NPR previews first track from Glen Campbell’s “See You There”

On this morning’s “On Point,” NPR exclusively premiered the first track off of Glen’s new album “See You There” (in stores July 30th). You can listen online here

You can pre-order the new album at Surfdog.com or Amazon.com today!… Read the rest

$150

To pay tribute to Glen Campbell’s legacy, Surfdog Records is offering a Very Special Limited Edition Box Set — only 1000 made.

GLEN CAMPBELL ~ AMERICAN TREASURE

Surfdog is very proud to announce that our special tribute to the legendary Glen Campbell, celebrating a lifetime of hits and his unforgettable contributions to the world of music, will be shipping in  December!

In honor of this musical legend, this extraordinary Box Set includes:

• A beautifully bound tri-fold hardcover.
•  An authentic HAND-SIGNED lithograph of exclusive painting of Glen’s portrait.
• 2 CD’s jam-packed with Glen’s most renowned hits, including “Rhinestone Cowboy,” “Southern Nights,” and “Wichita Lineman.”  As well as fan favorites, career gems and early works uncovered and only available in this box set.
• An additional disc that features his most memorable guitar work as one of the most in-demand session players of the 60′s, on a myriad of iconic songs never-before compiled in one place; including Elvis Presley’s “Viva Las Vegas,” The Monkee’s “I’m a Believer,”  The Champs “Tequila,” Jan and Dean’s “Surf City,” Beach Boys, Frank Sinatra and many more.
• Invaluable DVD you can’t find anywhere else that captures some of Glen’s best comedic and musical performances from The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour Variety TV Show!  Including appearances by John Wayne, Stevie Wonder, Johnny Cash, Ray Charles, Bob Hope, Willie Nelson, Cher and more!
• Custom die-cut heavy-duty Goodtime Burst logo belt buckle.
• Commemorative Limited Edition “American Treasure” Version of the Goodbye Tour Program.
• Replica guitar pick just like the one used by the man himself.

From a meager beginning as the seventh son of an Arkansas sharecropper, Glen Campbell navigated his way to a stellar music career as a studio guitarist playing on some of the most well-known recordings in popular music such as The Beach Boys’ “Pet Sounds” and Frank Sinatra’s “Strangers in the Night.” As a solo artist, Campbell racked up hit after hit, including “Gentle on My Mind,” “Wichita Lineman,” “Galveston,” ”Southern Nights,” and of course “Rhinestone Cowboy.”  Glen made his network television debut as host of “The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour” which featured comedy sketches with Bob Newhart, John Wayne, and Flip Wilson, as well as musical performances by the likes of Ray Charles, Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash and many more. Throughout his career, Glen sold over 50 million albums, won 8 Grammys, and had over 81 songs on the charts!  Glen Campbell is an icon.  Glen Campbell is an American Treasure.

DISC 1 (1961 – 1976)

1. DEATH VALLEY
2. WINKIE DOLL
3. BRENDA
4. BUZZ SAW
5. TOO LATE TO WORRY, TOO BLUE TO CRY
6. GUESS I’M DUMB
7. GENTLE ON MY MIND
8. CRYIN’
9. BY THE TIME I GET TO PHOENIX
10. THE IMPOSSIBLE DREAM (THE QUEST)
11. THE LEGEND OF BONNIE AND CLYDE
12. LESS OF ME
13. WICHITA LINEMAN
14. ALL I HAVE TO DO IS DREAM
15. GALVESTON
16. WHERE’S THE PLAYGROUND SUSIE
17. TRUE GRIT
18. WILLIAM TELL OVERTURE
19. TRY A LITTLE KINDNESS
20. HE AIN’T HEAVY, HE’S MY BROTHER
21. BRING BACK THE LOVE
22. LAST TIME I SAW HER
23. I KNEW JESUS BEFORE HE WAS A STAR
24. IF NOT FOR YOU
25. ARKANSAS
26. COUNTRY BOY (YOU’VE GOT YOUR FEET IN L.A.)
27. RHINESTONE COWBOY

DISC 2 (1977 – PRESENT)

1. SOUTHERN NIGHTS
2. GOD MUST HAVE BLESSED AMERICA
3. CAN YOU FOOL
4. ANOTHER FINE MESS
5. HIGHWAYMAN
6. HOUND DOG MAN
7. SOMETHIN’ ‘BOUT YOU BABY I LIKE
8. I LOVE MY TRUCK
9. IT’S JUST A MATTER OF TIME
10. STILL WITHIN THE SOUND OF MY VOICE
11. LIGHT YEARS
12. SHE’S GONE GONE GONE
13. JESUS ON YOUR MIND
14. I’M GONE THIS TIME
15. SWIMMING UPSTREAM
16. WALLS
17. SING
18. GROW OLD WITH ME
19. A BETTER PLACE
20. GHOST ON THE CANVAS
21. IN MY ARMS
22. THERE’S NO ME WITHOUT YOU

SESSION WORKS (FEATURING SELECTIONS FROM GLEN CAMPBELL’S DAYS AS A SESSION PLAYER)

1. THE CHAMPS “TEQUILA”
2. THE CRICKETS “DON’T EVER CHANGE”
3. APRIL STEVENS & NINO TEMPO “DEEP PURPLE”
4. WAYNE NEWTON “DANKE SCHOEN”
5. THE MARKETTS “OUT OF LIMITS”
6. JAN & DEAN “SURF CITY”
7. JACK NITZSCHE “THE LONELY SURFER”
8. THE BEACH BOYS “I GET AROUND”
9. THE HONDELLS “LITTLE HONDA”
10. THE KNIGHTS “HOT ROD HIGH”
11. THE RIP CHORDS “HEY LITTLE COBRA”
12. THE RIGHTEOUS BROTHERS “YOU’VE LOST THAT LOVING FEELIN’”
13. ELVIS PRESLEY “VIVA LAS VEGAS”
14. THE EVERLY BROTHERS “MONEY (THAT’S WHAT I WANT)”
15. THE MONKEES “I’M A BELIEVER”
16. THE MONKEES “LAST TRAIN TO CLARKSVILLE”
17. THE BEACH BOYS “GOOD VIBRATIONS”
18. NANCY SINATRA “SUGAR TOWN”
19. FRANK SINATRA “STRANGERS IN THE NIGHT”
20. GENE CLARK “KEEP ON PUSHIN’”
21. TOM SCOTT AND THE CALIFORNIA DREAMERS “BABY I LOVE YOU”
22. THE MONKEES “MARY, MARY”
23. QUINCY JONES FT. GLEN CAMPBELL “BOWLEGGED POLLY”
24. SAGITTARIUS “MY WORLD FELL DOWN”

THE GOODTIME HOUR VARIETY SHOW DVD (SELECT PERFORMANCES FROM THE HIT TELEVISION SHOW)

1. GLEN CAMPBELL “WICHITA LINEMAN”
2. THE MONKEES “LAST TRAIN TO CLARKSVILLE / I’M A BELIEVER / SALESMAN”
3. JOSE FELICIANO “CALIFORNIA DREAMIN’”
4. STEVIE WONDER WITH GLEN CAMPBELL “BLOWIN’ IN THE WIND”
5. RAY CHARLES WITH GLEN CAMPBELL “CRYIN’ TIME / I’M MOVING ON”
6. NANCY SINATRA “SON OF A PREACHER MAN”
7. JOHNNY CASH “FOLSOM PRISON BLUES”
8. BOB NEWHART WITH GLEN CAMPBELL “RAILROAD WORKERS”
9. THE RIGHTEOUS BROTHERS WITH GLEN CAMPBELL “BYE, BYE LOVE”
10. GLEN CAMPBELL AND HIS PARENTS (WES & CARRIE) “ALIMONY / MY GOOD OLD TEXAS HOME”
11. GOLDIE HAWN WITH GLEN CAMPBELL “59TH STREET BRIDGE SONG (FEELING GROOVY)”
12. STEVE MARTIN AND THE SMOTHERS BROTHERS WITH GLEN CAMPBELL “COURT JESTER”
13. SARAH VAUGHAN WITH GLEN CAMPBELL “BROKEN-HEARTED MELODY”
14. CHER WITH GLEN CAMPBELL “BANG BANG”
15. DIONNE WARWICK WITH GLEN CAMPBELL “GET TOGETHER”
16. LINDA RONSTADT WITH GLEN CAMPBELL “SILVER THREADS & GOLDEN NEEDLES”
17. WILLIE NELSON WITH GLEN CAMPBELL “HELLO WALLS”
18. TONY BENNETT WITH GLEN CAMPBELL (HANK WILLIAMS MEDLEY) “COLD COLD HEART / I’M SO LONESOME I COULD CRY / YOUR CHEATIN’ HEART / I CAN’T HELP IT (IF I’M STILL IN LOVE WITH YOU) / KAW-LIGA / HEY GOOD LOOKIN / JAMBALAYA”
19. ANDY GRIFFITH WITH GLEN CAMPBELL “THE TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS”
20. RAY CHARLES WITH GLEN CAMPBELL “TOGETHER AGAIN / I CAN’T STOP LOVING YOU / YOU ARE MY SUNSHINE / I GOT A WOMAN”
21. BOBBIE GENTRY WITH GLEN CAMPBELL “SUNDAY MORNIN’”
22. JUDY COLLINS WITH GLEN CAMPBELL “FOUR STRONG WINDS”
23. BUCK OWENS WITH GLEN CAMPBELL “I’VE GOT A TIGER BY THE TAIL”
24. KENNY ROGERS & THE FIRST EDITION WITH GLEN CAMPBELL “CAMPTOWN RACES”
25. THE SUPREMES WITH GLEN CAMPBELL “HOMEWARD BOUND / KEEP THE CUSTOMER SATISFIED”
26. DEAN MARTIN WITH GLEN CAMPBELL “(OPEN UP THE DOOR) LET THE GOOD TIMES IN / LAY SOME HAPPINESS ON ME / THINGS / WALK THE LINE“
27. GLEN CAMPBELL AND FAMILY “CAROL OF THE BELLS”
28. SONNY & CHER WITH GLEN CAMPBELL “SHAKE, RATTLE & ROLL / TWEEDLEE DEE / BLUE SUEDE SHOES / YAKETY YAK / YOUNG LOVE / GET A JOB / LITTLE DARLIN’ / I’M WALKIN’”
29. THE OSMOND BROTHERS WITH GLEN CAMPBELL “PUT YOUR HAND IN THE HAND OF THE MAN”
30. JOHN WAYNE AND TIM CONWAY WITH GLEN CAMPBELL “BROKEN PROPS SKETCH“
31. JOHN WAYNE AND GLEN CAMPBELL CHAT ABOUT WORKING TOGETHER IN FILM “TRUE GRIT”
32. LUCILLE BALL WITH GLEN CAMPBELL “FOR ALL WE KNOW”

*Materials and package contents subject to change

$150

• A Life of Hits: Glen Campbell has had 81 songs on the charts. That averages out to one for every year of his life plus six before he was born.
• Forget Kevin Bacon: Within one degree of Glen Campbell you get: Elvis, John Wayne, Sinatra, the Beach Boys, Bobby Darin, Wayne Newton, Leon Russell, Merle Haggard, the Mamas & Papas, Dean Martin, Bobbie Gentry, Steve Martin, Rob Reiner, the Highwaymen, Tanya Tucker, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Steve McQueen, Joe Namath, Alan Jackson, Anne Murray, Mel Tillis, Robert Culp, Olivia Newton-John, Leif Garrett, Paul Westerberg, Billy Corgan, Bob Pollard, Jakob Dylan, Quincy Jones, Phil Spector, Clint Eastwood, Steve Wariner, Chris Isaak, Dick Dale, Nat King Cole, Rick Nelson, the Dillards, Dick Dale, Jeff Bridges, Allen Toussaint, Tennessee Ernie Ford, Rita Coolidge, Brian Setzer and Jimmy Webb. Most people at any point in history would have settled for Elvis and John Wayne.
• Holy Moly: Glen’s a religious person so I won’t blaspheme here, but the Beatles famously claimed (in a quote admittedly taken out of context) to be bigger than Jesus. Um, Glen Campbell outsold the Beatles in 1969.
• God Only Knows: Glen played guitar on the Beach Boys’ opus Pet Sounds, and when Brian Wilson was in his, let’s say “difficult period,” they invited him to join the band. He subbed in for a tour and then went off to make a several dozen of his own hits.
• A Good Time, All the Time: From 1969 to 1972, Campbell was the charismatic host of the aptly named The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour. Tens of millions people a week watched it, with up to 50 million a week tuning in. (Think about it, today’s biggest non-Super Bowl TV event, is 30 million people watching American Idol finals.)
• Changing Lanes: Campbell has gotten hits and/or awards in the country, pop and gospel genres. He’s won Grammys, AMAs, CMAs, was up for an Oscar, and did a covers album that included a Green Day song. Crazy!
• Forget Horatio Alger: Campbell grew up in severe poverty as the 7th son of an Arkansas sharecropper. He came to Hollywood in 1960 with $300 and a lot of hope. He scratched by on a meager publishing deal. Then came the sessions, then came the albums, then came the hits, then came the TV shows, etc., etc., and this was all back when the music industry paid for this stuff. The American Dream, man.
• Albums For Everyone: Glen Campbell has sold over 45 million albums.
• Unfinished Big Business: The version of “Gentle On My Mind” that was such a smash? A demo!!! Most demos sound like wet napkins on cardboard. Few reach radio. Fewer still do THAT.
• On the Map: Born in Arkansas, a regional radio star in New Mexico, a hit session artist in Hollywood, ran a theater in Branson. With plenty of time in Nashville, England and more or less the rest of the world.
• Saddle Up, Pilgrim: Glen Campbell was featured in the original version of True Grit alongside John Wayne (and recorded an Oscar-nominated song for the movie).
• Stranger Things Have Happened: The guitar on Sinatra’s “Strangers in the Night?” Glen Campbell. Doobie doobie doo.
• Hope He Owns A Tux: Campbell’s played the White House four times and two private shows for the UK’s royal family.
• When Do You Practice?: Glen Campbell is a scratch golfer. Lots of famous guys play golf. Few are that good. Fewer still host the Glen Campbell Los Angeles open.
• Going Out With a Roar: Glen’s last album, the forthcoming Ghost on The Canvas, features songs from Paul Westerberg, Bob Pollard and Jakob Dylan and appearances by Chris Isaak, Dick Dale, Brian Setzer, Billy Corgan and many more… Crazy (again)!
• Oh, yeah, that song “Rhinestone Cowboy”? Yeah, that’s Glen Campbell.

I’ve tried and I have failed Lord
I’ve won and I have lost
I’ve lived and I have loved Lord
Sometimes at such a cost
One thing I know
The world’s been good for me
A better place awaits
You’ll see
-Glen Campbell, “A Better Place”

Simply put, Ghost On the Canvas is the album of Glen Campbell’s life. Take that as literally or figuratively as you like and it still is the case. With beauty, power, heartfelt emotion and deep spirituality, this set of songs – a song cycle, if you will – traces the arc of Campbell’s 75 years: From dirt-poor, tiny-town Arkansas origins to Hollywood triumphs on the pop charts, TV and movies. From barnstorming days of youthful touring to hobnobbing with Elvis, Sinatra and the Duke. From troubled freefalls of addiction and bad life choices to personal and spiritual redemption.

It’s all here in this series of songs, starting with the prayerful invocation quoted above and concluding what Campbell has said will be his final album with a glorious, celebratory guitar jam featuring his own still-stellar chops alongside those of such colleagues and acolytes as Billy Corgan, Brian Setzer, Rick Nielsen, Jason Falkner, Marty Rifkin, Steve Hunter,  and Tim Pierce. The album was largely written by Campbell with producer-collaborator Julian Raymond, complemented by contributions from Jakob Dylan, Paul Westerberg, Teddy Thompson and Robert Pollard, with evocative instrumental interludes composed by Roger Manning as musical illustration. Raymond, who squired 2008′s arresting Meet Glen Campbell, on which the artist matched his esteemed talents with vital material originated with such artists as Jackson Browne, U2, Green Day and even the Velvet Underground, here shapes a vision as unexpected as it is rewarding.              

But it’s also a moving, engaging and masterful musical experience in its own right. Ghosts, in the forms of allusions to beloved songs from his vast catalog of cherished hits, abound – the soaring strings and perky lilt of the title track and “Any Trouble” echoing without imitating the sounds that first took him to the top with “Gentle on My Mind,” the organically lush swell of “It’s Your Amazing Grace” reminding that Campbell was arguably the first “countrypolitan” star, the sunset hues of “A Thousand Lifetimes” bringing us up to date with that old “Wichita Lineman.”  But as Ghost On the Canvas recaps, it more so renews and transcends Campbell’s colorful history. It is, again simply put, a terrific listen.

“A Better Place” matches its confessional tone with Campbell’s lovely finger-picked guitar and a voice undiminished by the years, the same voice that’s been such a friend to so many for several generations. The title song, one of Westerberg’s entries, segues in with its telegraph pulse, more acoustic guitar and comfortingly enveloping strings pointedly recalling two of Campbell’s breakthrough hits, “Gentle On My Mind” and “Wichita Lineman” – Westerberg’s stated dream to become Campbell’s new equivalent of Jimmy Webb,” writer of “Lineman” and other Campbell hits
realized. It’s a song of craft, grace and depth, at once worthy of Westerberg’s reputation stretching back to his days with the Replacements and of the Campbell canon.

The other guest songs seem to tap Campbell’s sensibilities and artistic voice as well, bursting with the full richness of hope and joy. Dylan’s “Nothin’ But the Whole Wide World” presents a man ready to embrace whatever comes – “God wants you busy, never giving up,” as good a summary of Campbell’s stand as any. Rising English singer-songwriter Thompson’s boisterous “In My Arms” (with Chris Isaak, Dick Dale and Brian Setzer adding guitar twang) wraps us in sweet, if complicated love. Pollard, leader of iconic indie band Guided By Voices, continues the tone with “Hold On Hope.” And Westerberg comes back, gentle on his mind, with “Any Trouble,” a joyous, satisfied celebration of domestic bliss, Raymond adding the sounds of children to underscore the spirit.

The interludes are just as key to the portrait being painted. “Billstown Crossroads” uses steel guitar and tinkling vibes to return to Campbell’s Arkansas home. “Second Street North” a swell of romantic promise. “May 21st, 1969″ – the date his network variety show which became The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour debuted on network TV – mixes carnival sounds with hints of the Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds, the landmark album that Campbell helped craft, to call up the circus atmosphere of ascending stardom. “Wild and Waste” could be a lost scrap of score from Campbell’s big-screen debut alongside John Wayne in True Grit. “Valley of the Sun” uses the sounds of children playing in Campbell’s family life in Arizona. And “The Rest is Silence” returns to Beach Boys wistfulness in later life.

But it’s the songs by Campbell and Raymond that tug the heart the hardest, songs of failings and faith, stumbles and triumphs, the most private sides of a public star. And in the course it’s not just the album of Campbell’s life, but of ours. His story is a quintessential American tale and the music he’s made – from his studio years through his great span of hits – form its soundtrack. When he was on our radios every day and in our living rooms every week, he wasn’t just an entertainer but a friend. When suffered later, we ached, his failings being our failings. When he overcame the troubles, we shared in the joy. In “A Thousand Lifetimes,” as the music leaning to the rock side of his equation, he sings, “Each breath I take is a gift that I will never take for granted.”

When he sings “Strong” near the end of this album, we hear that it’s both an apology and pledge to his wife, Kimberly, whom he credits with bringing him the stability he’d been lacking, for putting him right. “This is not the road I wanted for us,” he sings, with equal tones of sorrow and stoic certainty. “But now it’s here.” As personal as that is, it’s something we can internalize, feel in our own lives. “The Rest is Silence,” with its wordless Beach Boys-esque vocals, serves as a closing prayer, a final impressionistic meditation to end not just the album, but a career. 

It’s not the end, though. Campbell returns with “There Is No Me … Without You,” again addressing Kimberly with a sense that with love there is no end, the all-star tag-team guitar coda sidling up next to George Harrison’s compatible “Something.”

“The past gets in my way,” Campbell sings in “A Better Place.” It may be the lone moment on the album that rings less than true. That past made Ghost On the Canvas possible, a singular life bringing a singular achievement that we are privileged to share.

– Steve Hochman