I Still Believe in You

Vince Gill’s career momentum built slowly in the early 1980s, picked up speed towards the end of the decade and hit high gear as the ‘90s began. But it took 1992’s I Still Believe In You to secure the singer/songwriter’s status among country music’s immortals. Gill sticks to what he does best here, applying his manly-yet-vulnerable high tenor vocals to a range of emotionally honest songs rooted in everything from Appalachian folk to urbane R&B. The fact that he could top the singles charts with tunes as radically different as “Don’t Let Our Love Start Slippin’ Away” (a smooth country-pop tune), “One More Last Chance” (a rollicking honky-tonk number) and “Tryin’ To Get Over You” (a mournful lost-love ballad) speaks volumes about Vince’s talent. I Still Believe In You’s title track earned this album a fourth Number One and may be its best song overall – rising to its yearning chorus, Gill rivals Roy Orbison for sheer romantic pathos. Among the lesser-known album tracks, “Pretty Words” sparkles in an L.A. country-rock mode, while “Say Hello” has the deep-bodied twang of a classic barroom weeper. And Gill handles it all with humility and charm on this outstanding album.