Glen Campbell: Forget Me Not

In his new album’s liner notes, Glen Campbell writes, “Ghost on the Canvas is the last studio record of new songs that I ever plan to make.”

That’s because he’s now living through the early stages of Alzheimer’s. A man whose music history spans six decades is slowly losing his own history — his memories of being one of L.A.’s top session guitarists, playing on everything from “Strangers in the Night” to “Good Vibrations,” with an outfit called The Wrecking Crew.

“I got to play with the best musicians that I had ever played with. I’ll just go ahead and say it,” Campbell says, laughing, “they were the best musicians in the world!”

Of course, Campbell’s memories also include a solo career and songs, such as “Wichitaw Lineman” and “Rhinestone Cowboy,” that made him a household name.

“Everything is fine,” Campbell maintains. “I’m cool. It’s just a period I’m going through in my life, you know. I’ve hurt big toes worse than that.”

At 75, Glen Campbell still retains his signature charm, his sense of humor. But more and more, he relies on his wife, Kim, for the details of his life. Kim and Glen have been married for more than 25 years. She’s his fourth wife — and the one credited with getting him off of the drugs and alcohol that derailed his once stellar career. Kim says that Glen’s decision to share his diagnosis with the public didn’t surprise her.

“Glen’s always been really open about his life and his ups and downs, his struggle with drugs, finding God. This is just a natural thing for him to do, to let his fans know what’s going on with him in his life,” Kim says.

“It took us two and a half years to make Ghost on the Canvas, just because we were really careful to find the right songs to say what he wanted to say,” says Julian Raymond, Campbell’s co-producer and co-writer on the album. “We really wanted it to be indirectly kind of a life story.”

The legendary country singer’s new album will be his last – Campbell’s musical final farewell.

Copyright 2011 National Public Radio. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.