Vince Gill fans have been anxiously awaiting the singer’s next project. While he’s been featured as a guest vocalist and backup singer in movie soundtracks and other artists’ records, it’s been five years since his last studio album. “Guitar Slinger” is the first project recorded completely at Gill’s new home studio. He wrote every song on the album.

The lead-off single, “Threaten Me With Heaven,” was co-written by wife Amy Grant, Dillion O’Brian, and Will Owsley. After recording the track, Gill’s friend Owsley took his own life. Now the song is even more personal to Gill and the co-writers, in memory of their friend and the tragedy surrounding them. Gill compares the song to “Go Rest High On That Mountain,” a song that has helped him deal with the grief during this hard time. He hopes this single will help others in the same way.

“I feel like the emphasis has been on the songs, and the songs have gotten better. They really run the gamut of what they are about, how they feel, how they sound. It’s not an all-traditional record, it’s not an all-contemporary record; it’s all over the map, like I kind of have always been. But it doesn’t feel out of step with anything I’ve done previously.”

Wife Amy Grant, and daughters Jenny, Sarah and Corrina are featured on the album. It’s nine-year-old Corrina’s debut on a song titled “Billy Paul.”

Gill expects the album to be out sometime this fall.