Artist Updates: Vince Gill, Paul Franklin Team For ‘Bakersfield’

Vince Gill and steel guitarist Paul Franklin will release the project Bakersfield on July 30 on MCA Nashville. Gill and Franklin will pay tribute to the Bakersfield sound by performing songs from Buck Owens and Merle Haggard. The project, recorded in two days at Gill’s home studio, also features John Hobbs (piano), Greg Morrow (drums), Willie Weeks and Brad Albin (bass), J.T. Corenflos (electric rhythm guitar), and Time Jumpers Kenny Sears, Larry Franklin, Joe Spivey (fiddle) and Dawn Sears on harmony vocals. Gill performs all acoustic and electric guitar fills and solos.

“This is just as much a guitar record for me as it is a singing record,” Gill says, “But it was fun for me to sing a whole record of the greatest songs ever. I guess what I’m real proud of is that when it’s one of Buck’s songs, I sing it very much in that vein. And the Haggard songs are very much in the vein he sang. With Buck’s songs, you won’t find much vibrato in my vocals, and with Merle’s, it will come down to a low note and that quiver.”

“This may be Vince’s greatest project,” Franklin declares. “What a showcase! I’ve heard him sing for 30 years, but he sings licks on this record I never heard before.”

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Billy Joe Shaver will perform at Nashville’s Exit/In with Chuck Mead on Friday, June 14. Mead will take the stage at 10 p.m., followed by Shaver at 11 p.m.

Tickets are $15 and can be purchased at exitin.com.

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Drake White

MCA Nashville singer-songwriter Drake White will join Toby Keith and Kip Moore on the Hammer Down Tour, which begins June 14 in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Drake will perform 12 shows with Keith in major markets including Pittsburgh, Chicago, Cleveland, Philadelphia and Boston.