Vince Gill Sings New Verse He Wrote For “Go Rest High On That Mountain”
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Roughly 25 years ago, Vince Gill released “Go Rest High On That Mountain,” a song that would become his signature song and earn him numerous accolades including two Grammy awards. The song has become a funeral song of sorts, with Gill even performing the tune at the funeral of his late friend George Jones. Even though listeners around the globe fell in love with the heartfelt ballad, Gill never quite felt it was complete….until now.
In 1989, following the untimely death of country star Keith Whitley, Gill began writing the songs familiar lyrics. But, he didn’t finish the song until 1993 after the death of his brother, Bob. It was released in 1995 and received a great deal of recognition, although it never topped any charts.
In a surprising move, Gill wrote an additional verse to the song, despite the success of the original version. We doubt that any fans ever thought the song was incomplete, but after hearing the new rendition we have to agree with Vince that the beautiful new verse draws the song to a conclusion that we never realized was missing.
He debuted the verse during the annual holiday residency he and his wife, Amy Grant, share at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium. During the performance, Vince sang the first two verses of “Go Rest High On That Mountain” as he had done hundreds of times before. But, when it came time to sing the new verse, his emotions overtook him and he fought through tears to sing:
“You’re safely home in the arms of Jesus
Eternal life, my brother’s found
The day will come I know I’ll see him
In that sacred place, on that holy ground.”
Does this new addition to “Go Rest High” mean that Vince Gill will be re-recording the song? It doesn’t sound likely.
“I don’t really know if I have any intention of recording it with this third verse,” Gill told PEOPLE. “I was just sitting there thinking last night that if I take one of the [guitar] solos out of the original record and sing the third verse there, it would work. So I don’t have any idea of what’s to come of this other than I just did it. I’m going to start singing that last verse because I think it makes the song a lot better. Maybe I’m foolish, but I don’t think so.”
Hear Vince Gill sing the new rendition of “Go Rest High On That Mountain” live from the Ryman Auditorium in the video below.
