Gill left Pure Prairie League in 1981 to join Cherry Bombs, the stage band that backed Rodney Crowell. There he worked with Tony Brown and Emory Gordy Jr., both of whom would later produce many of his albums. He recorded a bluegrass album, "Here Today", with David Grisman and friends before signing a solo deal with RCA with whom he achieved some success including the singles, "Victim of Life's Circumstance" (U.S. Country Top 40) and Country Top Ten with "If It Weren't for Him", "Oklahoma Borderline" and "Cinderella". However his albums achieved only moderate sales and in 1989, Gill left RCA to sign with MCA Records. Here, reunited with Tony Brown as producer, he sold over a million copies of his label debut, 1989's "When I Call Your Name", of which several songs, including the title track, made the U.S. Country charts' Top Ten / Top Twenty. This was followed by the similarly successful albums, "Pocket Full of Gold" (1991) and "I Still Believe in You", of which the title track went to U.S. Country No. 1.