Vince Gill Releases 'Down At Borderline' EP In 50 Years From Home Series

Official Announcement | Published: Feb 14, 2026 4:07 PM EST

(MPG) The guitar on the cover of Down At The Borderline says everything about the fourth installment in Vince Gill's 50 Years From Home EP series on MCA. It's a white 1953 Fender Telecaster that Gill bought for $450 in 1978 from Del City Music in his native Oklahoma, and it's been Gill's main guitar ever since.

"It's real special," he remarks. "I've got several other old Fender Telecasters, but that one just suits my hands, suits my ears. Everything about it is kind of a huge part of my entire catalog of playing guitar over all these years." Testifying to that status is the worn finish on the guitar's body.

Instruments featured on the cover of each EP are from Gill's personal collection. For Down At The Borderline he chose his iconic 1953 Telecaster.

It's appropriate, then, that the six new songs on Down At The Borderline, as well as "Liza Jane" from his 1991 album Pocket Full Of Gold, feature plenty of six-string rockin' and more of an uptempo demeanor than its three 50 Years From Home predecessors. "There's a little more zip on this EP," Gill agrees, "some more guitar playing. Some of the earlier EPs have been singer-songwriter songs, not a ton of whittling around on the guitar. These songs are fun to stretch out a little bit on and just play some guitar."

Down At The Borderline leads off with its title track, a rockin', Cajun-flavored tune co-written with Liz Rose about a joint in Thibodaux, Louisiana where "they play the Zydeco and wrestle alligators," with a sawdust floor and a shuffleboard table, as well as a matron, Mable, who keeps "a loaded pistol in her beehive hair." The female voice on the song, meanwhile, is none other than country superstar Lainey Wilson, a proud native of Baskin, Louisiana. "Once I set it in Thibodaux I asked Lainey to come sing on it. She graciously said yes, and she killed it!," Gill says. "I didn't know if she'd be up for that; it's hard to get somebody when they're knocking it out of the park like she is, but she did, and I love the sound of our voices together."

"Releasing a song with Vince Gill is truly a dream come true," states Wilson. "I've had the chance to get to know him over the past few years and share the stage together, so being able to finally make music together means the world to me."

Gill wrote "Never Saw It Coming" with Stephan Hogan, who he met while judging a guitar contest in Los Angeles. They stayed in touch, and when Hogan moved to Nashville, Gill invited him to do some songwriting together. "He's very talented. I'm gonna root for him," says Gill.

Gill has been carrying the Bakersfield-flavored "Pink Cadillac" with him since 2023. He owns a red 1973 Cadillac Coupe de Ville himself but had no problem taking a little creative license with the song. "On some of these songs I'm not trying to write War and Peace or anything; they're just fun," he explains. "Not every song needs to be serious."

The chugging "Come Back" is another co-write, with Harper O'Neil. "She's a young artist who's incredible," Gill says, "a great, soulful singer who's starting to make some noise in town." The song is marked by what he calls a "brainiac move" by fellow guitarist Tom Bukovac; "The solo that happens was Tom, and I wound up playing an octave higher and then a harmony to that. That's a great-feeling track."

The slow-paced tear-jerker "Love Died" is a collaboration with longtime friends the Warren Brothers and upstart Preston Cooper. Wendy Moten sings on the track as well, much to Gill's delight; "It's some of the best singing you'll ever hear when she cuts loose."

Gill revs things back up for "Whole Lot of Cowboy Left in Me," a rocking and defiant statement of purpose that features CMA Musician of the Year Paul Franklin's stone country steel guitar. "I'm not much of a cowboy," Gill, who co-wrote the song with Josh Thompson, fesses up. "I've got some boots and all, but I've never done much horseback riding or any of that stuff.

Nevertheless, he convincingly captures the authentic character of the song's narrator. "I understand it very well. I grew up in Oklahoma; that's where the National Finals Rodeo was held every year, before they moved it to Vegas. My family grew up on farms, and I played in so many honky tonks, so many bars, and I've been around so many of those characters. So, it was natural for me to write about 'em."

It's appropriate that Down At The Borderline would close with Gill's guitar-slinging 1991 hit "Liza Jane." This EP follows the previous 50 Years From Home volumes I Gave You Everything I Had, Secondhand Smoke, and Brown's Diner Bar.

Gill recently announced dates for his upcoming summer tour, which culminates in a 6-night residency at the historic Ryman Auditorium. He will continue to tour with the Eagles as well. Last month it was announced that Gill will be awarded the Ken Burns American Heritage Prize, an honor presented by American Prairie. He was also recently presented with the CMA Willie Nelson Lifetime Achievement Award. Listen to the EP here