VINCE Gill

The Oklahoman Editorial

VINCE Gill doesn't live in Oklahoma anymore and hasn't for some time. Even so, Gill has never been bashful about bragging about his Sooner State roots while rising to the top of the country music industry. Oklahomans should be just as proud that Gill is now a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame.

On stage, Gill has been a virtuoso with his voice and his instruments — guitar, banjo, Dobro, you name it — for more than 30 years. In high school, he played locally with the band Mountain Smoke, before moving on to Pure Prairie League and, eventually, making it as a solo act after years as a session musician and background singer in Nashville.

In the past two decades, he has won 18 Grammys, 18 Country Music Association awards and sold more than 22 million albums. He's also been a star off stage, lending his name and time to a variety of charitable causes.

"It's hard for me to wrap my arms around what I've accomplished, you know, because I never looked at myself and my own career by what I've accomplished,” Gill told The Oklahoman's Brandy McDonnell in a recent interview. "It's a shock because of my age, I think, as much as anything.”

Gill is just 50, which means he has many years ahead of him to make his music and, at the same time, continue to make his home state proud.