Vince Gill is honoring his old man with a new song. On what would have been James Stanley Gill’s 94th birthday, Gill took to Instagram to honor his late dad.
The country star shared several photos with his dad, writing, “Happy birthday to the man who inspired ‘Secondhand Smoke’… J. Stanley Gill.”
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On his website, Gill revealed how the song, which he co-wrote with Derrick Southerland, came to be.
“My father was a chain smoker,” Gill said of the judge, who taught him how play guitar and banjo. “Derrick had this title for a long time. I said, ‘Man, that’s my life. Can I write it with you?’ All I had to do is remember my dad. So that one is pretty autobiographical.”
Vince Gill Discusses “Secondhand Smoke”
On Instagram, Gill noted that the track reminds him of his dad “quite a bit,” something he leaned into with the instruments on the recording.
“When I moved away to Louisville, he let me take his banjo with him,” Gill said of his dad. “He had a Fender Concert Tone banjo, which was not an unbelievably great killer banjo or anything, but it was his and it was sentimental.”
Someone stole that particular banjo. However, shortly thereafter, Gill had another instrument made that “signifies the old man.”
That banjo, a 50-year-old Gibson that was built by Harry Sparks, is featured on the song. Also used on the track are two guitars that belonged to the elder Gill—a Gibson ES-125 and a Harmony guitar.
“Since ‘Secondhand Smoke’ is the name of the second record,” Gill said, “I thought it ought to have a little bit of a nod back to the old man.”
What to Know About Vince Gill’s 50 Years From Home Series
Secondhand Smoke is the second EP of Gill’s 50 Years From Home series. The series, which will see the release of multiple EPs over the next year, is one that Gill launched in honor of his 50-year anniversary in the music business.
“The more I’ve done it, the more I’ve learned how to do it better—how to be more patient, where not to waste my time, what to do and not to do, to be willing to edit myself and keep digging,” Gill said of his latest project. “Experience is experience; there is no shortcut. This is what comes from doing this for 50 years.”
As for Secondhand Smoke in particular, Gill described the EP as “sentimental and nostalgic, yet also outward-looking, examining big issues and addressing some tough questions, albeit from the same humanistic perspective he’s brought to all his work.”
Photo by Jason Kempin/Getty Images
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