Vince Gill has plenty to celebrate amid the 30th anniversary of his hit song “Go Rest High on That Mountain.”
The country singer, 68, debuted two versions of the beloved track on the Billboard Country Digital Song Sales chart. After a 242 percent spike in sales, the original ranked at No. 8 on the list dated September 27, which accounts for the number of downloads sold during the week ending on September 18. Meanwhile, “Go Rest High on That Mountain (Extended Version)” reached No. 5 on the chart.
Gill released the extended cut of the song earlier this month to mark the original’s 30th anniversary. The updated version — which Gill sang with Lainey Wilson during the “In Memoriam” segment of the 2025 Primetime Emmy Awards — includes a third verse that he first performed live at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee, in 2019. Prior to the extended recording, fans were only able to hear the added lyrics during live shows.
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“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,” Gill sings in the third verse.
In 2019, Gill explained his decision to add more lyrics to the hit.
“As I looked at it as a piece of work, I thought it was unfinished in a way that a song should close the door and have an end and tell the whole story,” he told People at the time. “I think it makes the song a lot better.”
Gill wrote the first verse of “Go Rest High on That Mountain” after Keith Whitley’s 1989 death. However, he did not finish the song until after his brother, Bob, died of a heart attack in 1993.