When the 87th Annual Academy Award nominations were announced on January 15, fans of legendary entertainer Glen Campbell no doubt rejoiced at his first-ever Academy Award nomination. Campbell and co-writer Julian Raymond received a Best Original Song nod for “I’m Not Gonna Miss You,” the singer-songwriter’s touching farewell from the soundtrack of the documentary film I'll Be Me. It followed news of two Grammy nominations for the song. Campbell, of course, is in the midst of a valiant and very public battle with Alzheimer’s. Though the disease has reportedly robbed him of ability to communicate verbally, if not the ability to play his guitar, the brave musician has left behind one of the most formidable legacies in pop and country – not to mention 21 Top 40 hits, 27 Country Top 10 singles, six Top 20 albums, and nine No. 1 Country albums in the U.S. alone. One of Campbell’s greatest successes is being celebrated by the Capitol Nashville label this spring with the March 31 release of Rhinestone Cowboy: 40th Anniversary Edition. It will arrive just weeks before Campbell’s 79th birthday on April 22. The expanded edition will be available on CD and as a digital download, while the remastered original LP will be issued on vinyl, as well.

The original 1975 Rhinestone Cowboy album followed two collaborative LPs for Campbell. Reunion reteamed him with Jimmy Webb, the composer-lyricist of many of his most enduring hits; Ernie Sings and Glen Picks found him happily playing sideman to Tennessee Ernie Ford. Named for Larry Weiss’ song with which the artist immediately identified a kinship, Rhinestone Cowboy also featured songs by Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil (“We’re Over”), Randy Newman (“Marie”), Smokey Robinson and Ronald White (Temptations oldie “My Girl”) and the album’s producers, Dennis Lambert and Brian Potter. Veterans of artists as diverse as The Grass Roots and The Four Tops, Lambert and Potter supplied four tracks to the LP including another seemingly tailor-made song with a lyric close to Campbell, “Country Boy (You Got Your Feet in L.A.).”

Within a month of its July 1975 release, Rhinestone Cowboy reached No. 1 on the Billboard Country chart, Campbell’s first album to reach that peak since 1969’s Galveston. It was his eighth album to reach that summit. The LP also made the Top 20 of the Billboard 200. Twice Grammy-nominated leadoff single “Rhinestone Cowboy” went No. 1 Pop, Country and Easy Listening, and follow-up single ”Country Boy” did almost as well, hitting No. 3 Country, No. 11 Pop and No. 1 Easy. Not that he’d ever left, but Glen Campbell was back.

The 40th anniversary reissue of Rhinestone Cowboy adds five bonus tracks including one previously unreleased song, “Quits,” recorded by Campbell in March 1975 during the album’s studio sessions; the North American CD and digital debut of “Record Collector’s Dream” (the B-side of “Country Boy”); the worldwide CD and digital debut of “Coming Home” (a studio version previously released only in Japan as a 1975 single); and remixes of “Country Boy (You Got Your Feet In LA)” and “Rhinestone Cowboy” (both previously released on Campbell’s 2008 Greatest Hits collection).

Though Glen Campbell retired from performing in 2013 after his well-received and often emotional farewell tour, his music remains as vibrant and stirring as ever. This remastered reissue of Rhinestone Cowboy arrives from Capitol Nashville/UMe on March 31 on CD, DD and LP.  It can be pre-ordered below!

Glen Campbell, Rhinestone Cowboy: 40th Anniversary Edition (Capitol SW 11430, 1975 – reissued Capitol Nashville/UMe, 2015) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

1. Country Boy (You Got Your Feet in L.A.)
2. Comeback
3. Count on Me
4. I Miss You Tonight
5. My Girl
6. Rhinestone Cowboy
7. I’d Build a Bridge
8. Pencils For Sale
9. Marie
10. We’re Over
11. Record Collector’s Dream (from Capitol single 4155, 1975)
12. Coming Home (Studio Version (previously released as a single in Japan, 1975)
13. Quits (previously unreleased outtake)
14. Country Boy (You Got Your Feet In L.A.) (Remix) (from Greatest Hits, Capitol 509992 68931 29, 2008)
15. Rhinestone Cowboy (Remix) (from Greatest Hits, Capitol 509992 69831 29, 2008)