HONEST AND TRUE VINCE GILL SINGS ABOUT WHAT HE KNOWS ON `NEXT BIG THING'.

Byline: Sandra Barrera Staff Writer

``This Old Guitar and Me.'' That's what Vince Gill was originally going to call his new album, arriving in stores today.

But the veteran country singer-songwriter and guitarist says his audience was already sold on the lead single ``Next Big Thing,'' a song that pokes fun at Gill as much as it does pop culture with lines like ``Well, a kid will come along, make the young girls swoon/they'll all put his picture in their pink bedrooms,'' to an Elvis Presley kind of swagger.

``Everybody was going, 'This is kinda neat to dance to and for just kinda shaking the cobwebs off and having some fun, too,' '' Gill says. ``And so I felt like the album would be better served if I called it that.''

He was right. Already the album has attracted a great deal of attention because of its catchy title track, which after three months continues climbing the country music charts, where it now holds at No. 18. However, it's not representative of the rest of the album.

The music on the album ``Next Big Thing'' talks about romance, pays homage to country legends and even recounts Gill's life in the autobiographical ``This Old Guitar and Me,'' which happens to be his favorite track.

``It tells the truth about my life,'' Gill says on a recent February morning at the restaurant in the Hyatt West Hollywood hotel. The following night, hundreds of fans would line the sidewalk outside the restaurant before entering the House of Blues for a sold-out listening party with the country music star.

Gill returns to the West Coast for additional club dates in June, and on Nov. 5, he resumes host duties at the Country Music Association awards show for a 12th consecutive year. The show broadcasts live on CBS.

Long road to now

Right now, while his band is out brunching along the hilly stretch of Sunset Boulevard, Gill is chatting about his life as a musician these past 25 years ``or more.''

Looking at him, it's hard to believe he has been around as long as he has. He looks younger than his 45 years. His face is boyish, with its bashful smile and big green eyes that light up whenever talk turns to Amy Grant.

``I'm really lucky being married to Amy,'' Gill says. ``She's a great gal.''

By all impressions, Gill is pretty down to earth and good-natured. He puts people at ease instantly. Chalk it up to the confidence he has in the career he's made for himself over the years.

In an industry where celebrity is fleeting, Gill remains what Billboard magazine calls ``one of country music's most impressive triple-threats as a singer/songwriter/musician.''

He's won numerous accolades, including 18 CMAs, 14 Grammys and six BMI trophies for songwriting.

``Vince is a true professional at what he does, yet he remains himself,'' says Tammy Genovese, the associate executive director of the Nashville-based CMA. ``He's funny and charming and, on top of all that, he's a fabulous musical talent.''

Paddy Maloney, founder of the traditional Irish folk-rock band the Chieftains, agrees.

The band has twice asked Gill to lend his voice on recordings, including most recently on the track ``Dark as a Dungeon'' off the Chieftains' Grammy-nominated all-star album ``Down the Old Plank Road: The Nashville Sessions.''

``Vince has that lovely, soulful voice,'' Maloney says during a break in Florida. ``He doesn't just perform the song; he lives it. But really, my knowledge of Vince - and I've seen him in action - is first as a bluegrass player. He knows his stuff. He comes from that stock.''

Long before Gill settled down in Nashville with Grant and the five children between them - their 2-year-old daughter, plus four from previous marriages - he was coming up in Oklahoma.

Early days

Gill was the youngest of three children from a somewhat musical family.

Although he has no memory of how old he was when he began playing, Gill remembers ``always dragging a guitar around the house.''

That and his grandmother's piano playing, as well as hearing blues, country and rock 'n' roll records constantly on the turntable inspired Gill's pursuit of a music career. After high school, he joined a traveling country music band and began touring the United States.

He recalls his first gig in Los Angeles was opening for Guy Clark at the Troubadour in the late '70s.

``That night, Emmylou (Harris) was there, and Rodney Crowell was there, and Linda Ronstadt was there, and Dolly Parton was there, I mean, I met a whole bunch of my heroes,'' Gill says.

So, did he blow them away?

``I don't think so,'' he says with a laugh. ``But I did make a forever friend in Rodney and, as it turned out, with all those other people as well.''

In the years since, Gill has recorded several albums. He introduced his latest 17-track disc at the House of Blues to a capacity crowd of men clad in western wear and women swigging beer from bottles and jockeying for the best position to enjoy this rare opportunity to hear Gill play in such an intimate setting.

``Playing in a small place makes me feel like a real musician more so than in a giant place,'' says Gill, who typically plays a venue the size of the Universal Amphitheatre.

Several songs into the show, he asks the audience to keep an open mind, and then he unleashes the new track ``The Sun's Gonna Shine on You,'' an electric blues pick-me-up. It is followed by other new songs such as the ballad ``She Never Makes Me Cry,'' a lyric lifted from the film ``Ocean's Eleven''; the Merle Haggard tribute ``Real Mean Bottle''; and ``Young Man's Town,'' a song whose subject bears some similarity to the sentiment of ``Next Big Thing.''

``It's a lyric that makes you think,'' Gill says of the latter tune. ``Most people are making it only pertain to the music business, but to me it's more about life.''

And there's plenty more where that came from, including the song that most resonates with the artist.

``Out of my songs, I think I'm drawn to the ones that are probably the most personal,'' Gill says. `` 'This Old Guitar and Me' is one of those songs, just like 'Key to Life,' about my father, or 'Go Rest High,' about my brother - he passed away. I think that deep down that's what people really want to discover: truth and honesty.''

Today, they will.

CAPTION(S):

3 photos

Photo:

(1 -- cover -- color) `The Next BIG Thing'?

Despite his album title, country veteran Vince Gill is anything but a flash in the pan

(2) no caption (Vince Gill)

(3) - Vince Gill

John Locher/Associated Press