Vince Gill & Lainey Wilson’s Tearful Tribute at the 2025 Emmy Awards
On Sunday, September 14, the 77th Primetime Emmy Awards paused its usual pageantry for a moment of pure reverence. Country legend Vince Gill and reigning CMA Entertainer of the Year Lainey Wilson stood side by side to deliver a soul-stirring duet of Gill’s classic, “Go Rest High on That Mountain,” during the show’s annual In Memoriam segment.
A Tribute That Stilled the Room
With Gill’s gentle guitar guiding the melody, the two traded verses, their voices balancing sorrow and strength. Wilson’s smoky tone wrapped seamlessly around Gill’s aching tenor, building harmonies that lifted the audience into silence.
As images of television greats filled the screen — including Ozzy Osbourne, Maggie Smith, David Lynch, Valerie Mahaffey, Julian McMahon, John Amos, Loni Anderson, Michelle Trachtenberg, George Wendt, Malcolm-Jamal Warner, and many more — the song became less a performance and more a collective prayer.
The atmosphere shifted instantly. Applause softened to tears. The Emmy stage, often reserved for glitz and celebration, became a place of remembrance.
The Song’s Long Journey
Originally released in 1995, “Go Rest High on That Mountain” earned Gill two GRAMMY Awards and has since become a cornerstone of country music’s healing hymns. Gill began writing it after the 1989 death of his friend Keith Whitley, and finished it following the passing of his brother, Bob Gill, in 1993.
For decades, the song has been a soundtrack of grief and hope, played at funerals, memorials, and tributes across the world.
But this Emmy performance carried something new: the inclusion of a third verse Gill wrote years later but only officially recorded this month for a newly released extended version. Hearing it on this stage gave the classic a fresh layer of depth — a bridge between its original grief and today’s remembrance.
A Sanctuary in Song
For a few minutes, millions of viewers witnessed something rare: an Emmy stage transformed into a sanctuary. Gill and Wilson didn’t just sing — they carried grief, honored memory, and reminded the world that the legacies of those we lose never fade.
As the final chorus soared, audience members rose to their feet, some in tears, others holding hands. The standing ovation wasn’t just for the singers, but for the lives being honored.
In the end, the duet was more than a highlight of the night. It was a reminder of music’s most sacred role — to help us grieve, to help us remember, and to help us heal.
