He turned down major money, huge exposure and a place with Dire Straits while his own country career was still struggling, and only years later after becoming a Country Music Hall of Famer did he accept another legendary sideman job with the Eagles simply because he wanted to play.
He did not know whether it would ever work, but country was where he wanted to stay.
By the end of the 1980s Vince Gill was hardly unknown. He had already moved through bluegrass, played with Ricky Skaggs in Boone Creek, relocated to California and become lead singer of Pure Prairie League. With Gill on lead vocal โLet Me Love You Tonightโ reached the pop Top 10 in 1980.
Then he left the band and joined Rodney Crowellโs Cherry Bombs. It looked like a step backward from fronting a national hit to standing behind someone else, but the band put Gill beside people who would matter later including Tony Brown and Emory Gordy Jr. Brown eventually encouraged him toward Nashville and helped him land an RCA deal.
Three RCA Albums Without The Solo Breakthrough
The solo breakthrough still did not come. Gill released three RCA albums during the 1980s. Records such as โCinderellaโ showed promise, but album sales remained modest. He filled the gaps with session work, harmony vocals and touring with artists including Emmylou Harris.
Then came a remarkable alternative. Around 1989 Mark Knopfler invited Gill to join Dire Straits. Gill later recalled the offer with major money, huge exposure and the chance to play with a band he admired.
He said no. Gill had already invested too many years trying to build a country career and he told Knopfler country was where he wanted to stay even without any guarantee that choice would pay off.
When I Call Your Name Changed Everything
But Tony Brown had moved to MCA. Gill signed there in 1989 and Brown could finally produce him.
Then came โWhen I Call Your Name.โ The song reached No. 2 country in 1990 and earned Gill his first Grammy. The album became the breakthrough his RCA years had never delivered.
From there the career accelerated with โI Still Believe in Youโ and โDonโt Let Our Love Start Slippinโ Awayโ and multi platinum albums and five consecutive CMA Male Vocalist wins and two CMA Entertainer of the Year awards following.
The Sideman Offer That Returned In A Different Form
Years later the Dire Straits offer gained a different meaning. After Glenn Freyโs death Gill joined the Eaglesโ touring lineup in 2017 by then already a Country Music Hall of Famer with decades of his own success behind him.
The musician who once turned down one of the biggest sideman jobs imaginable eventually became famous enough to take another one simply because he wanted to play, proving his risky refusal had protected the country career he was meant to build.