Country

He's a rhinestone cowboy all right, and at a leathery 63 shows no signs of retiring

He's a rhinestone cowboy all right, and at a leathery 63 shows no signs of retiring. The career of Glen Campbell (above) is quite remarkable for its scope: an excellent guitarist, a star session player (particularly in the 1960s, when he temporarily replaced Brian Wilson in The Beach Boys), a superb interpretative singer, a Country & Western institution and a TV personality. Beyond all these, however, lies his status as a crossover Country artist and for the superlative material he recorded in the 1960s and 1970s, notably the evocative town songs written by Jimmy Webb - By The Time I Get To Phoenix, Wichita Lineman and Galveston. Campbell plays Dublin's NCH on Tuesday and Belfast's Waterfront on Wednesday.

Tony Clayton-Lea

Tony Clayton-Lea

Tony Clayton-Lea is a contributor to The Irish Times specialising in popular culture