Vince Gill Celebrates 20 Years As Opry Member

Vince Gill celebrated his 20th anniversary as a member of the Grand Ole Opry on Saturday. Among those joining Gill onstage throughout the night were his wife Amy Grant, daughter Jenny Gill, Jimmy Dickens, Emmylou Harris, Martina McBride and The Time Jumpers. Gill opened the show before a sold-out crowd by performing “Gotta’ Travel On” in honor of Opry member Billy Grammer, who passed away last week. Gill accompanied himself on Grammer’s 1959 hit on a Grammer Guitar he’d purchased just weeks ago. Gill shared that he hadn’t been able to accept the Opry’s first invitation to play the show more than 20 years ago because it conflicted with accompanying Jenny at her grade school talent show. Closing the show, Gill said, “in the immortal words of Mr. Roy [Acuff], ‘You better sing the one that brung ya’” before performing the first song he ever sang on the Opry, “When I Call Your Name.”