A lot of people know of Glen Campbell mainly from his sort of 'pop-country' songs and/or his TV series on the US CBS Network; what an even larger number of people don't know is how great a composer, arranger, producer. and, most importantly, session musician he really was; the man could do just about anything in a recording studio. He was a very important member of the legendary "Wrecking Crew", an elite corps of studio musicians, the pride of Musician's Local #47 here in Hollywood, who played on recordings for just about every major recording artist from the late 50s to the early 70s; it's Glen who gave the brilliant guitar sound to the Beach Boys early recordings and who likewise enlivened The Monkess early hits. He could play just about anything in any style, yet he, himself, could not read sheet music; he mainly used rough chord charts. (I have long wondered about the connection between great musicianship and the inability to read music; look at the list of just a few: Lennon, McCartney, Harrison, Jagger, Richards, Hendrix, the list goes on and on...) When Glen was offered the opportunity to host his own TV show, he was reluctant because he was already making a sizeable income from his session work. His passing as a result of being afflicted with Alzheimer's is particularly sad; to be robbed of the mental facilities that had enabled him to perform so amazingly must have been a severe blow to him, but he seems to have taken the diagnosis with great grace and courage, something almost as great as his talent...
I'm posting two clips here. The first is Glen in his natural habitat, the recording studio along with other members of the Wrecking Crew, reminiscing about the great days of Hollywood recording history:
The second is an episode of his TV show with notable guests, Johnny and June Carter Cash, Buck Owens, Mel Tillis, Merle Haggard, Jerry Reed, among others, just a-pickin' and a-grinning and showing off the real heart and core of who was Glen Campbell...
Commander Wallace noted Glen was underrated as a guitarist; he was underrated in a lot of aspects and, sadly, it will have taken his passing for a lot of people to realize just how much he will be sorely missed...
RIP, Glen, rest now that the pain is over and maybe pick out a tune or two with Johnny and June Carter...
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