Watch: Vince Gill Emotionally Remembers Kris Kristofferson and How He Forever Changed Songwriting (Exclusive)

Vince Gill sits beside his wife, Amy Grant, on the couch in his music room in his Nashville home and tears up when he remembers his late friend Kris Kristofferson. It’s Wednesday, October 3, and Kristofferson died the previous Saturday at his home in Maui, Hawaii. He was a military veteran, a Rhodes scholar, an A-list actor, and one of the most beloved and celebrated artists and songwriters in country music history.

“God, he changed the face of how songs were written here,” Gill said of Kristofferson, the pen behind songs including “Me and Bobby McGee,” “Help Me Make It Through the Night,” “For the Good Times,” “Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down,” and “Why Me.”

Gill remembers the singer as “happy”—even when he accidentally snaked one of his melodies.
Gill was listening to a record of his from 1997. He released the track and didn’t think about it again for a long time. But when he listened back, he had a jarring realization.

“It was the exact same melody as ‘Help Me Make It Through the Night,’” he said. “I saw him and said, ‘Hey, I’m really sorry. I think I just completely (took) one of your songs.’”

Kristofferson told him he didn’t care.

But it’s not that Kristofferson wasn’t passionate about his songs. Gill told Grant the infamous story of how Kristofferson pitched “Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down” to Johnny Cash. Kristofferson didn’t know Cash then but wouldn’t be ignored. A former helicopter pilot in the military, Kristofferson rented a helicopter and landed it in Cash’s yard.

Kris Kristofferson Landed a Helicopter In Johnny Cash’s Yard

“He took him the tape,” Gill said. “Johnny heard it and winds up doing the song on the ‘Johnny Cash Show.’”

Cash told Kristofferson they wanted him to change the song lyric about being stoned for network television.  

Kristofferson said, ‘I was there, and I just wanted him to sing those words, and he did,’” Gill said. “He just basically told them to go to hell.”

Gill said he wouldn’t call Kristofferson “a great singer” but said his “songs were so stinking great that nobody cared.”

“It’s just so well done,” Gill said. “And that’s impressive to accomplish that legacy of songs.”

But his favorite Kristofferson memory came about a year ago when Kristofferson’s wife, Lisa, let Gill take her husband to the Country Music Hall of Fame induction ceremony. Kristofferson had battled memory problems for years, and Gill described him as “lost” and “long gone.” But the experience was priceless.

“Lisa let me take him with me to go out and sit in the crowd,” Gill said. “I was holding his hand. It was a neat memory for me to have.”

Gill is scheduled to play The Grand Ole Opry this weekend and said he’ll likely play a couple of songs in tribute to Kristofferson.

(Photo by Tim Mosenfelder/Getty Images)