On This Day in 1992, Vince Gill Released a Musical Apology That Became His First No. 1

On this day (June 29) in 1992, Vince Gill released “I Still Believe in You” as the lead single from his album of the same name. It topped the chart in September and stayed there for two consecutive weeks, giving Gill his first No. 1 single. It also won the Grammy Award for Country Song of the Year, which Gill shared with his co-writer, John Barlow Jarvis.

Gill released his debut single, “Victim of Life’s Circumstances,” in 1984. It peaked at No. 40. His next few releases landed near the same position. He found his first top 10 hit in 1985 with “If It Weren’t for Him,” a duet with Rosanne Cash. “Oklahoma Borderline” and “Cinderella” were his only other top 10 hits before the end of the decade. Then, in the 1990s, Gill’s star began to rise. “When I Call Your Name” sparked a long line of hits that, except for two songs, lasted until the end of 1998.

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Vince Gill Wrote the Song as An Apology

When Vince Gill wrote “I Still Believe in You,” he was still married to his first wife, Janis Oliver. He upset her on his way to the writing session that yielded the song. As a result, he used that afternoon to craft a beautiful apology.

“Vince and I had talked about writing backstage at one of our CMA shows,” John Barlow Jarvis recalled. “We finally booked an appointment on a Sunday at my house. He forgot to tell his wife, and they had a bit of a spat about it, apparently,” he explained. “So, he was in the mood to write a make-up song,” Jarvis added. He recalled having most of the arrangement worked out when Gill, who wrote the bulk of the lyrics, showed up. That arrangement didn’t make it to the studio, though. Instead, Gill and his producer, Tony Brown, chose to turn the song into a slow ballad.

The song hit home for Oliver. In a post-divorce interview, she admitted that the song still got to her years later. “There are some songs I can’t listen to anymore,” she said. “Like ‘I Still Believe in You,’ because of the circumstances around them and what he told me they meant to him. To hear that now is confusing,” she explained.

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