Nashville’s New Breed : Three of country’s rising stars are winning over fans with works that draw on influences ranging from Paul Simon to the Allman Brothers : VINCE GILL : No Overnight Success

Dire Straits’ Mark Knopfler thought he had made Vince Gill an offer he couldn’t refuse three years ago when he invited the soft-spoken Oklahoma native to become a member of the band on a world tour. The money would be great, the exposure would be great, and the music would probably be great.

So why did Gill turn him down?

“I’m an extra large fan of Dire Straits, so the offer was very flattering,” Gill says of his decision. “But I told Mark I had invested too much time in country music to change. I didn’t know if (the country career) was going to pan out, but it’s where my heart is and where I wanted to stay.”

It was a gutsy move because Gill, whose background has ranged from bluegrass groups to a stint with the country-leaning pop group Pure Prairie League, had a hard time getting established as a solo artist in the ‘80s.

Gill, 35, was widely admired by his Nashville peers as a singer, songwriter and guitarist, but the respect didn’t translate into sales for a series of RCA albums.

The breakthrough followed a switch in 1990 to MCA Records, where he was joined in the studio by ace record producer Tony Brown. Gill, whose sweet tenor is in keeping with his boyish good looks, has since been named male vocalist of the year twice by the Country Music Assn. His “Look at Us,” a wonderfully tender love song that was co-written by Max D. Barnes, was also named song of the year in this year’s CMA balloting.

And the sales are now coming. Last year’s “Pocket Full of Gold” has sold more than 1 million copies, and his new “I Still Believe in You” is in the Top 15 on both the pop and country charts.

The pop component in his music is natural. Gill lists such pop-rock notables as Lennon-McCartney, John Hiatt and Paul Simon among his favorite songwriters--along with such country standouts as Guy Clark, Harlan Howard and Barnes.

About his slow career start, he says: “There are some singers, like Randy Travis, who work hard, and bang , they have hits right off the bat with their first album. I was kind of the Bonnie Raitt story . . . things happened much slower.

“But that was OK. A lot of people think you have got to be No. 1 or you’re not happy. But that was never me. Back (in the ‘80s), I told myself, ‘If this is my lot in life--to make some pretty good records and to be somewhat critically acclaimed and never sell a lot of records, it’s better than selling several million and not liking what you are doing.’ Now, I guess, I’ve got the best of both worlds.”