NASHVILLE, Tennessee – Vince Gill wrote a song about childhood sexual abuse for his new album, “Okie,” based on a close call he had personally.
Gill says the song “Forever Changed” is inspired by an incident when he was a seventh-grade basketball player called into the coach’s office.
Gill was sitting on the coach’s desk and a hand went on his leg.
Gill says as the hand kept going further up, he felt it was wrong, so he ran.
Gill says nothing more happened.
Gill says he wrote about it because “sometimes the innocent don’t have a voice.”
He knew he was onto something when he tested the song a few years ago during a sound check and a member of his band left the stage crying. She told him later, “How did you know that’s my story?”
“Okie” comes out Friday.
