Vince Gill, Lyle Lovett Team for East Coast Tour
When late country icon George Jones infamously drove a tractor to the liquor store, after then-wife Shirley hid his car keys, it was inevitable that he’d inspire a country song… or two.
“First she hid my glasses/’Cause she knows that I can’t see/She said you ain’t goin’ nowhere boy/’Til you spend a little time with me/Then the boys called from the honky tonk/Said there’s a party goin’ on down here/Well she might’ve took my car keys/But she forgot about my old John Deere,” Vince Gill sings in his classic “One More Last Chance,” partly inspired by the Possum, who made a cameo in the song’s video.
Another rather absurd mode of transportation inspired Lyle Lovett‘s iconic “If I Had a Boat.” The Texas-born singer-songwriter once told NPR that he tried to ride a pony across a pond and… well, wished he had a boat. (Thus the line, “And if I had a pony, I’d ride him on my boat.”)
These are the kinds of tales behind the tunes audiences will likely hear as two of country music’s most acclaimed songwriters — and unmistakable voices — join forces for a 2015 tour. The criminally short Vince Gill and Lyle Lovett: Songs and Stories Tour launches January 27th in Glenside, Pennsylvania, hitting just four cities over the course of four straight nights. The two will perform solo sets, swap stories and share the stage for a few duets on the trek, which also stops in Englewood, New Jersey, Norfolk, Virginia, and Charleston, South Carolina.
Gill, the recent recipient of the CMA’s Irving Waugh Award of Excellence, precedes the Lovett shows with his annual holiday tour with wife Amy Grant. He’s also crossing the country this fall with his 11-piece ensemble, the Time Jumpers.
Lovett, who just ended his run of 2014 solo dates with his 14-piece Large Band, can most recently be heard on a duet with Pat Green, “Girls From Texas.”