It has been six years since we lost the great Glen Campbell, and while he might no longer be on earth, his legacy is alive and well.
Born in 1936 into a sharecropper family as the last of twelve children in rural Arkansas, Campbell quickly found a way to express himself with words through music.
At age four, Campbell’s father recognized that his son was drawn to music and bought him his first guitar for five dollars. The rest is history with Glen and a guitar, creating a future to become one of the biggest names in country music.
After years of grinding as a poor musician, in 1960, Campbell made his way out to Los Angeles to work for a publishing company, American Music, and worked as a session musician. Campbell put his work into his demos, landing him spots to play in the studio with stellar names such as The Beach Boys, Nat Cole King, Elvis, The Chimps and Bobby Vee, just to name a few.
Many people don’t realize that Campbell did not take off as a solo musician until his stint on TV hosting the Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour. After years of being a studio musician and a string of unsuccessful singles under Capitol Records, when they considered dropping him as a last-ditch effort, he collaborated with Al De Lory on a single “Burning Bridges,” which was the lead single off the same-titled album for Campbell in 1967.
After the success (finally) of their collaboration, they decided to do it again on “Gentle On My Mind.” Campbell began to gain traction as a solo artist, which was solidified when we stepped in to be a replacement host on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour 1968, which led to the creation of The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour in 1969.
From there, Campbell took off.
The show’s audience loved his charm, simple guitar-playing melodies with feel-good country songs that he would sing. His time as a session musician came in handy for getting some of the best guests in the business, including, The Monkees, Neil Diamond, Linda Rondstadt, and of course, other country music legends like Waylon Jennings, Merle Haggard, and Willie Nelson.
After his show was canceled in 1972, Campbell dove back into music when he released two of the biggest songs in his career, “Rhinestone Cowboy” and “Southern Nights.”
After the wild success of these two singles, Campbell was on the TV screen in homes once again, hosting The Glen Campbell Music Show, which lasted a year. To round out the 90s, Campbell hosted several CMT programs discussing the most remarkable men of country music and other music-related TV programming.
In 2005 Glen Campbell was inducted into The Country Music Hall of Fame, which was widely overdue. However, the high of this accomplishment was short-lived, with his Alzheimer’s diagnosis brought to public light in 2010.
Later this year, he went on his Goodbye Tour with his three children joining him in his backup band. After the tour, he took to the studio while his health was still decent; he recorded his final album, Adios.
His wife, Kim, noted that they did not release the album until five years after its completion to preserve the magic of songwriting that Campbell had.
The album was released two months before Campbell passed due to the final stages of Alzheimer’s disease at 81.
Glen Campbell was a songwriter, self-taught musician, on-screen personality, and held many more titles. He was truly a man of many talents and an incredible musician, having played for so many greats of his generation while curating his one unique sound.
No matter what generation is in a room, a Glen Campbell song is one that will please everyone in the crowd. His music is timeless and well-thought-out, and his legacy lives on through each word he has recorded.
The Rhinestone Cowboy will never be forgotten.
