VINCE GILL RELEASES NOBODY HELD HER LIKE ME |
Newest EP in Year-Long 50 Years From Home Series Out Today |
With Special Guests Maggie Rose and Lamont Landers |
NASHVILLE, TN – May 8, 2026 – Vince Gill has worn his soul on his sleeve throughout his more than five decades as a recording artist. But he displays a proverbial heart full of soul on Nobody Held Her Like Me, the seventh volume in his monthly 50 Years From Home EP series.
"I love soul music," Gill explains. "I've loved the soulful side of music forever, whether it's Ray Charles or Bruno Mars. George Jones was as soulful a singer as anybody who ever lived. For Gill, it also began with the blues aspect of Rhythm & Blues. "I heard a lot of blues music from my big brother," he says. "I would hear Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters, people like that. To me, in some ways, it's all blues. I’m just drawn to it.”
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Instruments featured on the cover of each EP are from Gill’s personal collection. Nobody Held Her Like Me features two Fender Stratocasters: one is a 1959 Gill bought from the son of Duane Eddy, who’d originally purchased the guitar; and the other is refinished 1965 model he bought—for $200 and a pair of boots—from his late best friend and longtime guitar tech, Benny Garcia.
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Download EP cover art HERE
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Nobody Held Her Like Me kicks off with a smoothly melodic title track in the vein of the Eagles’ "I Can't Tell You Why.” He co-wrote the song with Joe Glaser and Jimmy Nalls (Sea Level), and it's yet another love song in his canon -- albeit to a guitar. "Joe is the guy in Nashville who fixes everyone’s guitars. He asked me if he could bring Jimmy, a ‘great guitarist,’ over to the house. He mentioned that Jimmy was struggling with Parkinson’s. The three of us spent the day together and we talked about what Jimmy missed about being a musician. It inspired a guitar lick that I came up with. Eventually Jimmy passed away and I wanted to give both Jimmy and Joe credit for the lick they’d inspired that day.”
Gill penned the similarly laid-back broken-heart paean "Back When My World Was Blue" with young hitmakers Ernest and Chandler Walters. "It has a little bit of drinking in it, a little bit of melancholy in it, longing and all that stuff I love to sing about," he says.
"Goin' To Tampa" takes it to the honky-tonk, with the help of co-writers NRBQ's "Big Al" Anderson, a longtime friend, and McKinley James. The title, Gill says, "is an old phrase I've kept in my back pocket for 40 or 45 years.” Anderson plays acoustic guitar on the track, which features a hot piano ride by John Jarvis.
Gill gets the hanky out again for "I Cried All the Way to Memphis," a first-time collaboration with Patrick Droney that features backing vocals from Maggie Rose. "Amy (Grant, Gill's wife) loves this song," he says. “She was drawn to it from day one. It conjures up a pretty neat image.” I cried all the way to Memphis/It couldn't get me over you. “That’s very visual.”
“Being asked to sing on Vince Gill’s record is the honor of a lifetime,” shares Rose. “He is one of the finest vocalists and writers of our time and being in the studio with him is exhilarating and enlightening. He also has a heart of gold and seems to really enjoy what he is doing which I love to see as an artist who looks up to him.”
"Mama's Gone to Heaven" cranks up the tempo in a hand-clapping, gospel-flavored direction marked by more hot piano—this time by Gordon Mote -- and a stinging guitar solo by Gill. The song was inspired by a conversation with John Parks, who works in the clubhouse at Gill's regular golf course. "He's friendly, the greatest guy ever," Gill says. "He came up to me one day and said, 'Vince, my mama just passed away. I don't know who's gonna pray for me now.' That ripped my guts out, so I took what he said and went home and wrote this song.”
"I'm On To You" brings things back to mellow, and more heartbreak as Gill heads back into that lane with co-writer Harper O'Neill, whom he calls "a soulful singer in the Bonnie Raitt vein." It also features America's Got Talent finalist Lamont Landers, a red-headed, blue-eyed soul singer from Alabama -- currently recording with Dave Cobb -- whom Gill discovered via online performance posts.
As he's done on the preceding EPs, Gill caps Nobody Held Her Like Me with one of his previous hits -- this time "Whenever You Come Around," which hit No. 2 on the Billboard Country charts as the first single from his When Love Finds You album in 1994.
Like its 50 Years From Home predecessors, Nobody Held Her Like Me was produced by Gill at his home studio near Nashville, with engineers Justin Niebank and Matt Rausch and a core group of players that, in addition to Jarvis and Mote, includes guitarists Tom Bukovac and Jedd Hughes, bassist Jimmie Lee Sloas, pedal steel hero Paul Franklin, and drummer Fred Eltringham. Commemorating his departure from his native Oklahoma to begin his music career in earnest, Gill has been releasing a new EP each month, drawing from songs he has accumulated mostly during the past few years, with each collection built around a unifying theme. During this time he's continuing to play with the Eagles, including a run of stadium shows as part of its The Long Goodbye, Act III tour, as well as solo dates that resume in June and run through August. The Eagles have just announced new Sphere dates of September 18 and 19, and November 13, 14, 27, 28. Gill and Grant will also play their annual Christmas at the Ryman run during December. All dates can be found via vincegill.com.
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Episode 7 of 50 Years From Home with Vince Gill and Charlie Worsham provides a deeper dive into the recording of Nobody Held Her Like Me. Previous episodes can be seen HERE.
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TRACK LISTING:
(For complete EP credits, download HERE)
“Nobody Held Her Like Me” (Vince Gill, Joe Glaser, Jimmy Nalls)
“Back When My World Was Blue” (Vince Gill, Ernest Smith, Chandler Walters)
“Goin’ To Tampa” (Vince Gill, Al Anderson, McKinley James)
“I Cried All The Way To Memphis” (Vince Gill, Patrick Droney)
“Mama’s Gone To Heaven” (Vince Gill, John Parks)
“I’m On To You” (Vince Gill, Harper O’Neill)
“Whenever You Come Around” (Vince Gill, Pete Wasner)
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Photo credit: David McClister Download photo HERE
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ABOUT VINCE GILL:
One of the most popular artists in modern country music, Vince Gill is famous for his top-notch songwriting, world-class guitar playing and warm, soaring tenor, all wrapped up in a quick and easy wit. Gill achieved his big breakthrough in 1990 with “When I Call Your Name,” which won both the Country Music Association’s (CMA) Single and Song of the Year awards as well as a Grammy for Best Country Vocal Performance, Male. In total, Gill has won 18 CMA Awards, 22 Grammy Awards, and 8 Academy of Country Music Awards, and in 2025 was presented with the CMA Willie Nelson Lifetime Achievement Award. In 1991, Gill was invited to become a member of the Grand Ole Opry, and in 2007 was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. In 2012 he was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. A gifted songwriter, Gill’s compositions earned him entry into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2005 and the prestigious BMI Icon award in 2014. Throughout his career, he has released 21 albums, sold over 30 million albums, and charted 45 singles. In 2022, Gill was inducted into the Musicians Hall of Fame. Always considering himself a musician above all else, Gill has over the years been a part of some iconic bands, including Pure Prairie League, The Notorious Cherry Bombs, and The Time Jumpers. In 2017, Gill was asked to join the Eagles on the road, and he continues to be a part of that historic band’s tour. 2025 marked the 50th anniversary of Gill leaving home to pursue a career in music. To honor that milestone, he signed a lifetime contract with his record label MCA, and is releasing an EP series of brand-new music every month for a year, titled 50 Years from Home.
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