Vince Gill - Sweet Memories

One of my favorite memories ever was years ago (mid 1990’s I think) when I sang Karaoke with you, my favorite country singer, Vince Gill, in a hotel bar in the Tri-Cities in Washington state! We sang “The Heart Won’t Lie” and then later, we closed the show with “I’ll Be There.” And you kissed my cheek! You were so nice!!! Patty Loveless was there too!! I just adore her as well and used to sing several of her songs in my band. In fact I sang a few of yours as well!! Anyway, after our closing song, and after the bar lights came up, one of your guys came up to me and complimented my singing and then gave me tickets to your show the next night. Your concert the following evening was just soooo good and you even acknowledged me right before you and Dawn Sears sang “The Heart Won’t Lie” telling the crowd that you had the pleasure of singing this the night before at karaoke with a really good singer. That was just so amazing and awesome for me!! But the memory gets better…. 1 or 2 years later you headlined for a summer series concert that included several country artists, including Patty, at The Gorge in George, Washington. I was standing at the fence that separated back stage (which is actually side stage at The Gorge) and I saw your brand new tour busses and noticed someone looking out one of the windows with binoculars. As I continued to stand there enjoying Colin Ray perform, a man approached me from the other side of the fence - it was the same guy who had given me show tickets at that hotel bar when you and I sang karaoke! He told me he saw me from the bus and remembered me!! We chatted for awhile and he gave me backstage passes to come back and see you after the show!!! I was so excited!! After you performed, I lined up with all the radio station winners, etc. and we were taken to this area with a few picnic tables. Then you came over and everyone lined up to meet you and get your autograph. I made sure to be last. When it was my turn, I handed you a picture to autograph - it was a picture of you and I singing karaoke in that hotel bar! Of course I brought it with me! You looked at it and did a double take and smiled and said “I remember you!” And I said “And oh man, do I remember you!” We hugged and you were just so nice. So….. those were 2 of the best nights I’ve ever had and amazing memories I will always carry with me! Thank you for that and for being so gracious to your fans! (Unfortunately my autographed picture was stolen many years ago but I was smart enough to have had a copy made so that’s why there’s no autograph on this picture - this is the copy).