Glen Campbell On The Radio Again

Glen Campbell broke a lot of formats this week with his death. One of the biggest stars in the history of popular music passed away at the age of 81 after a well-publicized battle with Alzheimer's.

Glen Campbell was that bridge that took Country music to a level not previously achieved. Johnny Cash had spread the news on network television a few years before, but Glen Campbell on CBS was traditional yet somehow hip. After all, he was not a Country singer but a Country boy who sang.

It was fascinating this week to learn what people did and didn't know about Glen Campbell.

In his 20s, fresh from Arkansas, he joined what was to become the most successful recording group of all time ... The Wrecking Crew.

He was one of the guitars, sometimes the featured guitar on recordings that ranged from Frank Sinatra to The Beach Boy ... ultimately actually becoming a Beach Boy for several months.

In his 30s, he became one of the most popular singers in the country ... Interpreting the words of Jimmy Webb, Campbell rose to the top. Somehow during all the Beatlemania, the Rolling Stones ,The Blues Magoos and the Buckinghams, there was still room for Glen.

All of those classic song flying off the digital shelves this week, none of them made it #1. The charts were too crowded ... Still thanks to television and multiple radio formats, everyone knew "Wichita Lineman" and "By The Time I Get To Phoenix."

His television show on CBS made him an even bigger star, eventually taking him to the movies co-starring with legendary actor John Wayne in a film called True Grit.

From Carson to Cavett, Glen Campbell was the Hollywood Country golden boy. This week Dolly Parton called him one of the greatest voices of all time.

The movie star good looks, the Country personality and his amazing musicality. He had a very hot 10-year run.

Glen Campbell had it all.

I only had the pleasure of working with the Good Glen Campbell. After "Rhinestone Cowboy," there was Tanya Tucker ... Those two nearly killed each other. In the mid-'80s, he was back on track. Glenn lived in Arizona much of that time and married a beautiful woman named Kim. They would spend the rest of his years together ... and not all those years were easy. Especially his last 10.

It is a great documentary, I'll Be Me. It's available all over the place; make it your business to watch it if you haven't already.

It was not easy for his friends and family to watch those last few years. That final tour was amazing and tragic all at the same time.

I was a producer on several shows he took a part in. Glennwas there when we asked him to do a show for Minnie Pearl and one for Ralph Emery; he did a wonderful local talk show with Dan Miller.

Glen Campbell was the perfect guest and the perfect guest star. Put a guitar in his hand and tell them where to stand and he would shine.

His music has stood the test of time ... hearing some of those songs on the radio or watching the performances on YouTube has been a lot of fun.

Today stars like Brad Paisley and Keith Urban know firsthand what a talent that man was. And if you played with him, if you sang with him, you knew he was special. Even with Alzheimer's slowly creeping in, his ability to play that guitar remained amazing.

I was with him backstage at one of his performances at the strawberry festival in Plant City, Florida ... Back in the '90s. Just hanging with him in the dressing room while he turned his guitar and standing at the soundboard on the side of the stage. It was so much fun to watch him go from the offstage Campbell to the star Glen Campbell. He wasn't really that much different.

All I know is I loved his music and respected his talent. He was not a perfect man, but who is.

His family wanted his disease to help others to call attention to what a thief Alzheimer's is.

I can't wait someday to see the Glen Campbell story made into a movie like they did Johnny Cash, maybe that star hasn't been born yet, but whoever gets it is going to go to one hell of a role.