I’ve been lucky to have interviewed Vince Gill twice in my career. Each time, I am constantly in awe of how down to earth and humble he is. He is one of the most successful artists in the country genre and one of the most gracious. This year, I sat down with Vince and Paul Franklin (an incredible pedal steel player) who released their album Bakersfield last year. The album pays tribute to the Bakersfield sound, specifically Merle Haggard and Buck Owens.
In addition to interviewing Vince and Paul, the very next week I was headed to Nashville so they invited me to see their western swing band the Time Jumpers when I was there at 3rd and Lindsley. It was a concert I’ll never forget. I truly felt like I was being transported back in time. Below is an excerpt of our interview from earlier this year.
During our chat, Vince and Paul discussed the impact the Bakersfield Sound has had on their careers, and why it’s important to put the spotlight back on the music today.
For starters, they were finding that the music of Owens and Haggard still resonated strongly with their Time Jumpers audience.
“We were sitting there together every Monday night, playing all of the great songs that we love to play,” Vince explained to me, “and every now and then I get my belly full of swing music and I’d say, ‘Hey, let’s play ‘Together Again’ or let’s play ‘Holding Things Together,’ both Buck Owens and Merle Haggard songs, and the crowd would go crazy. I told Paul, ‘There’s something here. Maybe we can find a way to do something to honor those guys.’”
After Vince and Paul got together to work on the Bakersfield project, they agreed it was “ridiculously easy” to select which Owens or Haggard song to record.
“You couldn’t make a bad decision truthfully,” Vince said. “That’s why those men are iconic, and that’s why they’re arguably two of the greatest that ever came down the pike for country music. It’s because that legacy of songs is just off the charts. You couldn’t pick a bad Merle Haggard song. You couldn’t pick a bad Buck Owens song.”
Ultimately, Bakersfield was a passion project for each musician.
“It’s just important to me to play music from the heart,” Paul explains. “That includes all the pop stuff. We both love pop as much as we do the traditional. Everything has its place, but it’s important for me at this point in my life to play music that I really love playing, and this goes to the core of where I started.”
Read more of my interview at Radio.com.