Hotel Oklahoma

Country music star VINCE GILL discusses his new album, Okie, and what it’s like to soar with JOE WALSH, DON HENLEY and TIMOTHY B. SCHMIT in the EAGLES

- Joe Bosso

VINCE GILL HAS BEEN PLAYING the guitar for 55 of his 62 years. His virtuosic and sweetly expressive solos — whether flat picked or played fingerstyle — have graced more than 20 genre-spanning studio albums that have earned him 21 Grammy awards and just about every honor the Country Music Association has come up with. Asked if he feels like he has anything more to prove, the easy-going guitarist laughs gently and says, “Probably not. I’ve had a good run.” He pauses a little before expanding on his answer: “I mean, there’s still a lot that I can’t do on the guitar — we could fill a book with it. But a while ago I reached the point where I said, ‘I’m just going to play what’s necessary.’ That comes with age and experience. You don’t think like that when you’re young, but it’s a peaceful place to be. I’m content to say what I want on the guitar, and I can leave it at that.”

At an age where most guitarists might give thought to easing their workloads, Gill has been pulling triple duty. In addition to performing solo shows, he’s maintained a steady recording and touring schedule with his country swing ensemble the Time Jumpers, and since 2017 he’s been trekking the globe with the Eagles in an incarnation that includes band members Don Henley, Timothy B. Schmit, and Joe Walsh, along with guitarist Steuart Smith and the late Glenn Frey’s son, Deacon. “I would be a pretty fortunate man just to be doing my own thing,” Gill says, “but to play with the Time Jumpers and now the Eagles, it’s like, ‘How more blessed can I be?’ But I just try to do the best I can and honor the music I’m playing. I can’t do more than that.”