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Vince Gill Concert

Vince Gill put on a show Saturday night. Gill not only entertained the crowd with his music, but also shared personable intros to the songs and the situations that created them, giving the concert-goers an intimate look into his love of the craft of music making. (photos by Leilani Taylor)

Vince Gill put on a show Saturday night.

Donna Lemonds stood there after the concert, cradling the Vince-Gill-signed, Vince-Gill-played guitar the Robbins resident had just won in a raffle held during the concert put on by the multiple Grammy winning legend at the Arboretum in Pinehurst.

"I can't believe it," Lemonds said as she clutched the Fender Telecaster close to herself. "I'm a big Vince Gill fan. I was here last year. Can you believe it? I have this guitar."

She was waiting to be taken to her car by security, as the last stragglers of the thousands in attendance for the Vince Gill concert ambled down the sidewalks. It was the second year in a row that Gill had performed a benefit concert for the First Tee of the Sandhills in the ambience of the Arboretum.

On a night when Gill strolled through his endless repertoire of songs, displaying his mastery of the many guitars he interchanged during the performance, one song stood out, stoked by the introduction to the tune.

He dedicated "This Old Guitar and Me" to the Stallings family who were in attendance, saying it was Jacob Stallings favorite song, a song that Gill hadn't played for a live audience in quite a while. Jacob Stallings is a baseball player for the UNC Tar Heels. His father is Kevin Stallings, the head basketball coach for Vanderbilt, and a good friend of Gill's.

Like every other song performed during the two-hour concert, Gill and his band provided the attendees a subtle moment of professionalism. Gill at one point said he hoped the audience knew how hard the band was working.

Work they did, filling the Pinehurst night with soaring background highlights to Gill's high, lonesome sound.

Gill not only entertained the crowd with his music, but also shared personable intros to the songs and the situations that created them, giving the concert-goers an intimate look into his love of the craft of music making.

An example of the good-time vibe that permeated the night was the way he handled the guitar Lemonds won in the raffle. After announcing Lemonds as the winner, Gill grabbed the Fender, saying that he wanted to play it before giving it to her. It was one more moment in a night filled with musical magic.

And you can believe that.