“The human soul was not made for fame.”
- Al Andrews
Today is the birthday of Glen Campbell, born in Delight, Arkansas in 1936. He started his professional music career in Los Angeles as a session player with the renowned group of studio musicians known as the Wrecking Crew. From there he parlayed his small town southern boy charm and amazing musical gifts into a huge solo career. He was a master at interpreting other people's songs and making them hits.
He had enormous success in 1967, ‘68 and ’69 with John Hartford's Gentle on My Mind and Jimmy Webb's By the Time I Get to Phoenix, Wichita Lineman and Galveston. All of those reside in the American Music Canon.
He was kind of a big deal to me growing up. On my birthday in 1969, his TV show premiered, The Glen Campbell Good Time Hour. It was on Wednesday nights and it was usually family viewing at our house. It was a variety show like many that were popular in that period. I could name a dozen right off the top of my head, Carol Burnett, Sonny and Cher, Johnny Cash, Dean Martin, The Smothers Brothers, Flip Wilson…they all were of a similar design. Songs sung by the host, comedy skits, performances by musicians - some well know, some up-and-comers.
Glen, like Johnny Cash did on his, had some happening musical guests on his show like, Ray Charles, Three Dog Night, The Monkees, Waylon Jennings, Roger Miller, Bobbie Gentry, Merle Haggard, Neil Diamond, Stevie Wonder, Jerry Reed, Willie Nelson, Cher, Linda Ronstadt, Buck Owens, Ella Fitzgerald, etc. It was a good place to catch some of the cool or semi-cool musicians of the day. There weren't that many options back then. The show ended in 1972 with part of the CBS network's “Rural Purge.” That's a topic for another day.
After the cancellation of his show, he hit a rough patch that lasted four decades. Through the remainder of the 70s and beyond, Campbell's life spiraled into a hellish nightmare of self-destruction with whiskey, drugs and women. He was married four times and also had a famous and turbulent fling with the country singer, twenty-two years his junior, Tanya Tucker.
He married his fourth wife Kim in 1982 and she stuck with him through many years of clean spells and relapses. In 2011 he was diagnosed with Alzheimers. In August of that year, Campbell began a “Goodbye Tour” which lasted until November of 2012. He played all his greatest hits to adoring crowds over 150 shows across America. As his disease progressed along the way, he was less able to interact with the audience but he could still sing those iconic songs and play guitar. His backing band included four of his children, Cal on drums, Shannon on guitar, Ashley on keyboard and banjo, and Debby on background vocals.
Glen Campbell passed away in 2017.