Chicago Sun-Times

REMEMBERIN­G THE ‘ RHINESTONE COWBOY’

Country music “is earthy material— stories of things that happen to everyday people. I call it ‘ people music.’ ” TV Guide interview, 1969

- Peter Cooper The Tennessean Contributi­ng: USA TODAY’s Alison-Maxwell

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Glen Travis Campbell brought country music to new audiences. He found success as a session musician before embarking on a solo career that included smashes Gentle On My Mind, Galveston, Wichita Lineman and Rhinestone Cowboy and that landed him in the Country Music Hall of Fame.

Campbell died Tuesday at 81, according to his Universal Music publicist, Tim Plumley.

Campbell was born in Delight, Ark., the seventh son of a seventh son in a farming family.

“I spent the early parts ofmy life looking at the north end of a southbound mule and it didn’t take long to figure out that a guitar was a lot lighter than a plow handle,” he said in a late 1970s press bio.

Each member of Campbell’s family played guitar, and he received a $ 5 Sears & Roebuck guitar when he was 4 years old. By 6, he was a prodigy, internaliz­ing music that ranged from simple country to sophistica­ted jazz. He dropped out of school in the 10th grade, left Arkansas and played in a NewMexico- based band led by his uncle, Dick Bills. He also married first wife Diane Kirk, though that marriage lasted less than three years.

While playing an Albuquerqu­e club called the Hitching Post, Campbell met Billie Nunley, who soon became his second wife. The newlyweds left for California in 1960, riding to Los Angeles in a 1957 Chevrolet with $ 300 and a small trailer full of meager belongings.

Campbell’s guitar acumen and versatilit­y made him an essential player on Los Angeles’ thriving recording scene in the 1960s, and he contribute­d to sessions for Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, The Mamas and The Papas, Merle Haggard and more. Campbell couldn’t read music, but he quickly became a respected first- call player.

Campbell signed with Capitol Records in late 1962. His early albums received little attention or acclaim, but he broke into the mainstream in 1967, first with the Top 20 country hit Burning Bridges, but most notably with a nimble version of his friend John Hartford’s drift er’ s masterpiec­e Gentle On My Mind.

The song did not ascend to the top of the country charts, but it was performing rights organizati­on BMI’s most- played song of 1969 and 1970. In 1999, BMI ranked Gentle as the secondmost- played country song of the century, and the 16th most- played song of the century in any genre.

Campbell’s affable stage presence and camera- ready looks made him a natural for television.

“Someday, in the very near future, this talented young man is going to have his own television show,” said comedian Joey Bishop in 1967, introducin­g Campbell on a late- night variety show. Tommy Smothers of musical comedy act The Smothers Brothers-watched and listened with interest. In early 1968, the Smothers Brothers announced that Campbell would host his own television show.

Campbell’s show began as The Summer Brothers Smothers Show, a summer replacemen­t for The Smothers Brothers. It ran as a weekly variety show from 1969 to 1972. Each week, Campbell would sing the opening of Gentle On My Mind and tell viewers that they were watching The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour.

He made his country roots clear both on- and off- camera.

“The change that has come over country music lately is simple,” he told TV Guide in 1969. “They’re not shuckin’ it right off the cob any more. … Country music has more impact now, because it’s earthy material — stories of things that happen to everyday people. I call it ‘ People Music.’ ”

Four of Campbell’s singles reached country music’s Top 10 in 1970, but his sales domination began to subside. CBS canceled his show, and his marriage to Billie was in trouble. Campbell developed an over- fondness for Glenlivet scotch, and his dedication to touring came at the expense of his recordings.

But in 1975, after more than six years without a No. 1 hit, Campbell staged a comeback with Rhinestone Cowboy. The song topped both country and pop charts, and re- establishe­d Campbell as a hitmaking, seat- filling force.

Rhinestone Cowboy was a major anthem in the summer of 1975. In early fall, Billie Jean Campbell filed for divorce. By then, Campbell had, he would later reveal, started using cocaine. That year, he also began dating Sarah Barg, the estranged wife of his friend and fellow performer, Mac Davis. He and Barg married in 1976, but Campbell’s cocaine use continued to escalate and the relationsh­ip suffered.

Campbell returned to the top of the charts in 1977 with Southern Nights, his final No. 1 hit. His behavior, though, was increasing­ly erratic. Campbell and Barg divorced in 1980. A near- overdose in Las Vegas and a new relationsh­ip with a Radio City Music Hall Rockette named Kimberley Woolen helped spur newfound faith and a change of direction.

Campbell married Woolen in 1982, and she would be a sustaining influence for the rest of his life. He dropped cocaine and eventually halted his drinking.

He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2005, by which time he was showing signs of dementia.

“You can have ‘ male vocalist’ and all that stuff,” he told The Tennessean. “I’ll take the Hall of Fame. It’s the highest honor you can have in country music, and this makes me feel so good.”

In 2011, Campbell and his wife announced that he was suffering from Alzheimer’s disease.

At the Grammy Awards in February 2012, The Band Perry performed Gentle On My Mind, and Blake Shelton sang Southern Nights before Campbell took the stage to sing Rhinestone Cowboy, with Paul McCartney pumping his fist from the audience in approval.

“There’s a lot of sadness, ( but) we just continue to try to make the best of every day and keep a sense of humor,” his wife told People.

Campbell released his final album, Adios, in June.

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 ?? CBS VIA GETTY IMAGES ?? Glen Campbell started as a session musician before breaking out in the late ’ 60s. His last album, Adios, came out in June.
CBS VIA GETTY IMAGES Glen Campbell started as a session musician before breaking out in the late ’ 60s. His last album, Adios, came out in June.

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