Saturday March 26, 2022 “Wichita Lineman” Glen Campbell
As we continue telephone week you have to wonder if the 2022 version of this iconic 1968 number three song might be titled “Wichita Cell Tower Guy”...OK maybe not.
Glen Campbell was born in Arkansas and was given his first guitar at age four which he played incessantly until he became a skilled virtuoso playing in a number of local bands. He would move to Los Angeles and once his skills were recognized, become a busy session musician with the renowned studio group the Wrecking Crew.
Campbell would play guitar on hundreds of hit records for diverse artists like the Monkees, Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, and Merle Haggard as well as the Beach Boys with whom he would tour when Brian Wilson stopped traveling with the band.
Campbell was initially positioned by Capital Records as a country recording artist, but his 1967 breakthrough as a crossover artist, a folky, country-pop rendition of John Hartford's "Gentle on My Mind" became a Top 40 hit on both the country and pop charts. He would then release a cover of Jimmy Webb's "By the Time I Get to Phoenix," which reached number two on the country charts, and was a top twenty hit on the pop charts.
Campbell’s association with Webb and his songs would contiue with hits like “Galveston '', “By the Time I Get to Phoenix '' as well as today’s” Wichita Lineman”. Webb of course was a skilled writer of songs with unusual themes that also included ”MacArthur Park”, “Worst That Could Happen” and “Up Up and Away” among many others.
Campbell has won nine Grammys, ten Academy of Country Music awards, he has sold more than fifty million records, has charted eighty singles, was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2005, and has appeared in several movies including the John Wayne classicTrue Grit.
There is a poignant documentary about Campbell’s struggle with altzheimers, Glen Campbell: I'll Be Me.
Stay safe and well…and as that ends a week on the phone I will say goodbye, hang up and promise to give you a call you later