Vince Gill brings country, eclectic style to B-town

To read an interview with Vince Gill, click here.

Thirty years ago, Vince Gill got his start in the music industry playing for overwhelmingly college-age crowds.

Consider Gill’s performance tonight at the IU Auditorium a tribute to his humble beginnings.

The musician, singer and songwriter will give one performance at 8 p.m. tonight. Student tickets start at $18 and are still available at the box office.

Gill has been a country musician since the late 1970s and quickly rose to stardom. He first hit the charts with his song “Victim of Life’s Circumstance” in the 1980s. Some of Gill’s popular songs during the 1990s include “Go Rest High on that Mountain” and “Whenever You Come Around.”

Gill has sold more than 26 million copies of his albums, has received 18 Country Music Association awards and was named Entertainer of the Year in 1993 and 1994. Gill’s newest accomplishment is his induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2007.

Gill acknowledges that not all college students are familiar with his work.

“I’m a lot much older than college age kids, but it’s an opportunity for young people to see someone who has done this for an awfully long time,” Gill said in an interview with the Indiana Daily Student. “As you get older, you hope that your music resonates and is honest. We live in an age where there’s a lot of things that are fabricated and a little on the shallow side, and these people with a lot of years on them have a truth and an honesty about them that young people might find interesting.”

While Gill gained most of his initial popularity in the 80s and 90s, he continues to draw in audiences of all ages, Doug Booher, director of the IU Auditorium, said in an e-mail.

“That’s what true performers do,” Booher said in an e-mail. “They reach out to each generation as they come of age and introduce themselves as a friend to be discovered.”

Although Gill is an older artist, many students remember listening to his music during their childhood.

“Vince Gill has been one of the only country artists that I have grown up on,” sophomore Cory Elmer said. “I was raised on the slower country ever since the age of 6. There are a few country artists that my mom played around the house, and Vince Gill was one of them.”

Throughout Gill’s career, his music has had a lot of diversity and character. From bluegrass to slow country to pop, Gill has tackled it all.

“I am specifically looking forward to the unique sound Vince Gill has,” Elmer said. “No one in the country music industry sounds like Vince Gill.”

It is a great opportunity to see a country legend for cheap, Elmer said, adding that to see Gill for less than $20 is reason in itself to go.

-IDS Arts Editor Erin Wright contributed to this report.