Matthew Burnette, Staff Writer

It was a pleasant surprise, despite the somber circumstances, to see Vince Gill performing his hit “Go Rest High on that Mountain” alongside Lainey Wilson at last Sunday’s Primetime Emmy Awards during the In Memoriam tribute.

While the segment has featured country artists in the past, such as Jelly Roll last year, it was nice to see the ceremony give a nod to one of the genres most well-seasoned and accomplished performers.

Though the main focus was paying tribute to all of the performers who had passed this year as they scrolled across the television screen, I couldn’t help thinking “Man, Vince Gill has still got it.”

Granted, while Gill is still under 70 and doesn’t seem to abide by the wild and hard-hitting lifestyle that many other touring musicians do, you would think after nearly five decades in the music industry, it would have taken some sort of toll on his voice.

Yet there he stood on a stage in front of thousands of people, singing a 30-year-old song arguably as well as when it first came out.

Sunday night wasn’t the first time that I had come to that realization. I actually got the chance to see Vince Gill perform one of the nights of his residency at the historic Ryman Auditorium in Nashville last year.

Without a shadow of a doubt, 90s country is the featured genre on the soundtrack of my childhood. I can vividly remember riding around from place to place listening to some of the greats of that era like Reba McEntire, Alan Jackson, Patty Loveless, Brooks and Dunn and many more.

My first exposure to Vince Gill, though, was slightly different. Every now and then you would hear one of his songs come on the radio, but the most often played tracks of his were those on his Christmas album “Let There Be Peace on Earth,” which to this day I would argue that his version of the title track is the definitive recording.

As I began to hear more of his songs, he grew even higher on my list of favorites in the country genre. He has this smoothness and quietness to his voice that just sounds incredibly inviting. Pair that with his skilled guitar playing and incredible storytelling, he’s an artist who’s unmatched in a lot of ways.

I slowly started to move away from the country genre as I grew older and wanted to explore sounds beyond what I had always heard.

Flash forward several years, and I bought my first car with satellite radio capabilities. As I flipped through the different channels to see what was available, I landed on one that immediately gave me those warm soup in the stomach feelings like catching up with an old friend that you haven’t seen in decades: Prime Country- All 80s and 90s country, all the time.

Song by song I found myself falling deeper into a rabbit hole of happy memories and lyrics that I had forgotten that I knew by heart.

That reintroduction quickly turned into a quest to find these performers from my youth and watch them sing these beloved tunes live. Over the next several years I got to see artists like Pam Tillis, Ricky Skaggs, and Deana Carter.

Then came the biggest one to scratch off of my list: Vince Gill.

It was announced that he was playing a string of shows in early August, which happens to coincide with my birthday, and to put a large cherry on an already sweet sundae, he would be playing those shows at the Mother Church itself, the Ryman Auditorium, my all time favorite place to hear music.

I grabbed a pair of tickets for me and a friend as soon as I was able and waited for the date to come around.

The thing I most love about the Ryman is the rich history that’s happened in the building. Every time you hit a squeaky floorboard you can’t help but wonder who else had made that floorboard squeak before. The music reverberates off the walls of the hallowed space like nowhere else I’ve had the pleasure of hearing live music at.

Vince Gill came out on stage promptly at 8 p.m. when the show was supposed to start. After he played the first song, he addressed the audience. He had just gotten a break from his touring gig as the co-lead singer of the Eagles and expressed how happy he was to be able to play his own music again.

He joked that since he was getting to do his own stuff for the first time in a while, he was going to end up playing for about four hours that night, to which the crowd half cheered and half laughed.

The show continued with a string of hits, a lot of the songs you’d expect to hear. The band then took a break for about 20 minutes before coming back on stage where Gill announced to the crowd something that you almost never want to hear from an older artist like him:

“We’re going to play some newer stuff for you.”

He then proceeded to play some incredibly awesome songs that he had written over the years and either never released or had never become bigger hits. Songs that ranged from subjects like his favorite diner in Nashville to get a burger to trying to get to see a friend of his that was about to pass away.

It was a masterclass in how to command a stage without moving more than three feet from a microphone and how to take chances.

I’ll never scoff at an older artist’s “new stuff” again.

The last bit of the show was more hits including the aforementioned “Go Rest High on that Mountain,” which again sounded like the original recording an incredible feat when you consider the emotion that must come with singing that song that was written in honor of loved ones that had passed.

He took his final bow, and as I stretched a bit and pulled my phone out, the time lit up and widened my eyes.

“12:03”

He did exactly what he said he was going to do, despite the fact that it felt like we had only sat there for an hour or so.

There’s something very special about getting to watch a seasoned performer not only play some of their most well-known songs but do it in a way that holds up and moves you in the same way that it always had.

There’s something cool about someone that can command a stage even after decades in the business, whether that’s at a sold out show of their own or on national television to honor those who have passed.