Vince Gill Is Leaving The Time Jumpers

It was one of the coolest things in country music while it lasted. But one of the cool things about The Time Jumpers is nothing lasts forever aside from the band itself. Nashville’s Western Swing house band has been entertaining crowds with interchangeable players and keeping traditions alive since 1998. And when Country Music Hall of Famer Vince Gill joined them on guitar and vocals in 2010, it was an unexpected but very welcome development that brought a spotlight on the band like never before.

But now it’s time to move on. Like everyone else in music, The Time Jumpers have been on hiatus for the last few months due to COVID-19, but they’re planning to come back to reprise their long-standing Monday night residency at Nashville’s 3rd and Lindsley beginning on October 5th. However Vince Gill will no longer be with them. Full of some of Nashville’s best session players, the band is more a labor of love, like a bunch of pickers just getting together to play in a living room that the rest of us get to sit back and peer into, and it will soldier on as it always has. But others will be manning guitar duties.

“The Time Jumpers will miss having Vince Gill as a part of the band,” a statement from the band reads that Rolling Stone has curiously locked behind a paywall. “We’ve really enjoyed his tenure with us, and his musicianship has added a lot to our sound. However, this is a particularly unique band. We’ve been around for over 20 years and in that time, members have come and gone. But the band lives on because it is larger than any one of us. Our aim has always been about making music that is meaningful … a space for musicians to be creative and let their hair down musically. That is what is at the heart of the Time Jumpers, and that will not change.”

The current lineup of the Time Pumpers includes frontman Kenny Sears, Brad Albin, “Ranger Doug” Green, Larry Franklin, Paul Franklin, Wendy Moten, Andy Reiss, Joe Spivey, Jeff Taylor and Billy Thomas. Over their tenure, The Time Jumpers have seen many other members come and go, and have lost numerous members to death, including Dawn Sears, fiddle player Hoot Hester, and drummer Rick Vanaugh. Over the years The Time Jumpers collaborated with artists such as Miranda Lambert, Willie Nelson, and Asleep At The Wheel. The band won a Grammy in 2017 for their song “Kid Sister.”

One of the most enjoyable Nashville experiences you could have for a decade was showing up at 3rd and Lindsley on Mondays to see a guy with 21 Grammy Awards and dozens of Top 20 hits playing in a relaxed and intimate environment with close friends for a nominal cover charge. And it will remain one of the coolest things Vince Gill has ever done.

But it’s now time for a new era, even though those who’ve followed The Time Jumpers know any number of famous stars are liable to stop by and sit in at a moments notice, with Reba McEntire, Bonnie Raitt, Mo Pitney, Robert Plant, Norah Jones, Joe Walsh, and many many more all joining The Time Jumpers on stage in the past.

And don’t be surprised if Vince Gill still makes an occasional stop in too, just for old time’s sake.

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