Glen Campbell Offers One Last Musical Goodbye With New Album

Glen Campbell‘s heart-wrenching battle with Alzheimer’s disease has touched fans across the globe, and Campbell is saying goodbye to the career and life he knew as an entertainer in a poignant way with a final studio album, aptly titled, Adiós. The album, which caps off a career that has spanned more than five decades and 50 million albums sold, will be released June 9 on UMe on CD, vinyl and digitally, and is available for pre-order beginning today here.

Recorded at Station West in Nashville following his “Goodbye Tour” which was launched after Campbell revealed he was diagnosed with the disease, the album was produced by Glen’s longtime banjo player and family friend Carl Jackson. Jackson has been with Campbell since the ’70s when he first joined the band as an 18-year-old, and laid down some basic tracks and vocals for Campbell to study and practice in recording this final collection.

In her liner notes, Kim Campbell, Glen’s wife of 34 years, explains the genesis of the album, details the recording process and explains why Adiós is finally being released.

“A new Glen Campbell album coming out in 2017 might seem a bit odd since he hasn’t performed since 2012, and even more odd – if not absolutely amazing – when you consider that he has Alzheimer’s disease. Glen’s abilities to play, sing and remember songs began to rapidly decline after his diagnosis in 2011. A feeling of urgency grew to get him into the studio one last time to capture what magic was left. It was now or never. What you’re hearing when listening to Adiós is the beautiful and loving culmination of friends and family doing their very best for the man who inspired, raised, and entertained them for decades – giving him the chance to say one last goodbye to his fans, and put one last amazing collection of songs onto the record store shelves.”

The 12-track collection features songs that Campbell always loved but never got a chance to record, including several from longtime collaborator Jimmy Webb,  including “Just Like Always” and “It Won’t Bring Her Back.” On “Postcard From Paris,” sons Cal and Shannon and daughter Ashley sing the line, “I wish you were here,” marking a family singing together for one last time. Willie Nelson joins Campbell for a duet of Nelson’s 1968 “Funny How Time Slips Away,” and he puts his spin on Jerry Reed’s Johnny Cash hit “A Thing Called Love” on the new collection as well. And Jackson tells Campbell’s life’s story on the autobiographical, “Arkansas Farmboy.”

“I wrote ‘Arkansas Farmboy’ sometime in the mid- to late-‘70s on a plane bound for one of the many overseas destinations I played with Glen between 1972 and 1984,” reveals Jackson. “The song was inspired by a story that Glen told me about his grandpa teaching him ‘In The Pines’ on a $5 Sears & Roebuck guitar when he was only a boy. That guitar led to worldwide fame and fortune, far beyond what even some in his family could comprehend.”

People.com is debuting the album’s first track, “Everybody’s Talkin’,” Campbell’s take on the Fred Neil-penned hit made famous by Harry Nilsson in the film “Midnight Cowboy.”