By Dr. Curtis Varnell
A huge crowd waited in anticipation as the lanky cowboy and his band stepped onto the stage at the Alma Performing Arts center. Glen Campbell, musician, singer, and actor had returned to his native state as part of his farewell tour. Suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, he was accompanied by his daughter who assisted him in remembering the golden hits that he had performed so many times during his career.
It was a great performance that brought back memories of my childhood and growing up watching the Glen Campbell show on T.V., seeing him in the movie True Grit, and listening to his songs on my eight-track tape player. I had attended high school with one of his cousins who was always showing me family photos so I knew he had a number of connections locally. As the show ended and we began a slow exit, I was startled to look up on stage and see my boss Guy Fenter and his family in lively conversation with Glen. What the heck? I tried to get his attention hoping he would wave me up on stage with him but to no avail!
Monday morning, I found out the story of the relationship between the two. Mr. Fenter and Glen Campbell had grown up together in rural Pike county. The nearest metropolitan area, if you could call it that, was Delight which has a population of 278 people. In the 50’s, most of the population were farmers and the biggest crop the Campbell family raised were children. Glen had eleven brothers and sisters. Mr. Fenter explained, “We were poor. The only family poorer than us were the Campbell’s who lived right down the dirt road from us. They had an old truck and they would load up the truck on the weekends. Most of the family could play or sing so they would go out locally and perform. They would come back home late, kids sitting on the back of that old truck, singing and playing. They looked like the Darling’s from the famed Andy Griffith show. Glen always liked my sister but dad always told her to stay away from that Campbell bunch, they would never amount to much.”
Glen had got a guitar when he was four and was performing by the time he was six. By his teen years, his family had moved to Houston and then later to Albuquerque, New Mexico. Glen dropped out of school and began playing in local nightclubs. Later, he moved to L.A. and began his own singing group but without much success. During the early sixties, his greatest achievements was as a backup guitarist for big name performers. He played for Elvis Presley, Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, and eventually, for the Beach Boys. In 1967, his song Gentle on My Mind became a Top 40 song and earned him two Grammy Awards. With his good looks and talent, he soon became a star, not only in music, but in movies. He received a Golden Globe nomination for his appearance with John Wayne in True Grit. As a teen, we loved to watch him on the Glen Campbell show and listen to Wichita Lineman, Galveston, and all of his other hits.
Becoming so famous so quickly must have been confusing for the poor kid from the run down shack in rural Arkansas. Rhinestone Cowboy, probably his most famous hit, describes deep feelings about poverty and selling yourself out to be famous. Country Boy, even though not written by Campbell, was a song he often chose to perform. Lyrics read, You got your feet in L.A., take a look at everything you own, but now and then my heart keeps going home.
Glen was married four time, had eight children, and a career that spanned half-a-century. He had his share of problems with alcohol and drugs and his biggest enemy, Alzheimer’s. By the time of his performance at Alma, he was having trouble recalling events and even the words of some of his music. Memories of childhood seem to be some of the last things one forgets. Greeting Mr. Fenter after the performance, the first thing he stated was, “Guy, how is that sisters of yours these days?”
Still one of my favorite singers, the Rhinestone Cowboy passed away in August of 2017. He returned home the final time to be buried at the Campbell Cemetery near Delight.
