Gill’s Making a Name for Himself

“I kind of feel like the Bonnie Raitt of country music,” says Vince Gill of the whirlwind success that arrived with his “When I Call Your Name” No. 1 country hit last year. In its wake Gill has won a Grammy and, earlier this month, three Country Music Academy Awards, including a best male vocal trophy wrested from reigning king Garth Brooks.

Like Raitt, there were plenty of peers who felt the singer-writer-guitarist was long overdue for recognition. Thirty-four-year-old Gill--who will be on the bill with Reba McEntire Friday at Irvine Meadows and Oct. 27 at the Greek Theatre--has made music his life since he was 17, and flirted with fame since he had a hit with the Pure Prairie League 11 years ago.

The Nashville resident has also lent his pure tenor voice and peerless guitar style to recordings by Raitt, McEntire, Emmylou Harris, Rodney Crowell, Tammy Wynette, Dire Straits and others.

Gill’s wife of 11 years, Janis, is one half of the sister duo Sweethearts of the Rodeo, who were racking up hits when Gill was struggling. He may have temporarily surpassed them, but the sisters are readying a new CD assault, including a song Janis claims is about Gill, with the lines: “He can watch TV for hours and hours / He never thinks of bringing me flowers.”

“Yeah, that’s fairly accurate,” Gill says with a laugh, though he made partial amends recently by delivering a bouquet at a Sweetheart’s show while they were in the midst of the song.

But it’s not just music that sometimes leaves the couple with only a few days a month together. Gill heads for the golf course whenever he can. Even touring, he plays several games a week.

Before “When I Call Your Name” took off last year Gill turned down an offer from Mark Knopfler to join Dire Straits.

“I told him I’d put too much into my career in country music,” Gill says. “It’s really flattering to have been asked . . . . It helped me feel that while I may not be the biggest--I’m not the guy in the big hat and boots standin’ there--I’ve got a few other little things I do that make me different.”--JIM WASHBURN