Not only has country recording artist Vince Gill blurred the line between country and pop with his hit songs, but he gives Michael Jordon a run for his money as the most noteworthy celebrity golf player.

In fact, he almost became a professional golfer. But his family ties, knee deep in country and bluegrass music, led toward a path as a musician.

Gill will perform a Christmas show Saturday at 8 p.m. in Stephens Auditorium with members of the Des Moines Symphony.

Gill’s father, a banjo-pickin’ Federal Appellate Court Judge, taught his son to play music when he was growing up in Norman, Okla. In high school, Gill’s band, Mountain Smoke, opened up for the pop group Pure Prairie League; a group he would eventually join.

Gill then took up with the band Bluegrass Alliance whose style was rooted in rock and its expression in country-bluegrass. Gill spent a year with the Alliance before heading west to Los Angeles.

It was there that, after two years mastering the mandolin, banjo and dobro, Gill went along with a friend to audition for the group he long ago opened for: Pure Prairie League. Not only did PPL remember him, they offered him a job.

With Gill on lead vocals, Pure Prairie League hit the charts with “Let Me Love You Tonight.” But after recording three albums with the California based group, he left L.A. to join country artist Rodney Crowell’s band, the Cherry Bombs. He said he saw the opportunity to return to Nashville and record country as progress.

“People were telling me, ‘Man, how could you make that step backward?'” Gill said in a press release. “Musically, that was a giant step [forward] for me.”

He couldn’t have anticipated how giant that step would become. In 1983, former Cherry Bomb member Tony Brown signed Gill to RCA Records. Before too long, he was awarded the Best New Male Vocalist from the Academy of Country Music.

The awards, accolades and hits haven’t stopped since. He is the reigning Country Music Awards Entertainer of the Year and Male Vocalist of the Year (four years running).

But Gill remains grounded despite his fame and success. “Everything has changed,”he said in a press release, “except my perception of what I’m doing and how I feel about it.

“I think those things that I contribute to other people’s records are equally as important as what they’re contributing to the record. So in my mind, I’ve felt successful all these years.”

Tickets for Vince Gill: A Christmas to Remember are $24.50 and $29.50. They are available at the Iowa State Center Box Office or Ticketmaster outlets. Call 233-1888 to charge by phone.