August 9, 2017, - 10:30 am
Glen Campbell, “Rhinestone Cowboy” & One of Last Country Greats, RIP – Why He Was Great For America
I’m not the biggest country music fan, but I was always a fan of Glen Campbell, who died yesterday at age 81. He was multi-talented and one of the last true country greats. His songs poignantly told the tale of the middle American blue collar working man.
In 2015, I reviewed the documentary, “Glen Campbell: I’ll Be Me,” the touching portrait of this once-great country star who descended into the depths of Alzheimer’s Disease, while he tried to do one last concert tour across America to say good-bye to his fans.
It was sad for me because one of my favorite ’70s songs was “Southern Nights,” Campbell’s upbeat 1977 hit. Although he didn’t write the song (Alvin Toussaint wrote it as a reminiscence of visiting his relatives in rural Louisiana), it reminded Campbell of his Arkansas upbringing as the son of a sharecropper, and his performance of the song put it atop the charts and rang a bell with a lot of Americans (like me) who weren’t from the South. He always sang of the American experience, and that song could have been “Michigan Nights” for me (although that doesn’t quite have the same ring to it). The same goes for the beautiful “Wichita Lineman,” also written by someone else, but made a hit by Glen Campbell’s smooth, emotional performance that spoke of the working class American values of yesteryear–a guy driving on the main road, working hard, and wishing he could take a short vacation. Campbell sang about Wichita, Galveston, Phoenix, main roads and dirty sidewalks, and everyday American life, trials, hustles, and dreams. (FYI, “Rhinestone Cowboy” was written by Larry Weiss, who–I guarantee you–was not a rhinestone cowboy, though despite conventional stereotypes, American history is filled with Jewish cowboys.)
Campbell wasn’t just a country music crooner. He was a prodigy and musician from an early age, learning to play several instruments. He could do jazz, he could do country, he could do rock (played in a rock band when he first got to Hollywood). He was also one of the original country stars who managed to cross over and top the pop charts. In 1968, Campbell outsold The Beatles. Campbell played in studio sessions for hit song recordings by Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley, briefly joined the Beach Boys (and turned them down when they offered him a permanent spot), and wrote and composed some of his own hits. His skilled guitar riffs can be heard on at least one Beach Boys hit. Campbell could also act, and, among other roles, he co-starred in the original 1969 movie, “True Grit,” with John Wayne. And he hosted his own TV talk show for a time. He had a great singing voice, which was at the same time strong and soothing, and all-American good looks. Despite his humble beginnings, he played for Presidents and a Queen (Elizabeth). And he sold between 40 and 70 million albums, depending upon which press report is correct.
Like many country stars, Campbell lived a rough life and didn’t always exude the values about which he sang (though I feel like it gave him texture and authenticity when he sang). He married four times and was an alcoholic and cocaine addict. But in the early ’80s, married to his fourth and last wife, Kim, he became a born-again Christian and put his troubled past behind (but for a drunk driving incident in 2003).
There really aren’t country music stars like Glen Campbell anymore. Today’s “country” is largely bubblegum pop music with a twang (and often the twang is phony, too), and it’s mostly filled–with few exceptions–by Taylor Swift wannabes. Campbell had personality, spunk, and he was a showman. Plus he had the talent to back it all up. Though much of his career happened before I was born and when I was very little, his songs, especially “Southern Nights,” remind me of being a kid in the ’70s, because I remember hearing that song on the radio all the time when it was a hit.
Campbell had eight children and lived to see not just great-grandchildren but great-great-grandchildren.
Sadly, the Rhinestone Cowboy Wichita Lineman son of an Arkansan farmer is now with the angels.
Glen Campbell, Rest In Peace.
Tags: country music, Glen Campbell, Glen Campbell dead, Glen Campbell death, Glen Campbell RIP
EXCELLENT article, Debbie, and well researched. I have been a fan of the man from Delight, Arkansas since Wichita Lineman.
And his music, like his talents, weren’t strictly country, either, more a mix of country and pop. Campbell also threw some funk in to my favorite all-time song of his, Southern Nights. If you listen closely to the bass line and backup vocals, we’re talking an infusion and collaboration of both soul and funk.
Thank you, Debbie, we have something else in common.
Alfredo from Puerto Rico on August 9, 2017 at 11:12 am