In this flashback, country musicians Carrie Underwood and Vince Gill team up on an incredible live performance of the Christian hymn, How Great Thou Art. Performed at ACM’s Girls Night Out: Superstar Women of Country celebration in 2011, the perfectly matched pairing featured Underwood on vocals, while Gill played guitar and sang backup vocals. The event honors women in country music who’ve paved the way for others, and this stunning performance is testament to the influence female singers have had on the genre.
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Standing on the stage, Underwood begins singing soulfully. It’s already apparent that she has a beautiful voice, but it’s just the beginning of the song. Wearing a sparkly silver mini-dress with sleeves, the lights reflect off her outfit, providing a mesmerizing visual detail to the beautiful music.
Vince Gill soon starts playing guitar softly, as the song builds slowly. He then begins to sing backup vocals, where the two harmonize gorgeously, their voices fitting perfectly.
Less than halfway into the song, the audience already begins cheering, with it being clear how special this performance is. Gill then breaks into a guitar solo – a soft and emotional one that really gets the heart strings going. The audience is shown looking on with wonder, while Underwood stands opposite Gill with her hand on her heart, moving her head with the music, obviously having a very deep experience.
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Soon she’s back singing, this time bigger and stronger than before. It’s clear she’s building for a big finish and her stunning voice is able to carry the song. By the end, she’s flexing her incredible voice, as the audience claps long before the song has even ended.
The two continue singing and playing until the big ending, where Underwood sings the high notes acapella, proving just how powerful her voice is. The audience is clearly enamored with them and their performance, giving them a standing ovation and clapping continuously, with some even in tears. Obviously having shared this special experience together, Underwood and Gill embrace once the song has finished.
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Originally recorded by Carrie Underwood in 2008 for the compilation album, How Great Thou Art: Gospel Favorites From the Grand Ole Opry, the compilation also featured recordings by other artists including Patty Loveless with Precious Memories, Alan Jackson’s Blessed Assurance, Dierks Bentley singing House of Gold, and Brad Paisley with The Old Rugged Cross.
After Underwood and Gill’s stunning performance, the singer’s original recording of the song shot up on the iTunes Top Gospel Song and Top 40 charts, landing at number one. Fully deserved, Underwood and Gill gave a performance that is certainly one to keep coming back to time and time again.
The song How Great Thou Art has a history going all the way back to the 1880s. Originally a poem written by Swedish poet Carl Gustav Boberg, the song was translated into English by Stuart K. Hine, who also added more lyrics. Then in the 1950s, song publishing company Manny Music, who are based in California, bought the song and made further minor lyrical changes.
Bill Carle was the first musician to record the song in the United States in 1958, and since then many singers have released their own versions, including Elvis Presley, Dolly Parton, Martina McBride, Alan Jackson, and Charlie Daniels.