Post by erik on Sept 10, 2022 23:15:59 GMT -5
A Minor but nevertheless memorable hit from the beginning of Glen Campbell's hit-making days is in this week's Pop Music Hits Spotlight.
HEY LITTLE ONE (Glen Campbell; Capitol; 1967)—With as much talent and musical acumen as he had over a period that went from the height of the early 1960’s folk music movement, through to his untimely passing due to Alzheimer’s in August 2017, Glen Campbell could sometimes cause a lot of radio programmers confusion. Much of his stuff, particularly during his late 1960’s/early 1970’s heyday straddled the lines of middle-of-the-road, country, and pop, and many had pegged him as a country artist, while neglecting the fact that he had also had extensive experience as a part of the big L.A. session music conglomerate known as The Wrecking Crew, or that he subbed for Brian Wilson in the Beach Boys in late 1964 and early 1965. But in 1967, his own career was on very thin ice at Capitol Records; he had yet to score nationally, and his albums weren’t exactly going over like gangbusters in the era of the Beatles. Then during that year, he got onto both the country and pop charts with the bluegrass-influenced John Hartford cover “Gentle On My Mind”, and the first of many Jimmy Webb hits, “By The Time I Get To Phoenix”. One of the more minor, but still significant, hits he had early on in the following year was the pleading “Hey Little One”. This sentimental, somewhat MOR ballad had been written back in 1959 by rockabilly star Dorsey Brunette and up-and-coming composer Barry DeVorzon, and was a 1960 hit for Burnette. Campbell’s version, boosted by his producer Al DeLory’s typical 1960’s orchestral pop production, could only get as high as #58 on Billboard’s Hot 100 singles chart in February 1968, but it managed to peak at #13 on the same publication’s country singles chart, despite sounding nothing like what was on country radio oat the time. Campbell would carve out a significant place, even though at times it was only ever fitfully acknowledged while he was alive, in the fields of country, pop, rock, and even folk right to the end; and his musicianship encouraged his daughter Ashley, who followed her father’s forays into bluegrass with her own bluegrass-inflected recordings.
HEY LITTLE ONE (Glen Campbell; Capitol; 1967)—With as much talent and musical acumen as he had over a period that went from the height of the early 1960’s folk music movement, through to his untimely passing due to Alzheimer’s in August 2017, Glen Campbell could sometimes cause a lot of radio programmers confusion. Much of his stuff, particularly during his late 1960’s/early 1970’s heyday straddled the lines of middle-of-the-road, country, and pop, and many had pegged him as a country artist, while neglecting the fact that he had also had extensive experience as a part of the big L.A. session music conglomerate known as The Wrecking Crew, or that he subbed for Brian Wilson in the Beach Boys in late 1964 and early 1965. But in 1967, his own career was on very thin ice at Capitol Records; he had yet to score nationally, and his albums weren’t exactly going over like gangbusters in the era of the Beatles. Then during that year, he got onto both the country and pop charts with the bluegrass-influenced John Hartford cover “Gentle On My Mind”, and the first of many Jimmy Webb hits, “By The Time I Get To Phoenix”. One of the more minor, but still significant, hits he had early on in the following year was the pleading “Hey Little One”. This sentimental, somewhat MOR ballad had been written back in 1959 by rockabilly star Dorsey Brunette and up-and-coming composer Barry DeVorzon, and was a 1960 hit for Burnette. Campbell’s version, boosted by his producer Al DeLory’s typical 1960’s orchestral pop production, could only get as high as #58 on Billboard’s Hot 100 singles chart in February 1968, but it managed to peak at #13 on the same publication’s country singles chart, despite sounding nothing like what was on country radio oat the time. Campbell would carve out a significant place, even though at times it was only ever fitfully acknowledged while he was alive, in the fields of country, pop, rock, and even folk right to the end; and his musicianship encouraged his daughter Ashley, who followed her father’s forays into bluegrass with her own bluegrass-inflected recordings.