Music
28 Jun 11

The full statement from Glen Campbell’s management reads:

Glen Campbell is to say goodbye to his Irish fans with his last ever concerts. He was recently diagnosed with the early stages of Alzheimer's Disease. It basically affects his short term memory. Glen is still able to sing, play and perform in the same professional manner that he always has. He will be doing the same top notch show that his fans have come to expect. Glen will also be available to do interviews to promote the tour as he has done in the past.

Glen Campbell: The Goodbye Tour sees Glen supported by his two daughters and his son’s band, performing many of his greatest hits, that include ‘Gentle on My Mind’, ‘By the Time I Get to Phoenix’, ‘Wichita Lineman’, ‘Galveston’, ‘Rhinestone Cowboy’, ‘Southern Nights’ and songs from his new album.

The tour coincides with the release of Glen’s final studio album, Ghost on the Canvas, which is released on Monday 29th August by Surfdog Records.

Over 50 years in showbusiness, in an age where there are so few true hitmakers, the breadth of Glen Campbell’s career is hard to process. He has sold 45 million albums, had 81 songs on the charts, won Grammys and numerous other awards, been inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame, had a TV show where 50 million people tuned in weekly, played with Sinatra, Elvis, the Beach Boys, owned a theatre in Branson, acted and did a song for the movie True Grit alongside John Wayne.

Glen Campbell is one of the most popular artists and country music’s greatest guitarist, respected by his peers and young artists far and wide. From his amazing 12-string guitar work on his own albums to his session guitar work as part of The Wrecking Crew (who were Phil Spector’s go-to guys) and on albums by The Monkees, Sinatra, Haggard, Dean Martin and a couple hundred others, Glen’s guitar has coiled its way deep into the DNA of American music.

His last, critically acclaimed album, Meet Glen Campbell, saw him putting his smooth vocals and layered arrangements on contemporary and classic hits by the likes of U2, John Lennon, The Foo Fighters and Green Day.

Now consciously bowing out at the tail-end of over 50 years in popular music, Glen Campbell hits a serene reflective note on Ghosts On The Canvas. He ditched the booze and drugs decades ago and he’s written and told his story different times and in different ways before, but here he sings and interprets with the naked humility of a massive lifetime’s twilight.

This album finds a man taking stock of a life all but overstocked with all manner of experience and returning in the face of it all to a place of simple love and gratitude where the drama is all natural and the meaning is palpable in every note.

It’s beautiful stuff, and a fitting epilogue to a career that’s dazzled like the brightest rhinestones on any man’s jacket.