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Writer's pictureAndy McIlvain

God's Gift of Music: Glen Campbell


glen campbell and wife kim
Glen Campbell and wife Kim

I was born in 1956 and as a "boomer" one of the musical talents I grew up listening to was Glen Campbell. I lived in Texas at the time and grew up there. It is only after reaching adulthood have I really started to appreciate the gifts & talents of Glen Campbell. His music much of it written by the Jimmy Webb touches many aspects of our lives. His music often invokes many memories. Enjoy! - Andy

Glen Campbell~ "By the time I get to Phoenix" "Galveston"

"~Glen Campbell~ plays and sings these two amazing hits. I own no copyrights to these videos, pure enjoyment only. Smiles." from video introduction

Glen Campbell Live Wichita Lineman

Video from Dinkydoo40

Glen Campbell in Concert with the South Dakota Symphony was the fifty-eighth album by American singer/guitarist Glen Campbell, released in 2001. Recorded for the PBS special.




glen campbell playing a guitar
Glen Campbell


"Glen Campbell has always felt a divine touch in his life, as if he were given a gift he didn’t earn, but was allowed to use to make people happy and forget their worries for a time.

How else do you explain his life, one of the most extraordinary rags to riches stories in popular music history? The 12th child and seventh son of a dirt poor sharecropper born in the depths of the depression on April 22, 1936, Campbell drowned when he was a toddler in the Little Missouri River near his family’s Arkansas home. His lips were blue when he was pulled from the river and those who rescued him believed he was gone. But he lived miraculously after his brother Lyndell resuscitated him, and Campbell always suspected it was because of this gift..." from his website biography: glenncampbell.com


Jimmy Webb, Writer of Glen Campbell Classics, Remembers ‘My Big Brother, My Co-Culprit’

"Jimmy Webb wrote the songs that lofted Glen Campbell to stardom in the late 1960s — “By the Time I Get to Phoenix,” “Wichita Lineman,” “Galveston,” “Where’s the Playground, Susie?” — and the two remained friends for the five decades that followed. While both had bigger hits with other collaborators, in many ways Campbell’s was the definitive voice for Webb’s songs, and vice versa. (For more on Campbell’s life and career, see this.)

Campbell died Tuesday afternoon (Aug. 8) after a long battle with Alzheimer’s disease. A rep for Webb said he was not up to the many interviews that had been requested, but as the tribute to his friend below shows, he was not at a loss for words.

Well, that moment has come that we have known was an inevitable certainty and yet stings like a sudden catastrophe. Let the world note that a great American influence on pop music, the American Beatle, the secret link between so many artists and records that we can only marvel, has passed and cannot be replaced. He was bountiful. His was a world of gifts freely exchanged: Roger Miller stories, songs from the best writers, an old Merle Haggard record or a pocket knife.

He gave me a great wide lens through which to look at music. The cult of The Players? He was at the very center. He loved the Beach Boys and in subtle ways helped mold their sound. He loved Don and Phil [Everly], Bill Medley and Bobby Hatfield [the Righteous Brothers], Flatt and Scruggs. This was the one great lesson that I learned from him as a kid: Musically speaking nothing is out of bounds. Of course, he lavished affection and gifts on his kids, family and friends. His love was a deep mercurial thing and once committed he was a tenacious friend as so many in Nashville and Phoenix, L.A. and New York, compadres all over the world would testify. One of his favorite songs was “Try A Little Kindness” in which he sings “shine your light on everyone you see.” My God. Did he do that or what? Just thinking back I believe suddenly that the “raison d’etre” for every Glen Campbell show was to bring every suffering soul within the sound of his voice up a peg or two. Leave ’em laughin.’ Leave them feeling just a little tad better about themselves; even though he might have to make them cry a couple of times to get ’em there. What a majestically graceful and kind, top rate performer was Glen on his worst night!.." from the article: Jimmy Webb, Writer of Glen Campbell Classics, Remembers ‘My Big Brother, My Co-Culprit’



Jeff Dayton Band A Salute to Glen Campbell Live at Sound Bites Grill Sedona, AZ

Video from Sound Bites Grill


"Jeff Dayton has been busy since his 15 plus years with Glenn Campbell. In “A Salute To Glenn Campbell” Jeff will tell the stories and play the music that he experienced with his 15years on the road and in the studio with the legendary Glenn Campbell!! From the White House to the Wildhorse Saloon, Jeff has been playing guitar and performing all his life. He’s been a Nashville writer for fourteen years and thrives on the concentrated creative scene in Music City. His hometown roots in Minnesota and years in Arizona earned him a the job of bandleader with Hall of Fame artist Glen Campbell. He also found time to land his music degree, regional hit records and the honor of backing artists like Vince Gill, Buck Owens, Bo Diddley, Dizzy Gillespie, Willie Nelson, Gene Autry, Toby Keith and many more. Once relocating to Nashville, Jeff was soon touring with megastar Kenny Chesney, Lee Greenwood and others. Today, Jeff is an active Nashville music producer, songwriter, session guitarist, touring artist and educator and tours as a dynamic solo artist." from video introduction


Jeff Dayton Biography

Nashville artist Jeff Dayton's career is a success story built on hard work, faith and professionalism. From his 15 years as bandleader and guitarist with Hall of Fame legend Glen Campbell to his tours on guitar with Lee Greenwood and megastar Kenny Chesney, Jeff has kept the same upbeat gratitude and energy he's had since his early days in club bands. He's played shows on guitar with Willie Nelson, Vince Gill, Tanya Tucker, Toby Keith, Buck Owens and Bo Diddley to name a few of the greats.

Jeff was born and raised in rural Minnesota and grew up influenced by his mom's diverse record collection of Johnny Cash, Roger Miller, Kingston Trio plus, Dixieland, Caribbean and calypso styles. It wasn't long before he discovered his own love for guitar greats Eric Clapton, Jerry Reed, Jimi Hendrix and naturally, Glen Campbell plus bands like the Byrds, Moody Blues and Allman Brothers. He still credits his Twin Cities time working with Dizzy Gillespie, Thad Jones and sidemen from Bob Dylan and Prince for giving him a deep sense of the value of "the groove.".. from his website: jeffdaytonmusic.com


glen campbell with guitar
Glen Campbell

Singer Glen Campbell on His Recent Alzheimer's Diagnosis

Video from USA Today

"Aug 25, 2011

Glen Campbell went public in June with the news that he has Alzheimer's disease, and he's marking the twilight of his life with a surprisingly ambitious project. The country singer's final, revealing album, 'Ghost on the Canvas,' is out on August 30. By Rene Alston and Dan Macmedan." from video introduction

From 2014: Glen Campbell's Last Song Will Make You Cry

Video from CNN


"From 2014. Glen Campbell sings a heartbreaking last song as his memory fades. CNN's Jeanne Moos reports on a sad but loving swan song." from video introduction




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