Vince Gill on Getting Older, George Jones and Bad Habits
Vince Gill releases his new album Down to My Last Bad Habit today, a collection of honest country songs with a glint of pop polish that ranks among the 20-time Grammy winner’s best work. Gill himself admits he’s creating at a peak level.
“My ears tell me I’m the best I’ve ever been,” he says. “Your best doesn’t have to be the most successful, when you have your big run. I listen to a lot of those records and don’t like some of them, honestly.”
As he nears 60, Gill says he’s determined to wring every bit of creativity out of both his voice and his guitar: “I want to sing and play like it’s the last chance I’ll get.”
Among the highlights on Down to My Last Bad Habit are the project’s debut single “Take Me Down,” featuring Little Big Town, a poignant collaboration with Cam titled “I’ll Be Waiting for You” and the classic-country tribute to George Jones, “Sad One Comin’ On (A Song for George),” which Gill performed at Country Radio Seminar this week in Nashville.
The title track, meanwhile, is vintage Gill, a clever brokenhearted love song inspired by a one-liner the musician heard during breakfast with friends.
“I said, ‘How you doing?’ He said, ‘I’m doing pretty good. . . I’m down to my last bad habit.’ I said, ‘That’s awesome, may I please have that to put in a song?'” Gill says. “What’s the last bad habit going to be? . . . As it should be, it’s I gave up everything that I left you for, so I’m down to my last bad habit: you. I can’t get over you.”