Vince Gill on Joe Walsh: One of America’s “Most Important Rock and Roll Guitar Players”

Vince Gill is opening up about the influence of Joe Walsh. Though Gill has been playing guitar for the Eagles since 2017, his connection to the band started long before. During the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum’s 2023 All For the Hall event, where Gill served as performer and co-host with Keith Urban, he spoke to how Walsh has inspired his career.

“When I was about a 13- or 14-year-old kid in my room in Oklahoma trying to learn how to play the guitar, this song right here was one of the first songs I ever learned by the great Joe Walsh,” Gill told the crowd at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville before launching into an electrifying cover of Walsh’s hit “Rocky Mountain Way.”

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Gill has come a long way from being that teenager practicing guitar in his room. He’s since become one of the greatest guitar players in country music and is one of the most decorated artists in Grammy Awards history, having 22 to his name. He’s also a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame. After the death of Eagles’ lead singer Glenn Frey in 2016, Gill was hired as co-lead guitarist and singer for the Eagles.

“For the last seven years, I got me another job. I’ve been working with this band called the Eagles. I tell everybody it’s taken me 60 years to get a good gig,” Gill quipped. “But I’ve had the time of my life and one of the reasons I love doing it so much is because of the great Joe Walsh. He might be America’s most important rock and roll guitar player in history. I’ve had the privilege of getting to play this song with him every night for the last seven years.”

Gill is currently on the road as part of the Eagles’ The Long Goodbye Tour that kicked off in September, with dates currently scheduled through March 2024.

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