The Jaw-Dropping Glen Campbell Performance That Took Us to Church (Literally)

Some musicians are prolific songwriters, others are technically proficient instrumentalists, but country legend Glen Campbell just so happened to be both, as he casually proves in a jaw-dropping performance from 1989. Indeed, at a time when leads and session musicians lived in separate worlds, Campbell showed time and time again he was an incomparable master of both.

Last week, I shared an equally stunning clip of Campbell performing on Ralph Emery’s Country Homecoming. If you haven’t had the pleasure of watching that yet, I highly recommend you do so. Or, you can keep reading because rest assured, this clip I’m sharing today rips just as hard.

Watch A Jaw-Dropping Glen Campbell Performance Below

Massively popular songs can be a double-edged sword for musicians. On the one hand, almost everyone has heard your track, at least in passing. On the other hand, this ubiquity makes it difficult to present the song in a different, often sparser, arrangement without losing some of the “magic” of the studio version. Glen Campbell’s 1989 performance of “Southern Nights,” an Allen Toussaint cover he released 12 years prior.

Campbell’s widow, Kim Campbell, shared his 1989 performance following the deadly tornadoes that passed through the Southeast United States in April 2020. The original footage came from a New Year’s Eve church service at the North Phoenix Baptist Church in Phoenix, Arizona, which Glen and Kim joined that same decade. Campbell’s three-song performance included “Jesus and Me,” “Suffer Little Children,” and his catchy pop hit.

If there were any non-believers (of Campbell, anyway) sitting in the many pews of that church on New Year’s Eve night in 1989, they certainly walked away indoctrinated with Campbell’s intense musicality. From his soaring voice untouched by his 53 years of age to his mind-blowing dexterity on the fretboard, this rendition of “Southern Nights” should easily make any Campbell fan’s “Top 10 Performance” list.

An Earworm Turnaround Courtesy Of Jerry Reed

Even without a backing band, Glen Campbell keeps the bouncy feel of his 1977 cover of “Southern Nights” by maintaining a steady upstrum throughout the verses. He makes some exceptions for jazzy turnarounds, but otherwise, his emphasis on the upbeat keeps the song lively and fun, even as a solo church performance. One of the most notable moments in his song is a simultaneously ascending and descending turnaround—a riff gifted to Campbell by the equally talented Jerry Reed.

In a 1982 video special titled Jerry Reed and Special Friends, the prolific guitarists bantered back and forth on the outdoor stage before settling on performing “Southern Nights.” As the band started in on the intro lick, Campbell told the crowd, “I want to thank Jerry Reed for this lick because this song wouldn’t have made it without it.”

Sure enough, the riff became integral to the song, which he naturally included during his 1989 church performance in Phoenix. Showing off his dexterity in either hand, Campbell holds down the upward bass line on the bottom strings while he plays the descending treble melody on the upper strings. It’s pure Chet Atkins, jazz-meets-country fingerpicking goodness, and a handy trick for guitarists to exemplify on their own.

Photo by Ebet Roberts/Redferns