the original sound bed for the song to create the new version. And don’t worry, if you prefer the old version, it can still be found on his album When Love Finds You and streaming services.
Also as part of the 30th Anniversary and in conjunction with the new version, label MCA Nashville went through the process of re-evaluating the sales and streams of the song, and it’s now officially Certified Double Platinum by the RIAA as of September 12th, speaking to the song’s enduring impact.
Also, Vince Gill will perform the new, extended version of the song on Sunday, September 14th during the In Memoriam segment as part of the 2025 Emmy Awards.
Vince Gill was first struck by inspiration to write the song in 1989 after the tragic death of Keith Whitley, but never quite got the song to where he wanted it to be. When Gill’s older brother Bob died in 1993, that is what inspired Vince to complete it. Neither Keith Whitley nor Gill’s brother Bob are named in the song directly. Whitley is alluded to though when the song “I’m No Stranger To The Rain” is referenced in the first verse.
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September 13, 2025 @ 9:48 am
Love that extra verse! Makes a great song even better!
September 14, 2025 @ 4:59 pm
I love this song, it was played at my son’s funeral in 2002 & it makes me cry everytime I hear it, but in a strange way it also comforts me!!! Thank you Vince Gill from a mother !!
September 16, 2025 @ 2:02 pm
Thanks! Love the SongThanks Again! The Wrights 💜
September 13, 2025 @ 10:18 am
Sort of like when Jack Greene re-did “There Goes My Everything” as “He Is My Everything” in the mid ’90s. As Jack put it, “The song ‘got saved’ “.
September 13, 2025 @ 5:34 pm
Nah. In the Vince added a verse to his song that intensifies or doubles down on the original song..
Jack Greene took his solid gold country classic and used it to make a completely new religious song that, if anything, contradicts the original song.
September 13, 2025 @ 6:42 pm
Lucky, it was meant to be the antithesis to the first song.
September 13, 2025 @ 8:42 pm
OK, that’s another way of putting it. More eloquently than I said it!
September 16, 2025 @ 5:01 am
I liked Jack Green . I met him once. .He was nice .
September 13, 2025 @ 2:41 pm
Amen!
September 13, 2025 @ 5:34 pm
I went to high school here in Windsor with a Bob Gill who became a cop,but…it’s cool that Vince Gill kept alive his brother Bob’s and Keith Whitley’s memory in “Go Rest High On That Mountain.”
September 14, 2025 @ 12:12 pm
This is an excellent Third Verse that Vince Gill added to his song. Very touching and appropriate. The greatest Third Verse ever added to a country song was when the legendary Garth Brooks added a Third Verse to his hit song, “Friends in Low Places”. Can anyone recall any other times a man added a memorable Third Verse to his song??
September 15, 2025 @ 4:10 pm
Steve Goodman’s third verse to “You Never Even Call Me By My Name,” added at the suggestion of David Allan Coe.
September 14, 2025 @ 1:26 pm
Thank you Vince Gill for completing this song. It was playing at my husband’s funeral, and my Uncle’s, who never gave up on getting my husband saved!
I know that I am going to see them both again in Heaven!
September 14, 2025 @ 1:50 pm
…and I’m Presbyterian enough to believe, given the events of this past week, the timing is not mere coincidence…
September 15, 2025 @ 12:11 pm
Mildly whack, but a’ight.
September 14, 2025 @ 3:17 pm
God bless this guy.
September 14, 2025 @ 3:25 pm
I hate award shows but I will gladly suffer through one to see this.
September 14, 2025 @ 6:34 pm
This song has such a special meaning to so many people. Vince Gill is one of the greatest country singers of all time.
September 14, 2025 @ 7:19 pm
God bless you, Vince, for writing that extra verse. I sang that beautiful song at my mother’s funeral. I wish I’d had the honor of singing that extra verse because it’s absolutely awesome. To me, it just brings the most happy, glorious and peaceful thoughts to my heart by talking about where she is, where I’ll be and the fact we’ll be reunited one day. Thank you for sharing the many gifts God has bestowed upon you.
September 14, 2025 @ 8:51 pm
In 1993 in Puyallup Washington Western Washington Fair. I believe this may have been the first time this song was sung in front of an audience.
You could hear a pin drop when he sang this song.
I will always treasure that moment.
September 15, 2025 @ 3:42 am
Vince has more empathy than many have during these troubled times. God bless him!
September 16, 2025 @ 2:53 am
Amen Brother!
September 15, 2025 @ 4:56 am
If you ever get a chance to see Vince live, take it. One of the best shows I’ve ever seen, and I’m not even that big of a fan.
September 16, 2025 @ 8:35 pm
Vince is freaking awesome in concert. Saw him play years ago in Cumming Ga at Lanierland. He walked out on stage and made the comment “lot of artists want to know how long to play but Vince said how long can I stay? He played for over 3 hours that night. Awesome show. Probably used 30 or 40 guitars too! Can’t say enough about Vince Gill. Truly a gifted man.
September 15, 2025 @ 5:59 am
GREAT “COME BACK” SONG FOR VINCE GILL! THE CLARITY OF THE PIECE MAKES THIS
PIECE AN EASY LISTEN! NICE JOB VINCE!
September 15, 2025 @ 8:40 am
I am slightly confused.. to getting to #14 on the charts out of the SEA of music released each years does not seem like a minor hit. I think of minor hits as songs that didn’t break the top 40.
But maybe in today’s world of every song must be #1 and GOAT it is.
Apologies for being pedantic the charts and how folks discuss them have always been weird to me.
September 15, 2025 @ 8:59 am
Yeah, this came up when I did my retrospective on the song a few weeks back. I guess it matters how you define a “hit.” Vince Gill released 11 songs in a row through this era that either went #1 or #2, and 21 straight that went Top 10. “Go Rest High” was the outlier. So if you’re on a string of #1 and #2 hits and a single of yours goes #14, that’s certainly an outlier. I also don’t want to not call it a “hit,” because some artists would kill to get to #14 on the country charts.
September 15, 2025 @ 9:14 pm
Anything out of vince’s mouth is pure gold, beautiful
September 16, 2025 @ 1:08 pm
Vince is definitely a guy who’s music I appreciate more as I get older.
September 16, 2025 @ 5:58 pm
Such a beautiful 😍 💕 song and the words ❤ just beautiful 😍 as is Vince
September 17, 2025 @ 3:48 am
Will the new verse be released on cd and if so what’s the title of the cd with the new verse?
September 17, 2025 @ 7:17 am
I believe this will just be a digital track, but we’ll see if Gill releases it on an upcoming album once he announces one.
September 17, 2025 @ 5:33 am
Vince sounds better as he gets older. He and Allison Kraus are the GOLDEN VOICES of Country Music. 💙
September 17, 2025 @ 7:53 am
The new rendition of Vince Gill’s “Go Rest High On That Mountain” is actually the third version of that song to be released.
The original recording released on Vince’s 1994 “When Love Finds You” album is 5:12 with a 34 second intro. The edited/remixed promotional CD single version that MCA released to radio stations halved the intro to 17 seconds and eliminated the guitar solo segment from the instrumental bridge. The timing printed on that CD single label was incorrect. Printed time was 4:00 but the actual running time was 4:15. That single edit was the version played by most radio stations when it was on the country chart in 1995.
MCA edited or remixed many of Vince’s songs for single release.