AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Glen Campbell

Artist:Glen Campbell

Song:Southern Nights

Album:My Hits and Love Songs

Of course most music fans are familiar with Glen Campbell's string of 60s hits and his variety show The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour. After a significant dry period, Campbell topped topped the charts with Rhinestone Cowboy and Southern Nights. The comeback was very shortlived and Campbell left his longtime label Capitol in the 80s. Most music fans probably know that Campbell started out as a Los Angeles studio guitarist. He was part of The Wrecking Crew. Campbell signed with Capitol in 1962. He had little success until the 1967 single Gentle on my Mind. And then the 1968 single Wichita Lineman crossed over to pop. That song was written by Jimmy Webb and produced by Capitol house producer Al De Lory with Los Angeles studio musicians. Of course most country music was produced in Nashville. So Campbell was an outsider. And his music was more pop than country anyway. The only thing country about Glen Campbell was his voice. Then his variety show started and he also did movies. After the 1969 single Galveston topped the pop and country charts, things dried up and he wasn't having much success in 1972. By that time he was recording with producer Jimmy Bowen and just didn't have the same success. He was still appearing a lot on TV. But obviously he wanted to return to the top of the charts. That's when he found Rhinestone Cowboy. The song was written by Larry Weiss about an over the hill cowboy and it appeared on Weiss' 1974 album Black and Blue Suite. Campbell heard it on the radio while on tour in Australia and when he played the song for Capitol VP Al Coury, the songwriting and production team of Dennis Lambert and Brian Potter were brought in to record an album. They produced The Four Tops at ABC Dunhill and had recently come to Capitol. Rhinestone Cowboy topped the country and pop charts. And Campbell was back where he thought he belonged. When the 1976 album Bloodline wasn't as successful, Larry Klein was brought in to produce the 1977 album Southern Nights. He wrote and produced the 1974 Mac Davis hit Stop and Smell the Roses. Southern Nights was written by New Orleans music legend Allen Toussaint and it appeared on his 1975 album Southern Nights. Songwriter Jimmy Webb played it for Campbell and it topped the pop and country charts. And that was Campbell's final big hit. You can get all of his hits on this 2CD budget comp. Campbell left Capitol in 1981 and recorded for Atlantic, MCA and he recorded a couple of religious albums for Word. He returned briefly to Capitol in 1990. Then he recorded for New Haven and Laserlight. His most recent albums were for Big Machine. But Campbell never had another big hit. Campbell was diagnosed with Alzheimer's in 2010. And after a 2012 retirement tour, Glen Campbell died on Aug. 8, 2017 at age 81. Here's Glen Campbell performing Southern Nights on the 1977 American Music Awards.