Vince Gill is a country musician with an extraordinary history, having received the most Grammy Awards ever given to a male country music vocalist and having released more than 20 albums.Gill, inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2007, originally caught our attention in 1979 as a member of the country rock band Pure Prairie League.Four decades later, he is a well-known and in-demand artist, having been asked to perform on the iconic Grand Ole Opry stage alongside the band Little Big Town.
But his superiors informed him he could only perform if he didn’t sing about Jesus.
But how could anyone deny this great, bright musician the chance to play the song he desired?
The crowd erupted in reaction to his remark.
Gill, who was born in Oklahoma in 1957, went solo in the 1980s. In recent years, the devoted Christian has included more gospel music in his performances.
He was recently asked to sing at Nashville, Tennessee’s Grand Ole Opry, a weekly country music stage show that has been running since 1925.
But his supervisors stated he may perform as long as he doesn’t sing any religious songs, specifically about Jesus.
Gill may have done this even though he wanted to sing about what he believed in. Instead, he did something unexpected.
He broke the rules by singing “Why Me, Lord,” a stunning song written and released in 1972 by American country music musician and gospel vocalist Kris Kristofferson.
Since then, musical legends such as Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash have sung the song.
The standing ovation for Gill’s performance demonstrated that no one else cared about the song’s meaning but rather how affecting the performance was.
In the video below, you can see a snippet of him performing.
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