Photo Credit: Vince Gill by David McClister
Country great Vince Gill celebrates his 50-year career with a series of EPs and a lifetime deal with MCA.
Vince Gill is celebrating 50 years in the business with a series of EPs released every month for a year as part of a lifetime record deal he’s signed with MCA Records. The series, 50 Years From Home, features new music as well as catalog tracks, and kicks off on October 17 with 50 Years From Home: I Gave You Everything I Had, which will include the memorial service standard, “Go Rest High On That Mountain.”
“I’m feeling the most creative I’ve ever felt in my career these last few years,” said Gill. “I’ve collected a treasure trove of songs and with my friends and partners at MCA we’ve come up with a way to release all this new music. It’s a partnership that’s lasted 36 years, and I’m grateful for it.”
“Vince has been a major part of the MCA family for decades,” said Mike Harris, MCA President, in a statement. “This lifetime agreement reflects our unwavering commitment to supporting his artistic vision and providing him artistic freedom while ensuring his legacy continues to grow.”
Lifetime deals like this are almost unheard of, but John Mellencamp struck one in 2014 with Republic Records. Though rare, it’s a great way for a label to secure the legacy of an artist with longtime appeal and multiple generations of fans, like Gill or Mellencamp.
Gill has been with MCA for the bulk of his career, after a short stint with RCA. The relationship began with 1989’s When I Call Your Name, which has been certified double platinum by the RIAA. Gill has also been a member of the Eagles since 2017, following Glenn Frey’s passing.
“MCA Records has been Vince’s home since early in his career, and now he knows their partnership will endure into the future,” added Gill’s longtime manager, Larry Fitzgerald. “Vince’s fans wanting his music won’t have to look any further than MCA to find it. My relationship with Vince began 41 years ago, and I’m thrilled to stand with him at this important moment.”
Vince Gill has the distinction of being the male country artist with the most Grammy Awards, with 22. His label reports he has 1.7 billion global streams to his name and 28.5 million in RIAA certified units.
Each of Gill’s 50 Years From Home volumes has been meticulously selected by the artist himself to reflect a particular theme, idea, aspect—or dare we say, era—of his life and career. “I’m really trying to find songs that sit well with each other, that are cohesive,” he explained. “And then something from my catalog that complements the other tracks.”
He’s even been a part of the design process for each EP cover, by selecting an instrument from his personal collection to be featured. For the first volume, he has chosen a photo of his 1942 Martin D-28 Herringbone guitar. He purchased it in 1975 by selling a Martin given to him by his parents, and using his entire life savings—an important investment in himself, he says, at the onset of his career.
