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>> Time Life Releases Glen Campbell Goodtimes Again For The First Time On DVD on October 2
DVD Features Classic Performances from TV's
The Glen Campbell GoodTime Hour
Including Ray Charles, Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash,
Cher, Linda Ronstadt, Rick Nelson and others
During its three-year primetime run, The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour ranked among the most successful variety shows in television history. After years in the vaults, Time Life has packaged the variety show's best performances for the first time on DVD in Glen Campbell Goodtimes Again, a seventy-five minute compilation that features duets with Willie Nelson, Linda Ronstadt and Cher, among others. In addition, the DVD includes Glen's original on-camera introductions as well as a newly taped exclusive interview featuring insights into the show and its numerous guests.
Glen Campbell Goodtimes Again will be available at retail on October 2, after first being featured as a pledge premium during PBS's August fund drive and will air nationally on PBS stations starting September.
The Goodtime Hour, which ran on CBS from January 1969 – June 1972, innocently knocked down the stylistic walls between pop, country and R&B. Campbell's first performance on the show was a rendition of Stevie Wonder's "For Once In My Life,"and his guests veered from gritty soul singer Ray Charles to pop vocalist B.J. Thomas to country personality Roger Miller. Campbell purposely ignored genres in building the guest list for each episode, believing that quality trumped promotion.
"I didn't have anyone on because they were country, rock, pop," Campbell says. "I had them on because they were talented."
Goodtimes Again demonstrates Campbell's wide musical scope, which allowed him and his guests to team effectively to cross stylistic boundaries. He performed with some of the era's biggest stars on their own hits as well as on songs that have gone on to become cultural signposts. Campbell is paired, for example, with Rick Nelson on the Cajun-flavored "Louisiana Man," with Bobbie Gentry on the pop ballad "Let It Be Me," and with Johnny Cash on the country trademark "Folsom Prison Blues." The DVD also features two of Bob Dylan's iconoclastic tunes, "Don't Think Twice, That's All Right," performed with Anne Murray; and "All I Really Want To Do," sung with Cher.
Goodtimes Again also showcases Campbell's prowess as a guitar player and vocalist on his own hits—including "Wichita Lineman," "Galveston," "True Grit" and "Gentle On My Mind" - many of them with banjo/guitar wizard John Hartford at his side.
Produced by High Five Entertainment, the DVD features Campbell's intimate commentary on each of the performances, plus a bonus interview, recorded in May 2007 at the Moon River Theater in Branson, MO, in which Campbell reflects on the TV show and his multi-faceted career.
Born in Arkansas, Campbell brought a heartland sensibility to the pop world when he moved to Los Angeles in the early 1960s. He quickly became an in-demand session musician, who played guitar on thousands of records, including hits by some of the most popular musical artists of that era, including Frank Sinatra, The Righteous Brothers, Jan & Dean, Dean Martin, Merle Haggard and The Beach Boys, among many others. He toured for six months in 1965 as a replacement for Beach Boy founder Brian Wilson, who had produced one of Campbell's early pop singles.
Campbell had played on an album by the Smothers Brothers comedy team. After an appearance on The Joey Bishop Show, Campbell received a call from Tommy Smothers, who just happened to see the episode. As a result, Campbell appeared on several of the Smothers Brothers' CBS variety shows and was so well-received that Tom Smothers asked him to host the Summer Brothers Smothers Show. Shortly thereafter, CBS-TV added The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour to their primetime schedule. Tom Smothers produced several episodes of the first season.
Shot at Television City in Hollywood, The Goodtime Hour showcased Campbell's multiple talents and likable personality. It became a showplace for some of the top country, rock, R&B and pop artists. The show also helped to cement his position as an entertainer, eventually bringing him a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and membership in the Country Music Hall of Fame and numerous other honors. The Goodtime Hour introduced his talents to a mass audience around the world, he continues to perform at the top venues both in the US and internationally to this day. <<
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