Part of His 50 Years From Home Project Featuring Co-writers ERNEST, Jake Worthington, Leslie Satcher, Wade Bowen & Waylon Payne
NASHVILLE—January 9, 2026—Vince Gill’syear-long project, 50 Years From Home(MCA),continues to roll out with the release of Brown’s Diner Bar, the third EP of the critically-acclaimed series. The previous two releases from this ambitious endeavor include I Gave You Everything I Had (October 17, 2025) and Secondhand Smoke (November 14, 2025).
“I think that as a songwriter, you have to have lived some life to understand what you’re writing about,” says Gill. “You need some years under your belt to have the perspective to look back and really remember things. I know I don’t have as much time left as I’ve had to this point, so everything matters more. There’s a much deeper connection to these lyrics than I would have ever imagined. They’re truthful and they’re real, and I think the songs are about things people can grasp and understand and relate to.”
Instruments featured on the cover of each EP are from Gill’s personal collection. For Brown’s Diner Bar, he chose a 1942 Martin D-45 acoustic guitar he bought from the Famous Old Time Music Co.in Cincinnati, whose founder, Harry Sparks, passed away this past November.
Perspective reigns within these six new tracks and the additional catalog track,“When I Call Your Name.” (Complete track listing below.)Penned by Gill, the title track of Brown’s Diner Bar, in fact, takes him all the way back–50 years to when he first visited the famed Nashville eatery he’s immortalizing in song. “It’s a singer-songwriter kind of folk song about…this little hamburger joint,” says Gill, who also provides a smooth electric guitar solo on the track. “It’s been in Nashville for 100 years now, and I’ve been going for 50. When I made my first trip to Nashville in the mid-70s, I remember going to Brown’s for a cheeseburger; they’re famous for being really good cheeseburgers. It’s a funky little joint, close to Music Row, so tons of singers and songwriters and musicians turn up there. It’s just a great vibe.”
The song also references the “hysterical, always creative” graffiti that used to saturate the walls of Brown’s — none of it his, Gill insists — before it was painted over several years ago. And the line about famed waitress Mama dancing with Hal Ketchum in the parking lot is also true, he says.
So many memories in these forty some yearsOne that sticks with me and still brings me to tearsThe night John Prine was singing on the jukeboxMama danced with Hal Ketchum in the parking lot
Gill co-wrote the sentimental “Not Having You Around” with longtime friend Leslie Satcher, during the days of the pandemic. “She just dropped by unannounced,” Gill recalls. “She got out of the car, and she said, ‘Junior,’ that’s her nickname for me, ‘are you seeing people?’ I said, ‘Hell yes! If something’s gonna kill me, it might as well be you.’ She said, ‘We’re writing that…right now!’ So, she came in and we came up with that song from that idea, if something’s gonna kill me, it’d be not having you around.”
With Brown’s Diner Bar, Gill isn’t just revisiting the places that shaped him – he’s preserving the stories, sounds, and truths that have paved his journey. American Songwriter
Gill teamed with Wade Bowen to pen “This Lonesome Old Cowboy,” a waltz that’s more romantic than rustling, and worked with Waylon Payne — son of longtime Willie Nelson guitarist Jody Payne and country singer Sammi Smith, and currently part of Nelson’s Family band — to co-write “Nobody Knows,” a country-flavored song that would fit smoothly into the Eagles’ repertoire. For the self-penned “Young Again,” Gill strikes a weepy country tone while making a strong point. “Ain’t nobody ever gonna stick a needle in me and unpuff my eyes or mess with my cheeks or anything,” he says. “You see everybody trying to stay young and do things to themselves to make them stay relevant. I just love the sentiment in that song — ‘There’s still a fire but no desire to be young again.’ That feels right on time for me; I’m 68, and that mirror doesn’t lie. It’s not the kindest thing in the world, but I would never go back. I don’t think I would undo the mistakes I made, either, because you learn more from your mistakes than you do from your successes. “And that’s a particular perspective that Gill feels is at the heart of the entire 50 Years From Home series. “It’s the truth,” he says, “and I think the truth is the easiest thing to write. “Gill came together with contemporary hitmaker ERNEST and Jake Worthington for the aching heartstring-tugger “I’m Selling All My Memories.”And as he has on the other 50 Years EPs, Gill closes Brown’s Diner Bar with a nod to the past, in this case 1989’s “When I Call Your Name,” the Top 5, gold-certified title track of his third album, co-written with Tim DuBois. “Once again, I tried to put a song on there that’s in the same world as what the previous six songs were, and something that follows well and sits with it and sequences well,” he explains. “I still love sequencing an album, still love a certain song following a certain song following a certain song. I just keep plugging in one after another until it feels like it flows really well. “For fans who would like to hear more about the making of Brown’s Diner Bar, they can tune in to the ongoing YouTube podcast series, 50 Years From Home with Vince Gill and Charlie Worsham. Episode 3 is available today. Brown’s Diner Bar comes in the wake of Gill’s latest career honor, the CMA Willie Nelson Lifetime Achievement Award presented to him by George Strait on November 19, live during the CMA Awards on ABC. But as the six new songs here prove, the creative achievements are still coming for Gill, just as they have for the past 50 years.
50 Years From Home with Vince Gill and Charlie Worsham, a special podcast-style series hosted by Worsham, continues with Episode 3 available now. The two friends do a deep dive into Brown’s Diner Bar.
Reflective, grateful, deeply personal, strikingly potent, touching, and completely self-penned, you can tell Vince put a lot of heart into composing this album [I Gave You Everything I Had]. It might be the first of a dozen EPs. But Gill approached it like it might be the last album he ever releases. Saving Country Music
TRACK LISTING(For complete EP credits, download HERE)“Brown’s Diner Bar” (Vince Gill)”Not Having You Around” (Vince Gill / Leslie Satcher)”This Lonesome Old Cowboy” (Vince Gill / Wade Bowen)”Nobody Knows” (Vince Gill / Waylon Payne)”Young Again” (Vince Gill)”I’m Selling All My Memories” (Vince Gill / ERNEST/ Jake Worthington)”When I Call Your Name” (Vince Gill / Tim DuBois)
Music Matters Magazine 