Glen Campbell is about to release, by our count, his third final album.
That’s not meant as a criticism of Campbell. Any new music from the country great is a reason to celebrate; however, when Ghost on the Canvas was released in 2011, we were told it was his final studio recording. Two years later, See You There was released which included re-recordings of some of his best-known songs that were made while Ghost was being recorded. See You There was also said to be his final studio album.
On June 9, UMe will release Adiós, again saying it is Campbell’s “final studio album”. The album was recorded at Station West in Nashville right after Glen’s “Goodbye Tour” which he took right after revealing he was suffering from Alzheimer’s disease.
Glen’s wife, Kim Campbell, talked of the album in People:
A new Glen Campbell album coming out in 2017 might seem a bit odd since he hasn’t performed since 2012, and even more odd – if not absolutely amazing – when you consider that he has Alzheimer’s disease. Glen’s abilities to play, sing and remember songs began to rapidly decline after his diagnosis in 2011. A feeling of urgency grew to get him into the studio one last time to capture what magic was left. It was now or never.
What you’re hearing when listening to Adiós is the beautiful and loving culmination of friends and family doing their very best for the man who inspired, raised, and entertained them for decades – giving him the chance to say one last goodbye to his fans, and put one last amazing collection of songs onto the record store shelves.
Adios was produced by Carl Jackson who also played guitar on the project.
The 12-track collection features songs that Campbell always loved but never got a chance to record, including several from Jimmy Webb, his longtime collaborator behind some of his biggest hits like Wichita Lineman, By The Time I Get To Phoenix, and Galveston. In addition to the bittersweet title track, Adiós, first popularised by Linda Ronstadt, Campbell also sings Webb’s longing love song Just Like Always and country weeper It Won’t Bring Her Back. He revisits Postcard From Paris with his sons Cal and Shannon and daughter Ashley singing the line, “I wish you were here,” resulting in a powerful and heartfelt message of a family singing together one last time.
Adiós sees Campbell putting his spin on several classic songs including Don’t Think Twice It’s All Right, inspired by Jerry Reed’s version of Bob Dylan’s timeless tune and Everybody’s Talkin’, a banjo-filled take on the song that Campbell never recorded but famously performed on the Sonny & Cher Show in 1973 with a 19-year-old Carl Jackson. Campbell’s daughter Ashley plays banjo on the song and joins her dad on several tracks on the album.
Other songwriters featured include Roger Miller with Am I All Alone (Or Is It Only Me), which begins with a home recording of Miller singing the tune at a guitar pull before going into Campbell’s rendition with Vince Gill on harmonies, Dickey Lee’s honky-tonk heartbreaker She Thinks I Still Care and Jerry Reed’s Johnny Cash hit A Thing Called Love. Willie Nelson joins his old pal for a poignant duet of Nelson’s 1968 Funny How Time Slips Away while Jackson tells Campbell’s life story in Arkansas Farmboy. “I wrote Arkansas Farmboy sometime in the mid- to late-’70s on a plane bound for one of the many overseas destinations I played with Glen between 1972 and 1984,” reveals Jackson. “The song was inspired by a story that Glen told me about his grandpa teaching him In The Pines on a $5 Sears & Roebuck guitar when he was only a boy. That guitar led to worldwide fame and fortune, far beyond what even some in his family could comprehend.”
