Oklahoma native Vince Gill will pay homage to his home state with the release of his new album, Okie, on Aug. 23.
The album’s title is taken from the once-derogatory term used to disparage migrants from Oklahoma to the nation’s west coast during the Dust Bowl and Great Depression eras. A proud Oklahoman, Vince has appropriated this term on an album that embraces his roots and explores some of the most important issues of our time.
Vince wrote or co-wrote every song on the 12-track album.
“I thought this was going to be a songwriter record, not a concept album,” Vince says. “It wound up being more information than I’d envisioned. A friend sent me an email saying, ‘You could have only written this record after living a 60-year-plus life.’ He said, ‘There’s no struggle in these songs, just truth and your experience.'”
Okie marks Vince’s most recent solo album since 2016’s Down To My Last Bad Habit. The new album is available for pre-order now.
Listen to the album’s lead track, “A Letter to My Mama,” below.
photo by Tammie Arroyo, AFF-USA.com
