Trigger History 15 Comments
If it’s not one of the best stories in country music, it certainly one of the best in the arsenal of Vince Gill. Today, we all think of Vince Gill as the mild-mannered, clean cut, all-American Country Music Hall of Famer whose songs like “Go Rest High On That Mountain” and “One More Last Chance” defined some of the best of ’90s country.
But like all country greats, Vince Gill had to pay his dues, do time as an opening act, and sometimes not in the most ideal of environments. Before Vince Gill was Vince Gill, he played in the country rock band Pure Prairie League, and in the Kentucky-based bluegrass bands Bluegrass Alliance and Boone Creek with Ricky Skaggs. But one of the first bands he performed with in his home state of Oklahoma was a bluegrass band called Mountain Smoke.
They might’ve not been big on the national level. But after he graduated high school, Vince Gill and Mountain Smoke became pretty big in the Norman/Oklahoma City area, so much so that they were one of the go-to opening bands whenever some big name would tour through town. One such band happened to be the legendary rockers KISS…