These Days [Box] (CD - 2006)

Personnel: Vince Gill (baritone, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, 12-string guitar, resonator guitar, mandolin, background vocals); Vince Gill (vocals); Diana Krall (vocals, piano); Guy Clark, John Anderson, Rodney Crowell (vocals); Jeff White (tenor, acoustic guitar, background vocals); Sonya Issacs (tenor); Tom Britt (acoustic guitar, electric guitar, slide guitar, gut-string guitar); Billy Joe Walker, Jr., Steuart Smith (electric guitar); Paul Franklin (steel guitar, dobro); John Hughey, Buddy Emmons (steel guitar); Jerry Douglas (dobro); Robbie McCoury, Charlie Cushman (banjo); Ronnie McCoury (mandolin); Stuart Duncan (fiddle); Nashville String Machine (strings); Jim Hoke (harmonica); Mark Douthit (tenor saxophone); Doug Moffet (baritone saxophone); Mike Haynes (trumpet); Barry Green (trombone); Jim Horn (horns); Pete Wasner (piano, electric piano, Wurlitzer piano, Hammond b-3 organ, Wurlitzer organ, synthesizer); Eric Darken (vibraphone, tambourine, percussion, bells, chimes); Michael Rhodes (bass instrument, upright bass); Mike Bub (upright bass); Eddie Bayers, Billy Thomas (drums); William Owsley III, Gene Miller, Lisa Cochran (background vocals); Del McCoury (vocals, tenor, acoustic guitar); Bekka Bramlett (vocals, background vocals); Dan Tyminski, Emmylou Harris, Gretchen Wilson, Jenny Gill, LeAnn Rimes, Lee Ann Womack, Alison Krauss, Michael McDonald , Amy Grant, Patty Loveless, Phil Everly, Rebecca Lynn Howard, Trisha Yearwood, Sheryl Crow, Katrina Elam, Bonnie Raitt (vocals); Tom Bukovac (electric guitar); John Hobbs (piano, Fender Rhodes piano, Wurlitzer organ); Chad Cromwell (drums, tambourine); The Del McCoury Band.

Audio Mixers: Justin Niebank; Neal Cappellino.

Liner Note Author: Jay Orr.

Recording information: Blackbird "F", Nashville, TN; Blackbird Studio, Nashville, TN; Emerald Sound Studios, Nashville, TN; Masterfonics, Nashville, TN; OceanWay, Nashville, TN; Sound Kitchen, Nashville, TN.

Photographer: Señor McGuire.

Not since Prince released the three-hour, three-CD set EMANCIPATION in 1996 or the Magnetic Fields took a similar number of discs for the sprawling 69 LOVE SONGS in 1999 has an artist attempted something as expansive as Vince Gill's THESE DAYS. A four-disc box set of all new material, nearly all of it Gill originals, THESE DAYS is possibly the widest-ranging country album of the modern era. The four discs are thematically and stylistically arranged. Disc one, WORKIN' ON A BIG CHILL, is a 1960s-flavored rock-and-roll album that recalls Bob Dylan's late '60s work with the Band and features Bonnie Bramlett's vocals on several songs. Disc two, THE REASON WHY, is a modern pop record in the style of Shania Twain's international releases, with several duet partners including Sheryl Crow and Leann Rimes. Disc three, SOME THINGS NEVER GET OLD, is straight honky-tonk in the Ray Price and Lefty Frizzell tradition. Finally, disc four, LITTLE BROTHER, is a strictly acoustic bluegrass and folk album that cuts Gill's writing and singing to its most elemental. Taken together, the four albums reveal Vince Gill to be one of modern country's most impressive performers. minimize