Webb concert, stories honor friend Campbell
When an Arkie and an Okie combined their talents, they created some of the most memorable American music of the 20th century. Glen Campbell took Jimmy Webb’s creations — “By the Time I Get to Phoenix,” “Wichita Lineman,” “Galveston” and “Where’s the Playground, Susie” — and made hit recordings that have outlasted the 1960s era in which they were written.
Of course, Campbell and Webb met after leaving their home states in search of fame and fortune. Campbell’s path from the Billstown/Delight area is well known and Webb’s fateful rendezvous with Campbell took a number of less well remembered turns.
Webb had long been thinking about Campbell.
“I think the first record I ever bought, a 45 rpm, was ‘Turn Around, Look at Me,’ by Glen Campbell,” Webb recalls. “I was about 14, plowing my family’s wheat field in Oklahoma, listening to my transistor radio when I heard that song, sung by that voice, and I was so taken by it. I borrowed money from my dad, who was a Southern Baptist minister, and drove 20 miles to buy that record.”
Webb, born in 1946, grew up near Elk City, Okla., in the far western part of the Panhandle State. Church music ran in the family, and Webb might still be a piano player in his native state had the family not moved to Southern California in 1964, a few years after Webb began to develop a talent for songwriting. He felt self-assurance sufficient to remain there after the death of his mother and his father’s decision to return to Oklahoma.
Through a succession of music industry jobs, Webb eventually landed a songwriting contract, and the hits were not long in coming. The Supremes recorded a Webb Christmas composition and Johnny Rivers recorded his “By the Time I Get to Phoenix,” which didn’t make many ripples, except maybe when Campbell heard it and decided to also cover the song.
“I was driving along the Santa Ana Freeway when I heard him singing my song,” Webb recalls, still thrilled by the memory. “That was my dream and my prayers were answered. I almost caused a tremendous car accident, however, from the excitement.”
Chart success of the song led Campbell to seek other Webb songs, and the famed Arkansas singer and guitarist began to record and release the string of hits listed earlier. But it took awhile before the men actually met, and an age difference of 10 years meant there was a generation gap to be surmounted.
“I walked in to make a GM commercial with Glen and he looked up and said, ‘When are you gonna get a haircut?’ which of course I’d heard before a lot, it being the era of Beatles-esque hairdos and all. I didn’t think my hair was very long, and that it was even fashionable, but he caught me by surprise. Music is the great equalizer, and we started hanging out together and have done so for about 50 years now.”
Webb has created a tribute to his old musical pal, and he’s calling it “Jimmy Webb: The Glen Campbell Years.” The one-man — plus virtual duets, video and audio — show is something that had been percolating for half a dozen years, Webb notes.
“I would never have done anything like this while Glen was still performing,” he says. “I worked very closely with his family, and they very much wanted me to do this, to keep Glen’s name out there. It’s very much a work in progress, and we’ve gotten good reaction to the concept.
“It took a year or two to work up the mixed-media aspects, to select photos to illustrate just what a great musician, friend and human being Glen is, and the show also has me on the piano.”