"That crossover of whether it's entertainment or news is the biggest crock of b.s. in television today, because it's all entertainment." - Vince McMahon
* The big news of the day is that Vince Gill has a new single titled "Hitting Me With Heaven" that will be hitting country radio late this summer and will be releasing an album entitled Guitar Slinger shortly thereafter. From the press release:
Gill co-wrote “Threaten Me With Heaven” with his wife, singer/songwriter Amy Grant, Dillon O’Brian and Will Owsley.
“Since the song was recorded, my friend Will Owsley took his own life, so the song has a profound impact on me now,” Gill laments. “In my lifetime, ‘Go Rest High On That Mountain’ has been the song that helped a lot of people through their grief. I think this one will in turn hopefully do the same thing. It’s a powerful, powerful song. I feel like it’s the crown jewel of the new record.”
And that’s quite a statement, considering that this album includes some of the most poignant and moving songs of his career, such as “Bread and Water” and “If I Die.” But the album also features fun, upbeat songs as well, and serves as a wonderful showplace for his guitar playing. Gill wrote every song on the album, which was the first project recorded from start to finish at his new home studio.
“I feel like the emphasis has been on the songs and the songs have gotten better,” he says. “They really run the gamut of what they are about, how they feel, how they sound. It’s not an all-traditional record, it’s not an all-contemporary record; it’s all over the map, like I kind of have always been. But it doesn’t feel out of step with anything I’ve done previously.”
Guitar Slinger is the follow-up to his critically acclaimed four-CD, 43-song box set, These Days, which was certified platinum, won the 2006 Grammy for Best Country Album and received an overall Grammy Album of the Year nomination. “That never feels anything but great,” he says of the album’s overwhelming reception.
Gill didn’t have any specific thoughts or themes in mind when he began creating the songs for Guitar Slinger. Instead, he just let his creativity flow. “I had no expectations of what it would sound like in my home studio,” he says. “I’ve never recorded in my house before. So I discovered an awful lot about how the rooms sound, and it’s a real warm record.
“I don’t know what it is, but it’s so different than most studios in that there are windows all the way around the room. You look out and see trees. There’s such a great spirit running around in the house and in the rooms that all the musicians have raved about the vibe. It’s real low key; it’s not commercial-feeling at all.”
Guitar Slinger epitomizes coming home for Gill for several reasons. Not only did he record in his home, but he is joined on the album by his wife, Amy Grant, and their daughters Jenny, Sarah and Corrina. “Corrina makes her debut at nine on this record in a very dark song,” he says of “Billy Paul.” “It’s a song about a friend of mine who took his life after he took someone else’s life. It’s very, very dark, but I love that in music. I was always drawn to music with those kinds of things.”
* Roy Acuff's passing is coming up on twenty years and CMA and IBMA member Charles Haymes has done a great little feature on one of the greatest country artists this generation knows nothing about. Check it out
HERE.
Throughout the Opry’s storied past, no artist’s name has been more often linked with the famed radio show than Roy Acuff. Whether it was as a performer, songwriter, publisher or spokesman, he is one of the most towering figures in the history of country music.
* Nearly four years after their last album and radio single, the boys from Sawyer Brown have come back with an island-themed single called "Smokin' Hot Wife" that has been sent to radio and will be available digitally early next week. It is scheduled to be the first official release from their
Travelin' Band album. You can listen to the new single
HERE.
* New music from LeAnn Rimes as well:
