Vince Gill and his wife, Amy Grant, will perform on the same stage in Escondido less than a week apart. In fact Gill, still considered among country music's leading triple threats as a singer-picker-songwriter, and Grant, among contemporary Christian's all-time great performers, basically follow one another across country for a solid six weeks before they team up in December for a quick Christmas tour.

So, since they're married and touring essentially the same route at the same time, why not pull a Faith Hill-Tim McGraw, load up the bus and hit the road together?

"Oh, we couldn't do that," said Gill in a phone interview from his home in Nashville. "We couldn't fill an arena together like Tim and Faith. Truth is, we're both on the back sides of our careers. Besides, it may not be a good idea to mix the hillbillies and the Christians."

Grant, who opens her "Lead Me On" reunion tour Thursday in Phoenix, was a bit more understated about an extended tour with her husband of eight years.

"Vince, myself and the Del McCoury Band did five or six weeks together, which was a lot of fun," said Grant in a separate interview after wrapping up a final rehearsal for the tour.

She was understandably tired, her voice a little raspy, but nonetheless excited about opening night.

"Out of respect to our audiences, it's not quite the same. So we both go out, work hard and come home."

Grant plays the California Center for the Arts, Escondido, on Oct. 22; Gill's show follows Oct. 28 at the same venue. And while they have toured and recorded together (Grant sang "Tell Me One More Time About Jesus" on Gill's landmark 2007 four-disc "These Days" album, and he guests on an acoustic version of the song "Lead Me On" on the rerelease of her "Lead Me On" album), the shows define the couple's musical individuality.

After 18 months of touring in support of "These Days" -- a 43-song album with one disc devoted to rock, another to jazz-pop, another featuring country and an all-acoustic record -- Gill is ready to just mellow out onstage.

"I saw James Taylor's 'One Man Band' tour, where it was just him and a piano," said Gill, whose guitar-picking prowess is featured on Brad Paisley's upcoming record, aptly titled "Play." "I thought, 'Man, I'd like to do that.' So I'm taking a piano, percussion and bass and do what I want. I'll do some songs I never do and take some requests. There's no set list.

"I'm calling it the 'Stump the Idiot' tour."

That being the case, Grant's reunion could be titled the "Magical History Tour." Earlier this year, she decided to revisit some of her best, most memorable music. One album in particular stood out for her -- 1988's "Lead Me On."

Grant wanted to celebrate the album's 20th anniversary and its rerelease by re-forming the band she toured with in 1988 and 1989. While on spring break with her teen daughters, Grant heard some live cuts from that tour.

"I'd never heard them before," she said. "It catapulted me back 20 years. It inspired me. 'Lead Me On' was a gritty, honest record -- no pop fluff. It was a great time for me creatively."

She reunited the tour members and settled on a set list -- all songs recorded in 1988 or before, as well as previously unrecorded material. That's not to say that her post-"Lead Me On" work lacked all her musical energies or devotion.

"I was just as intense and supported every album after that with everything I had," Grant said. "But 'Lead Me On' was extraordinary, and the tour was magical. This is like pulling out an old recipe and cooking it again."

His wife doesn't often use superlatives to describe her work, said Gill, but he had no problem heaping on the praise.

"This is the best I've seen her; all her guns are blazing," he said after seeing her in rehearsal. "I think it ('Lead Me On') is still the biggest-selling contemporary Christian album of all time. It has such a history and has stood the test of time. This is like, like -- it's like the Beatles."

Gill, who is recuperating from knee surgery (when asked how rehab is going, he quipped, "I went back and it was me and Amy Winehouse"), said this year's Christmas tour will be similarly stripped down -- at least from years past.

"This is the first time we've done it without the Nashville Symphony," he said of the tour, which travels only as far west as St. Louis. "We'd load up 12 buses and hit the road. This time we're only taking some of the guys I had on the 'These Days' tour. It'll have more of a big-band sound."

With a Christmas record coming out soon, Grant also relishes the short stretch of seasonal shows. And she'll have plenty of new material to draw from. But the "Lead Me On" reunion tour is tops on her mind now.

"I would tour for a year at a time," Grant recalled. "I would pack my bag and be gone for four months at a time. That pattern lasted for a long time, from 1982 to 1998.

"I've had busier times. A 20-city tour like 'Lead Me On' is not as busy as a 150-city tour. This is special. I plan to savor every solo and drum fill on this time around."

Amy Grant

When: 8 p.m. Oct. 22

Where: California Center for the Arts, Escondido, 340 N. Escondido Blvd., Escondido

Tickets: $60-$75, general; $57-$72, seniors

Into: (800) 988-4253 or artcenter.org

Web: amygrant.com

Vince Gill

8 p.m. Oct. 28

Where: California Center for the Arts, Escondido

Tickets: $54-$69, general; $51-$66, seniors

Info: (800) 988-4253 or artcenter.org

Web: vincegill.com