Share and Follow
Vince Gill recently recounted a tense moment from his past, nearly getting into a physical altercation with a close friend who suddenly began criticizing his wife, Amy Grant.
During a conversation on the “Naked Lunch” podcast with Phil Rosenthal and David Wild, the country music legend described how everyone who meets Grant is immediately charmed by her. Reflecting on the early days of their marriage, Gill recalled being good friends with the iconic radio personality Don Imus. “Don was quite the character,” Gill shared, “and he had always been fond of me. He and Delbert McClinton were two of his all-time favorite singers.”
However, things changed when Gill married Grant. Imus, according to Gill, “suddenly turned on me,” making him the target of negative comments during his radio broadcasts.
Imus would mockingly lament, “I can’t believe my favorite singer, Vince Gill, lost the Baby Jesus and married that Christian girl,” repeatedly taking jabs at Gill on air.
In response, when Gill was preparing to promote a new album, he instructed his publicist to arrange an appearance on Imus’ show, setting the stage for a potential confrontation.
“And they said, ‘Are you nuts?’ I said, ‘No.’ I said, ‘I want to go do the show.’ And they said, ‘Well, he’s ragging on you every day.’ I said, ‘I know.’ And so I got booked on the show,” he explained.
He first sang a song on Imus’ show, and then they had a little small talk, “and then finally Amy’s name came up.”
“He said something about Amy and I said, ‘I’m glad you brought Amy up,’” he continued. “I said, ‘I’ve been hearing you say some pretty ugly things about my wife, and I’m just kind of curious why.’ I said, ‘You used to be a great supporter of mine’ and this and that.”
The “When I Call Your Name” singer confronted Imus with the fact that he had never met Grant.
“I said, ‘Well, if you ever met her, you’d never say an unkind word about her,’” Gill said, adding that he told Imus, “‘I’m going to shoot you straight.’ I said, ‘I really only came on this show for one reason.’ I said, ‘We’re either going to talk this out, straighten this out,’ I said, ‘or I’m going to crawl across this desk, and I’m going to kick your a–.’”
Imus’ “eyes got big,” Gill said, figuring they’d better “figure this thing out.”
“I said, ‘Good choice, Don,’ you know, and so we had a great visit, and I left the studio and was headed home, and I turned on his show and he was still on, and I heard him say, ‘I don’t know why I was giving that guy so much crap. I love that guy,’ you know, and he completely turned, and we stayed great friends until his passing.”
Gill and Grant married in March 2000 and will celebrate their 26th anniversary this year.