Vince Gill brings toe-tapping talent to Tulsa
BY ANDREA EGER World Staff Writer
Sunday, January 23, 2011
1/23/11 at 10:07 AM
Vince Gill celebrated his Oklahoma homecoming with his second show of the weekend in the state at the Joint in the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino.
"I love this. I love being back in my home state," he proclaimed after his opening song, "One More Last Chance." "The dirt is red and the Mexican food is world class!"
Born in Norman and raised in Oklahoma City, Gill has spent the last three decades in Nashville, Tenn., where he rose to superstardom in the 1980s.
Nashville may be the capital of country music, but Gill lamented that, "the best Mexican food in Tennessee is Taco Bell."
The size and acoustics of the Joint, Hard Rock Tulsa's music venue, provided a perfect setting for Gill's fine-as-silk vocals and heavily nuanced guitar-playing.
He jokingly noted the casino atmosphere as he introduced his classic cheating song, "Pocket Full of Gold."
"Who knows what goes on in a casino. Is anyone here with someone they shouldn't be?" he asked as the house lights exploded on to the audience. "Country music was founded on good cheating songs and good gospel songs."
Next up was the toe-tapping "High Lonesome Sound," showcasing Gill's highly impressive band, which included steel guitar, keyboards and an organ.
On "Next Big Thing," Gill displayed his own virtuosity on the guitar, serving as a reminder that he paved the way for Brad Paisley and Keith Urban as the next generation of master musicians as country pop stars.
Gill gave a lengthy explanation mid-song during, "It's Hard to Kiss the Lips at Night That Chew Your Ass Out All Day Long," the lone hit from a side project he recorded in 2004 with singer-songwriter Rodney Crowell.
The audience laughed with Gill for several minutes straight as he recounted how his father had given him the idea for the song years before, and how it finally dawned on him that his own mother was the inspiration.
"My mother loves me, but she hates this song with every fiber of her being," he said.
Steel guitarist Paul Franklin was good enough to make you want to weep during Gill's classic hit, "Look at Us." Gill thought so, too, because afterward he said, "He gets to playin' so good, I forget to sing."
But the highlight of the show came late in the evening, when the 15-member Cherokee National Youth Choir joined Gill on stage for the moving "Go Rest High on That Mountain," which was named the 1996 Country Music Association Song of the Year.
Original Print Headline: Gill comes home with toe-tapping talent
Andrea Eger 581-8470
andrea.eger@tulsaworld.com
Associated Images:
The Cherokee National Youth Choir joins Vince Gill on stage during his performance Saturday at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino Tulsa. HARD ROCK HOTEL AND CASINO TULSA / Courtesy
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