Vince Gill has released more than 70 singles throughout his career that has spanned more than 40 years. While Gill learned over the years to pay little attention to what radio was or wasn't playing, he remembers a time early in his career where he feigned indifference, and won over a stubborn radio promoter in the process.
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"There's one story that the record company used to get a kick out of," Gill recalls on The McCain Brothers Show (via American Songwriter). "There's this big, hard station in Washington, back in Seattle. This guy was a real tough program director. I went into his office, and I was just getting ready to release my first record. He's, you know, fairly arrogant."
"And I sit down in his office and introduce myself, and he says, 'Well, what have you got? What are you doing?'" Gill recalls. "Something like that. He was real rude. And I said, 'Well, I got this record coming out in a few months. I'm going to send you one. If you like it, play it, if you don't, fine.' I got up and left."
Gill reveals that his apathy towards the program director, although fake at the time, worked. And from that time on, Gill's music was a mainstay on that radio station.
The Song That Vince Gill Wrote About Amy Grant
Gill has had plenty of big hits at radio, including "Go Rest High On That Mountain," "Liza Jane," "One More Last Chance," and more. But his most important song, and most impactful, is likely "Whenever You Come Around," since it was written about his now-wife, Amy Grant. The two met when she was part of his Christmas With Vince Gill TV special, and Gill was immediately taken with Grant.
"I was so inspired, moved by the sight of that smile, that I came home and wrote this song," Gill remembers (via The Boot). "I had no idea that all these years later we'd wind up together, have kids. ... Life's funny."
Grant was also taken by Grant, although she could have never predicted their future together.
"I just walked into the rehearsal space, and Vince came over and put his arm around and said, 'Hey, unknit that brow. It's going to be OK,'" Grant remembers. "I remember saying, 'Wow, thank you for saying that.'"
