A cowboy at heart

Kirk Baird

Friday, May 31, 2002 | 2:17 a.m.

WEEKEND EDITION: June 2, 2002

Country-pop superstar Glen Campbell had it all during much of his career.

There were hit songs: "Witchita Lineman," "Gentle on My Mind," "By the Time I Get to Phoenix," "Southern Nights" and, of course, "Rhinestone Cowboy."

There were popular TV shows: "The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour" and "The Glen Campbell Music Show."

There was even a budding movie career, including acting alongside John Wayne in "True Grit."

A respected guitarist and vocalist, Campbell also performed as a session player in the early to mid-'60s with the likes of Frank Sinatra, The Monkees, Dean Martin, Rick Nelson, Johnny Cash and the Mamas and the Papas.

He had personal problems as well, including an addiction to drugs and alcohol, three failed marriages, and a tumultuous relationship with country singer Tanya Tucker, who later alleged Campbell was physically abusive to her. In 1994 Campbell chronicled much of his past in the candid autobiography "Rhinestone Cowboy" (Villard Books).

Sober and a born-again Christian since the mid-'80s, the 66-year-old Campbell remarried in 1985 and is raising three children in Phoenix, when he is not on the road touring. Campbell performs Friday at the Dallas Events Center at Texas Station.

The Sun recently spoke with Campbell, from Branson, Mo., where he was making some guest performances, about his career, his relationship with John Wayne and his thoughts on today's country music:

Sun: Cable channel CMT recently began airing reruns of the "The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour."

GC: It was great. They cut them up some, naturally, and cut out all of the commercials and put their own in. And sometimes they'd put two shows together. It's working out great, I'm getting a lot of reaction from it. They couldn't believe everybody that was on the show: Liberace, Neil Diamond, Linda Ronstadt, Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard and Buck Owens. I'd have big names on there.

Sun: How did you go about selecting which songs you would record?

GC: I would hear them. I heard "Rhinestone Cowboy" on the radio and I heard "Gentle on My Mind" on the radio. That's just the way God would have it. "Rhinestone" was a tape of a song from an album. And boy, I heard that and I just couldn't believe it. I went out and bought the album.

Sun: When you were recording these songs, did you have a hunch that they would a be a hit?

GC: You know, it's something that you really like to sing. I've kind of always went by my instincts and my taste in music, because I'm not really country, pop or rock or anything like that. They're songs and you sing them.

There's an old joke: This woman calls in and says, "Doctor, doctor, my son swallowed a bullet! What can I do?" He says, "Well, give him some caster oil and don't aim him at nobody." And that's what I've tried to do with music. Just do it and don't really aim it at any particular (genre): country, pop or rock. As a result ... I had eight albums on the top 10 of Billboard, counting the duet ones.

Sun: Did your success surprise you?

GC: I wasn't overwhelmed, but I was sure surprised. I was glad it happened.

Sun: You were one of the first artists to cross over from country to pop. What's your opinion of today's country artists?

GC: I don't think it's country.

Sun: Do you ever feel partially responsible for the changing country music scene -- either positively or negatively?

GC: No. Dolly Parton had a big hand in that, too. And, of course, Kenny (Rogers), after me. It seems like they went on from there. I never really thought about it.

Sun: In the early '60s, you routinely played Las Vegas as a session musician. What was that like?

GC: It was a lot of work ... two shows a night, six, seven nights a week. It was tough. I played mainly at the Hilton for, like, three or four years. I did play the Sands ... I played the Frontier and the Desert Inn, too.

Sun: How do you remember all these songs? Do you have a lyrics sheet handy?

GC: (Laughs) Not yet. It's so simple. You can take a little TelePrompTer on the road and just do 'em.

Sun: How many songs can you perform?

GC: I don't know ... I'll just pull a number out of the hat. Probably a 150.

Sun: Looking back on your career, what is your most memorable moment?

GC: After "True Grit," John Wayne, we had a thing on some awards show, I think it was the Grammys. I remember having on all these white rhinestones and Duke came in and sat up on a horse onstage. He was really a great guy. If he liked you, you knew it, and if he didn't like you, you knew it.

Sun: I guess he liked you.

GC: Yeah, I looked at him just like he was my dad. He was something else. Duke was 32 years older than me -- he was 69 when we did "True Grit."

Sun: Your father bought you a guitar from Sears when you were 7 years old. How long was it before you realized music was the direction you wanted to take in your life?

GC: The first time we played the Forest Festival in Hope, Ark. -- me and Uncle Boo. I was about 12 or 13. We went out to Magnolia, Ark., and I said this is what I wanted to do.

I was very blessed that my dad's sister was living in Albuquerque and the guy she was married to, Dick, had a band. And I was playing and singing for them and when I got back to Arkansas, Dick called because his guitar player had quit. And I said, "Mom and Dad, if I could come out to Albuquerque, they could be my legal guardian."

We played a five-day-a-week radio show, and played the nightclubs and all the dances, the Elks Club and the Veterans Club and the Air Force bases. We had a six-piece band, counting my uncle. We had a sax player and a steel guitar player. We were playing everything. We were playing, "In the Mood," "Chattanooga Choo Choo," Sons of the Pioneers, we were playing everybody. I did that for about five years. I bet I learned a thousand songs.

Sun: You've been sober since 1985. How has that affected you as a musician?

GC: I play better and sing better.

Sun: So, if you could go back and change your behavior, would you?

GC: Everything I did was my fault, but I was driven there because I was wanting revenge. That's a terrible thing.

Sun: Revenge against whom?

GC: Everybody. I'd do something to bug other people, the ex-wives or whatever.

Sun: But having had so much success at the time, why would you have a reason to be angry?

GC: Because they were lying ... that was the whole roundup of it there. And I was doing the same thing, because of that, for revenge. "Vengeance is mine, sayeth the Lord," so I left it behind.

Sun: Have you since made peace with these people?

GC: Oh yeah, with the exception of a couple.

Sun: Tanya Tucker being one of them?

GC: Oh yeah ... she's OK. We don't hang out.

Sun: You were very candid in your tell-all autobiography. Was anyone irritated?

GC: I was. The guy who wrote it didn't say it like I said it. He had it on a tape recorder, maybe he didn't think it looked good on paper. He didn't put it together the way I would have put it together. He said the same thing, but he didn't say it the same way I said it. He tried to put it more like an author -- he wanted to put his two cents in.

Sun: What was the reaction to your book?

GC: Totally positive. I got more calls from recovering alcoholics ... I haven't had a glass of whiskey since then. I have had glasses of wine ... but no beer. Quit the smoking.

Sun: So, which was the toughest habit to quit: drinking, drugs or smoking?

CG: Smoking. (Laughs) The drinking ... I was getting to the point where I had to just stop. Will Rogers said, "I used to be a one-man band, but I couldn't keep it together." That's kind of the way I was.