Vince Gill: The Session Guys' Songwriter

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Label chief Luke Lewis went Gill one better. He sent Gill back into the studio to cut another disc's worth of songs and released everything as a four-disc boxed set.

These Days is an impressive feat, not only because, as Lewis points out, "I don't know anybody that can write that many songs in a short amount of time and none of them suck," but because, like the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's landmark Will the Circle Be Unbroken, the collection traces country music history.

In the case of These Days, it's Gill's personal history. Nearly every guest on the album ties into Gill's musical journey – Phil Everly, a huge influence ("greatest harmony singer that ever lived," Gill says); Rodney Crowell, who hired him to play guitar; Guy Clark, who headlined the first show Gill played with Crowell's Cherry Bombs; and, of course, wife Amy Grant.

In a way, These Days is a crowning achievement of a Hall-of-Fame caliber career. And Gill's audience recognized it as such. When it came out in October, These Days far outsold expectations, going platinum (nearly 300,000 four-disc units); many retailers found they'd under-ordered as it became a popular Christmas present for the serious country fan. In February, the album's first single, "The Reason Why," won Gill his 18th Grammy. Of all country performers, only Alison Krauss has more – and she sang harmony on the record. Released after last year's eligibility period, These Days is the early front-runner for next year's Best Country Album Grammy.

The acclaim is all fine and good for Gill, who's in the middle of a tour to promote the album. But it's not the point.

"The exercise should never be about the result," Gill says. "It should be about the work in front of you. And that's really, to me, what true art is."