Talk about an unforgettable Grand Ole Opry performance. Vince Gill was joined by the Saturday night cast of the Grand Ole Opry, including Chapel Hart, Ricky Skaggs, Steve Wariner, Riders in the Sky and Deana Carter, to honor the late Loretta Lynn. The ensemble joined Gill in singing “Go Rest High on That Mountain” in her memory, with Gill including the recently-added third verse.
“We’re gonna do this special for Loretta tonight,” Gill said ahead of the joint performance. “This song brings a lot of peace to a lot of people, and I hope it does to her family, and all the people that love Loretta Lynn.”
Lynn ppassed away on October 4, at her home in Hurricane Mills, Tennessee. Gill honored Lynn with two photos of the two of them, one early in his career, and one more recent.
“Loretta Lynn April 14, 1932, Butcher Hollow, KY – October 4, 2022, Hurricane Mills, TN,” he captioned the photos.
Loretta Lynn
April 14, 1932, Butcher Hollow, KY – October 4, 2022, Hurricane Mills, TN pic.twitter.com/KQQElzEg96
— Vince Gill (@VGcom) October 4, 2022
Several of the Opry performers that night previously paid tribute to Lynn, including Chapel Hart, who posted a musical tribute to Lynn of their performance of “You Ain’t Woman Enough (To Take My Man).
“Sweet Sweet Loretta,” Chapel Hart captioned the video. “Words cannot describe how heartbroken we are today. We were literally just working through our song for you yesterday on the road, we think you’d be stoked to know we are EXTENDING ‘Fist City.’ We know you had to go but don’t you worry mama, you left country music in good and capable hands! Your wings, we know, are Gorgeous/Fabulous so go on and Rest High On the Mountain, there are no goodbyes ONLY see you laters!”
Sweet Sweet Loretta 🥺🙏 words cannot describe how heartbroken we are today. We were literally just working through our song for you yesterday on the road, we think you’d be stoked to know we are EXTENDING “Fist City” 😄🥰 we know you had to go but don’t you worry mama, you left country music in good & capable hands! Your wings, we know, are Gorgeous/Fabulous so go on and Rest High On the Mountain, there are no goodbyes ONLY see you laters! 🙏🤍🕊
#tourchpassed
Posted by Chapel Hart on Tuesday, October 4, 2022
Skaggs also honored Lynn with a tribute, shortly after the news of her passing was announced.
“England just recently lost their Queen, & today we have lost ours,” he said. “It’s a very sad day for the music industry. Loretta Lynn has gone on to her heavenly home. She did more for women in Country Music than anyone”
Gill revealed last year that he had written a third verse to “Go Rest High on That Mountain,” a song that he originally wrote about the passing of Keith Whitley and his own brother.
“Not too long ago, about a year so ago, as I listened to that song, it always felt incomplete,” Gill revealed on Apple Music Country’s I Miss…90s Country Radio with Nick Hoffman.. “I didn’t feel like the song, as a songwriter, buttoned up and ended and finished the story. It told a nice story, but it never finished it. And so I wrote a third verse, and I haven’t recorded it yet, but I’d like to, just to have a version out there with the third verse. The third verse is, ‘You’re safely home. In the arms of Jesus, eternal life my brother’s found. The day will come I know I’ll see him in that sacred place on that holy ground.’”
Carrie Underwood. performed all three verses of “Go Rest High on That Mountain” for the CMT Giants: Vince Gill TV special. Watch her performance here.
