In May 2017, songwriter Jimmy Webb was sitting in a hotel room with his wife, Lauren, when Jimmy Webb heard something Jimmy Webb had waited years to hear.
It was Glen Campbell singing “Adiós.”
Jimmy Webb had written the song decades earlier. Glen Campbell had loved it for years. The two old friends had played it together in dressing rooms, hotel rooms, and their own homes. Yet Glen Campbell had never officially recorded a version.
Now, after all those years, the recording finally existed.
Jimmy Webb and Lauren held each other and cried as they listened.
What made that moment so meaningful was not just the song itself. It was the extraordinary effort that had gone into recording it.
A Song That Followed Two Friends for Years
Few songwriting partnerships have left a greater mark on American popular music than Jimmy Webb and Glen Campbell.
Jimmy Webb wrote “By the Time I Get to Phoenix,” “Wichita Lineman,” and “Galveston,” three songs that helped establish Glen Campbell as one of the most recognizable voices of the late 1960s.
But “Adiós” had a different history.
Linda Ronstadt had recorded the song in 1989, bringing it to a wide audience. Glen Campbell, however, had kept it as something more personal.
Jimmy Webb later recalled how often the two friends played “Adiós” together. Sometimes it was backstage. Sometimes it was during a visit to one another’s homes.
There was no grand plan surrounding those performances. It was simply a song Glen Campbell loved to sing.
For decades, that was where the story rested.
Inside the Studio Where Glen Campbell Made His Final Album
In 2011, Glen Campbell publicly revealed an Alzheimer’s diagnosis. Glen Campbell then embarked on a farewell tour, continuing to perform while facing growing difficulties with memory.
After the tour, Glen Campbell’s family wanted to preserve more of the music Glen Campbell still loved.
Kim Campbell turned to Carl Jackson, a longtime friend who had joined Glen Campbell’s touring band as an 18-year-old banjo player in 1972.
Carl Jackson knew Glen Campbell’s voice, musical habits, and favorite songs. That relationship became especially important during the recording sessions in Nashville.
Rather than expecting Glen Campbell to learn unfamiliar material, Carl Jackson selected songs Glen Campbell had enjoyed for years. Carl Jackson recorded instrumental tracks and guide vocals so Glen Campbell could become familiar with the arrangements before entering the studio.
Even then, the sessions required patience.
Glen Campbell sometimes struggled to remember the lyrics. Carl Jackson stood beside Glen Campbell in the recording booth, helping Glen Campbell work through the songs one line at a time.
But Carl Jackson later explained that something remarkable remained: Glen Campbell’s instinct for melody, pitch, and vocal expression.
The voice that had carried “Wichita Lineman” and “Rhinestone Cowboy” was still recognizable.
And Glen Campbell Still Found Ways to Make Everybody Laugh
There was another side to those sessions that fans might not expect.
According to Glen Campbell’s daughter Ashley Campbell, the recording process was not filled entirely with sadness.
Glen Campbell and Carl Jackson had known each other for so long that their friendship carried a natural sense of humor.
When Carl Jackson helped Glen Campbell through a difficult vocal passage, Glen Campbell would sometimes deliberately sing something incorrectly just to make Carl Jackson laugh.
At other moments, Carl Jackson would ask Glen Campbell to sing another line, and Glen Campbell would playfully refuse.
Ashley Campbell remembered plenty of laughter during the sessions. Carl Jackson also recalled the deep affection that filled the studio.
The recordings were difficult at times, but the musicians were still enjoying making music together.
The Recording That Brought Jimmy Webb to Tears
The album, titled Adiós, was released on June 9, 2017.
The title track brought Glen Campbell and Jimmy Webb’s musical partnership full circle.
When Jimmy Webb heard the finished recording before its release, the experience was overwhelming. Jimmy Webb and Lauren cried together in their hotel room.
Jimmy Webb later described the completed album as an extraordinary gift from Carl Jackson.
For Jimmy Webb, the recording preserved something that could never be recreated: the sound of a longtime friend singing a beloved song one more time.
Glen Campbell died on August 8, 2017, at age 81, less than two months after Adiós was released.
Today, the album stands as the final studio chapter of Glen Campbell’s career. But behind the music are the quieter memories of people who loved Glen Campbell: Carl Jackson patiently helping with the words, Ashley Campbell remembering the laughter, and Jimmy Webb hearing an old favorite finally recorded.
For years, “Adiós” had been a song two friends played when they were together.
In 2017, the rest of the world finally got to hear Glen Campbell sing it.