Vince Gill - These Days (4 CD Set)

These new recordings of mostly recent Gill compositions are the culmination of a project aimed at recording four distinct albums: rock, romance, vintage honky-tonk, and acoustic.

CD 1: The Rockin' Record, virtually perfect from start to finish, begins with "Workin' on a Big Chill," its swampy groove straight out of John Fogerty and a showcase for Gill's guitar virtuosity--a groove he resumes on "Cowboy Up," with cameo harmonies from Gretchen Wilson. "Sweet Thing" and a duet with Rodney Crowell on "Nothin' for a Broken Heart" pulsate with Chuck Berry intensity that contrasts with the solid, '60s Memphis groove of "Bet It All on You."

CD 2: The Reason Why showcases Gill's legendary ease with ballads, several of them enhanced by creative string arrangements by David Campbell (Beck's father), including "What You Don't Say" with LeAnn Rimes and "The Memory of You" with Trisha Yearwood. The stunning "Faint of Heart," a remarkably sultry jazz duet with Diana Krall, could become a standard.

CD 3: Some Things Never Get Old revisits classic fiddle-steel honky-tonk, music Gill has long reverenced and referenced. "This New Heartache" is straight out of Ray Price. Gill and Patty Loveless tear up "Out of My Mind" and Allison Krauss and Dan Tyminski join in for the waltz "I Can't Let Go." "Don't Pretend with Me" honors Ernest Tubb's honky-tonk primitivism.

CD 4: Little Brother, all-acoustic and often bluegrass-flavored, shines from beginning to end. Along with "Molly Brown," a stark cautionary about racial violence, Gill sings both "Cold Gray Light of Dawn" and "Give Me the Highway" with the Del McCoury Band. He and Guy Clark close it out with "Almost Home." Despite outstanding past efforts, Gill--one of the top hitmakers of the '90s--hasn't had a Top Ten single since 2000. No matter. His talents and the heart he puts into his writing, singing, and picking remain at their peak. This stellar collection proves it--four times over.

To accompany him on this ambitious undertaking, Gill turned both to artists he knew and had worked with before and to those whose music he admired at a distance. "I never try to fill up my records with famous people," Gill says. "I try to fill them up with the most talented people I can find on the face of the earth." By the time the project was completed, that group included Sheryl Crow, Bonnie Raitt, Diana Krall, Rodney Crowell, Phil Everly, the Del McCoury Band, Emmylou Harris, John Anderson, Lee Ann Womack, Jenny Gill, Amy Grant, LeAnn Rimes, Gretchen Wilson, Guy Clark, Trisha Yearwood, Bekka Bramlett, Michael McDonald, steel-guitar master Buddy Emmons and many other musical standouts.

Initially, Gill planned to pare down the songs he’d recorded to a single album. Then, in one of the studios he used, he spotted some Beatles memorabilia and recalled that the Fab Four had routinely released multiple albums within the same year.

Disc 1
1 Workin' On A Big Chill
2 Love's Standin'
3 Cowboy Up (with Gretchen Wilson)
4 Sweet Thing
5 Bet It All On You
6 Nothin' For A Broken Heart (with Rodney Crowell)
7 Son Of A Ramblin' Man (with Del McCoury)
8 Smilin' Song (with Michael McDonald)
9 The Rhythm Of The Pourin' Rain (with Bekka Bramlett)
10 Nothin' Left To Say

Disc 2
1 What You Don't Say (with LeAnn Rimes)
2 The Reason Why (with Alison Krauss)
3 The Rock Of Your Love (with Bonnie Raitt)
4 What You Give Away (with Sheryl Crow)
5 Faint Of Heart (with Diana Krall)
6 Time To Carry On (with Jenny Gill)
7 No Easy Way
8 This Memory Of You (with Trisha Yearwood)
9 How Lonely Looks
10 Tell Me One More Time About Jesus (with Amy Grant)
11 Everything And Nothing (with Katrina Elam)
12 Which Way Will You Go
13 These Days

Disc 3
1 This New Heartache
2 The Only Love
3 Out Of My Mind (with Patty Loveless)
4 The Sight Of Me Without You
5 I Can't Let Go (with Alison Krauss and Dan Tyminski)
6 Don't Pretend With Me
7 Some Things Never Get Old (with Emmylou Harris)
8 Sweet Little Corrina (with Phil Everly)
9 If I Can Make Mississippi (with Lee Ann Womack)
10 Take This Country Back (with John Anderson)

Disc 4
1 All Prayed Up
2 Cold Gray Light Of Gone (with Del McCoury Band)
3 A River Like You (with Jenny Gill)
4 Ace Up Your Pretty Sleeve
5 Molly Brown
6 Girl (with Rebecca Lynn Howard)
7 Give Me The Highway (with Del McCoury Band)
8 Sweet Augusta Darlin'
9 Little Brother
10 Almost Home (with Guy Clark)

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