NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The word "crazy" pops up often in conversation these days with country musician Vince Gill, and more often than not, the tongue it's rolling off of is his own. He knows that's the way much of the music world perceived his October release of a four-CD album of all-new recordings -- widely considered a first for a major pop-music recording artist.

More than three decades into a career in which he's sold more than 20 million albums, won 17 Grammys and two dozen more awards from the Country Music Association and the Academy of Country Music, the Oklahoma-born singer, guitarist and songwriter decided it was time for a bold break from business as usual.

The set, constituting no less than his magnum opus, is titled "These Days," after one of its 43 songs, all of which he wrote or co-wrote. They're organized into four individually themed and titled albums: "Some Things Never Get Old," a traditional country collection; "Workin' On a Big Chill," a harder-rocking set heavy on roaring electric guitars; "Little Brother," an acoustic bluegrass effort; and "The Reason Why," a session heavy on romantic ballads.

Pundits will be quick to suggest other titles that might have been more appropriate in this era of retrenchment and lowered expectations: "No Easy Way," perhaps, for the job facing his record label, MCA Nashville; "Nothing Left to Say," for the potential aftermath of his creative outpouring; or the country ballad that might just sum it all up: "Out of My Mind."

Crazy or crafty, he credits it all to a bathroom visit during a recording session.

"We were in the studio knocking around working, having a big time doing all this recording," Gill, 49, said while relaxing in the den of the elegantly comfy two-story home he shares with his wife of 6 1/2 years, Christian pop singer Amy Grant, and their 5-year-old daughter, Corrina.

"I was going to the bathroom, and on the wall was a Beatles poster that had all their records on it and all their release dates. I looked at that and thought, 'They released that record, that record and that record within a year of each other?'

"It blew my mind," he said. "I thought, 'Well, shoot, why couldn't I do that?'"

At the time, he'd been agonizing over choosing tunes for a single album from among some three dozen songs he'd recorded during an especially fruitful period last year. He went to label president Luke Lewis and proposed putting out three albums within a relatively short time.

Lewis not only liked the idea, he urged Gill on. "He's been crediting me with the fourth album," Lewis said in a separate interview. "But after hearing the first three, I just asked if he felt like he was through. I think he said, 'I'd like to do some acoustic bluegrass stuff.' … I kind of like to break the rules anyway, because I can't figure out who made them in the first place," said Lewis, who's betting there are plenty of listeners ready to respond to Gill's desire to explore all facets of his passion for music, from country to bluegrass to rock to gospel to jazz. "We don't have to sell a huge amount to break even on this, and I've put out three or four Willie Nelson records in a year and three Ryan Adams albums, so it wasn't a big stretch in that regard."

The set's list price is $29.98, so many retailers will sell it for around $20. It's aimed, both men say, at the core Vince Gill fan.

"It's not so much about trying to convince 50 million people to jump on board to a new record," Gill said. "It's really to give all this music to people who have been there from Day One for me."

Gill recently invited about two dozen guests into his dining room to sample the four CDs at a small-scale session. He talked about the songs and the two dozen guest performers, periodically nearing tears as he elucidated how much they mean to him.

"The idea was never to fill a record up with famous people," he says. "The idea was to fill it up with people who have inspired me." The picture he paints is that of a musical Thanksgiving feast, where all friends and family are welcome and the only issue when there's no more space at the table is to expand the table.

For much of the '80s and '90s, during which Gill placed 50 singles on Billboard's country chart, half of those reaching the Top 10, it seemed that Grammy, CMA and ACM voters had to only find Gill's name on a list of nominees and he'd come home a winner. But after hosting the CMA show for several years, Gill walked away -- part of a major life reassessment after his 1997 divorce from singer Janis Oliver and the death of his father the same year.

"For about the last three, four, five years I'd felt a little lost," he says, in part because, like many veteran musicians, he was finding it harder to get radio airplay.

"I was OK with that," he says. "But with my heart and my soul telling me I was getting better at what I was doing, I can't let go. I can't just walk away. I feel like this is probably the best thing I've ever had to offer."

The musician long known for his boyish charm says he's feeling as energized as ever, and he sounds that way through much of "These Days."

He and John Anderson take good-natured shots at today's pop-leaning country acts in "Take This Country Back." His instrumental skills and heart-melting tenor come out in "Molly Brown," a genre-defying tale of an ill-fated interracial love affair set in small-town Oklahoma. He delves further into social commentary in the gospel-soaked "What You Give Away," a duet with Sheryl Crow that addresses one's response to the needy.

There's a jazzy duet with Diana Krall, bluegrass-folk pairings with Del McCoury and Guy Clark, soulful rock with Bonnie Raitt and Michael McDonald, spirited country outings with Rodney Crowell and Emmylou Harris. And he brings the family along with Grant and his 24-year-old daughter from his first marriage, Jenny.

"I've been lucky, and I've got a lot of Grammys on the shelves, but more than half of 'em are because I collaborated with somebody else," he says. "To me that's the whole reason to do it. There's nothing better than playing music with somebody and sharing that experience."