Watch Vince Gill Debut a Song He Wrote with Marty Stuart on a Guitar Once Owned by George Jones

The country music world is a small one. As a result, many of the genre’s biggest names have worked together in some capacity. Sometimes, lasting friendships come from those working relationships. For instance, Vince Gill and Marty Stuart have known one another for more than five decades. The two have performed together multiple times over the years. In recent months, they’ve started writing songs together for the first time.

Earlier this week, Stuart added his massive collection of country music artifacts to the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. To celebrate the merging of the two priceless collections, the CMHoF held a special ceremony during which several artists performed using instruments from Stuart’s collection.

[RELATED: Marty Stuart’s Massive Collection of Country Music Artifacts Joins the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum]

Gill fittingly debuted one of the songs that he and Stuart wrote together during the ceremony. In the video above, he sings “Marty and Me” while playing a 1958 Martin D-28 customized for and once owned by George Jones. The performance begins at the 16:30 mark in the video.

Vince Gill Shares His Thoughts on Marty Stuart

Before playing the song that he and Marty Stuart co-wrote, Vince Gill reflected on their decades-long friendship. “I’m so proud of Marty for doing this and accomplishing this. He has been collecting this stuff since I’ve known him. I’ve known Marty for 51 years,” he began. “I’ll never forget. It was Hugo, Oklahoma, bluegrass festival they used to have back there where I’m from. We were playing and Marty was playing with Lester [Flatt]. I saw him walk off the bus, he had a hat on, carrying that mandolin case, pointy-toed boots. I said, ‘There goes a rockstar,’ at 15 or however old we were,” he recalled.

“What I’ve always heard about Marty was, people would say about Marty—because he played with Lester because he played with Johnny Cash and Roger Miller and on and on and on. All of the legends, the greats. They always would say that Marty was born in the wrong generation. He should have been born in the generation prior,” Gill said. “I said, ‘No he shouldn’t have.’ He was born at just the right time because we needed him. I don’t think I’ve ever met anybody who is more reverent and respectful and graceful about loving this music than Marty Stuart. Hands down. Best I’ve ever seen,” he concluded before introducing the song.

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