Vince Gill recently released his new album, Down To My Last Bad Habit, on February 12th. Gill wrote/co-wrote, co-produced, and is a featured musician on all 12 tracks on the new record. The album marks Gill’s first solo album since 2011’s Guitar Slinger. In 2013, he partnered with famed steel guitarist Paul Franklin on Bakersfield as a tribute to the famous “Bakersfield Sound” of Buck Owens and Merle Haggard.
A world-class guitar player and songwriter, Gill has 20 Grammy Awards to his credit, along with inductions in the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Country Music Hall of Fame. Gill has established himself as country music’s most eloquent and impassioned champion. His new record has already received a great deal of buzz around it, and rightly so. Down To My Last Bad Habit will no doubt be yet another excellent record from Gill, featuring collaborations with Little Big Town and country newcomer Cam. Gill recently released the lead single, “Take Me Down”, from the upcoming record, and the single already sits at #2 of iTunes’ Country Hot Tracks.Written by Richard Marx, Jillian Jacqueline, and Gill, “Take Me Down” is a mid-tempo song featuring backing vocals from country super group, Little Big Town. The song kicks off with an infectious chord progression and drum beat, with Vince’s iconic vocals following. The song is the perfect combination of passionate and intense lyrics about a steamy relationship, mixed with a more subtle, quieter production and vocal delivery. The contrasts end up complementing each other perfectly, making for an excellent song. Gill has always been one who prefers to start out quiet and softer and build towards intensity in his songs. The guitars, both acoustic and electric, act as the foundation of the song, subdued yet ever present at the same time. The quieter production helps the smooth, slow moving, but intense vocal delivery build the intensity of the emotion in the song. Little Big Town’s harmonies are perfect for the song, with Kimberly’s beautiful soprano taking the spotlight and lead in harmonies.
Gill Fans will love “Take Me Down”, and will find themselves swaying along to it. As I said before, the song has an infectious melody, made all the more alluring by the easy-on-the-ears vocal delivery. It has already made quite an impact on iTunes, no doubt Little Big Town’s current success having something to do with it. It’s hard to truly know how the single will fare on radio, due to Gill’s legend status and the current climate appearing to change with the whole StapletonGate thing; “Take Me Down” just might have a good shot at success. No matter how it fares on radio, the single is a breath of fresh air. Go have a listen and see for yourself!
Originally posted here.
