A Steady Ride on Country Road

The music rolling out of the speakers is classic country, a song about pouring one more drink. Out in the recording studio proper, Vince Gill is standing at a microphone adding a layer of high tenor harmony to George Jones’ growling lead.

The song itself--”Just One More”--dates back to 1955, and it’s country the old way, the kind of country music that finally allowed Gill to break through to superstardom with “When I Call Your Name” in 1990. So the singer from Norman, Okla., is no stranger to the kind of country that builds upon Jones’ time-honored traditions.

“Songs that work are songs that are real,” Gill says. “They’re songs that come from people’s lives. That’s always been the thing that sets country music apart, and it’s what appealed to me most about it.”

His approach sure seems to be working: Gill, whose tenor is sweet and whose guitar playing is stellar (he once was asked to join Dire Straits for a world tour), has been the Country Music Assn.’s Entertainer of the Year, a VH-1 honoree and a multiple Grammy winner, not to mention a near-scratch handicap golfer. He headlines at the Pond in Anaheim on Sunday night.

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It hasn’t always been this way. When he came to Nashville in 1983 with his wife, Sweetheart of the Rodeo Janis Oliver Gill, and daughter Jenny, Gill spent several years banging his head against the wall with limited airplay and limited success. He already had enjoyed a Top 10 pop hit as the lead singer of Pure Prairie League (“Let Me Love You Tonight”), and his frustration was evident.

Moving to MCA Records and linking up with producer Tony Brown, known for his work with George Strait, Lyle Lovett and Steve Earle, Gill set to work stripping away the sheen of his earlier post-Pure Prairie recordings. The raw regret of “When I Call Your Name” and the equally chilling emptiness of “Never Knew Lonely” struck chords with country fans who prefer their music and their emotions straight up. Suddenly, he was a superstar.

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And the hits just kept on coming: “One More Last Chance,” “When Love Finds You,” “Pocket Full of Gold,” “Go Rest High on That Mountain,” “Liza Jane” and on and on. There he was with his long eyelashes, dark hair and sweet face, staring out from CMT and TNN, a full-blown sex symbol whose music was as credible as his success was palpable.

“I knew when I wrote ‘When I Call Your Name’ that it was the one,” he recalls with a smile. “I knew it even before we started recording, that was the song. If that didn’t work, I didn’t know what would.”

It wasn’t just the song, though. Gill worked hard. He toured (to some less than glamorous spots, including a bowling alley in Bakersfield that had only enough letters to spell out “VINC GI L” on the marquee), and he popped up on albums by Emmylou Harris (“Angel Band”), Reba McEntire (“The Heart Don’t Lie”) and Amy Grant (“House of Love”). Before long, he was hosting the Country Music Awards.

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He still plays golf and basketball with his old pals (he co-wrote “Pocket Full of Gold” with a hoops-shooting, non-music industry buddy), still eats in the same places and continues his annual celebrity basketball games and scholarship fund-raiser concerts. (Around Nashville, there are those who call him St. Vince because he’s always available for charity events.)

Back in the studio, George Jones and his wife, Nancy, listen to Gill and smile. “They don’t write country songs like this anymore,” she says. “But then again, there aren’t very many singers who could really sing them, either. That’s why we love Vince so.”

* Vince Gill and Patty Loveless play the Pond, 2695 E. Katella Ave., Anaheim, Sunday at 8 p.m. $25. (714) 704-2500.