Country Music Star No.1

AMG Review of Country Music Star No.1

Greg Adams
All Music Guide

Glen Campbell recorded for a number of small independent labels in the early days of his career, and when he made it big with Capitol Records in the '60s, many of these nascent recordings resurfaced on budget records. Starday's Country Music Star No. 1 is one such package, designed to cash in on Campbell's latter-day popularity with ten recordings from an unidentified source. Judging from the production and material, the recordings most likely were made in the early '60s, possibly as songwriting demos. All of the songs were written by the team of Fred Horton (brother of country star Johnny Horton) and occasional recording artist Wes Bryan. "Why Did You Do Me This Way" is reminiscent of the Everly Brothers, and "Groovy Country" is a ock & roll instrumental, but most of the other songs are in a country-pop style with professional-sounding production values. Since Campbell's early work has not been compiled and reissued, albums such as Country Music Star No. 1 are useful documents of his formative years.