Sabbath musical delight: Rick Beato on Glen Campbell’s “Wichita Lineman”

While I have an atypically broad musical taste, country is not a genre I ever cared for much.

I was quite surprised, however, when Rick Beato discussed Glen Campbell’s “Wichita Lineman”, with its (very atypically for the genre) amazingly cool harmonies.

Below is the lead sheet (screenshot from the video):

Turns out Glen Campbell wasn’t your average country player: he had been a member of the informal L.A. studio musicians collective who ironically called themselves “The Wrecking Crew” (a.k.a. the First Call Gang), which has played on literally hundreds of hits in all genres of popular music . Wikipedia:

At the time, multi-tracking equipment, though common, was less elaborate, and instrumental backing tracks were often recorded “hot” with an ensemble playing live in the studio.[4] Musicians had to be available “on call” when producers needed a part to fill a last-minute time slot.[5] Los Angeles was then considered the top recording destination in the United States—consequently studios were constantly booked around the clock, and session time was highly sought after and expensive.[6]Songs had to be recorded quickly in the fewest possible takes.[3][7] In this environment, Los Angeles producers and record executives had little patience for needless expense or wasted time and depended on the service of reliable standby musicians who could be counted on to record in a variety of styles with minimal practice or takes, and deliver hits on short order.[3][5][8]

The Wrecking Crew were the “go to” session musicians in Los Angeles during this era.[3][9] Its members were musically versatile but typically had formal backgrounds in jazz or classical music, and were exceptional at sight reading.[10] The talent of this group of “first call” players was used in almost every style of recording, including television theme songsfilm scores, advertising jingles and many genres of American popular music from the Monkees to Bing Crosby.[11][12

Glen Campbell played guitar on many Beach Boys hits and also was a member of their touring band before he himself hit the big time as a country star. His old buddies accompanied him on this single.

Enjoy, have a great weekend, and Shabbat Shalom!

PS: I noticed that Kevin McCarthy was finally elected Speaker of the House on the 15th ballot, 216-212 with six “present” votes (the last anti-McCarthy holdouts in the GOP faction). Apparently, for US Congress purposes, a “present” vote is not counted for determining whether an absolute majority has been reached.

In order to sway the holdouts, he apparently had to agree to nearly their entire list of demands.

One thought on “Sabbath musical delight: Rick Beato on Glen Campbell’s “Wichita Lineman”

  1. There are many appreciative musicians on YouTube who sing the praises of country musicians’ technique.

    There’s also quantities of humor in country song lyrics.

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