Vince Gill Adds New, Redemptive Verse to Classic Tune ‘Go Rest High On That Mountain’
Vince Gill treated his audience at the historic Ryman Auditorium to a brand new verse at the end of his classic tune "Go Rest High On That Mountain." Gill says that the song, composed over the course of four years in the early '90s, always felt unfinished. Press play above to watch the moving performance from earlier this month.
"In all these years of singing that song, truthfully it felt just the slightest bit incomplete to me, I always thought it needed to tie itself up in some way." Gill tells the audience before he debuted the new verse at one of a series of special holiday performances he shared with wife and fellow performer Amy Grant at the Ryman.
Gill began composing the moving lyrics after the death of country great Keith Whitley, in 1989, but set it aside until after his brother's death four years later. The new verse adds an element of final spiritual redemption for the loved on who has been called home.
"You’re safely home in the arms of Jesus / Eternal life, my brother’s found / The day will come I know I’ll see him / In that sacred place, on that holy ground," the new lyrics say, tying up the heart-wrenching ode into a life well lived.
Gill admits that tinkering with a song that has won both CMA and Grammy awards, as well as climbing all the way to No. 14 on the charts, is a daring move. Still, he stands by his decision. “Yeah, it doesn’t make much sense, does it?” the artist tells People. “Yeah, ‘Leave it alone, you idiot!’ That should be my mantra. But in my heart, I think this makes it better.”
Gill and Grant will finish their 12-show holiday residency at the Ryman on Dec. 23.