If his name doesn't ring a bell for the average country fan today, that's understandable, as Tompall has been out of the spotlight�and pretty much the entire music world�for many years. But the influence of this soulful, husky-voiced singer, businessman, and musical visionary was significant. Considering how many aspects of the music business he was involved with during his career, it's a wonder he's not better known.

For starters, Tompall was a member of acclaimed vocal group the Glaser Brothers, who had a string of chart hits in the 1960s. He was also a studio owner and independent publisher (his big win here being the John Hartford song "Gentle on My Mind"); a solo artist; and, perhaps most notably of all, a key member of the 1970s "outlaw" country community, which culminated in the 1976 compilation album Wanted! The Outlaws. Featuring Glaser alongside Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, and Jessi Colter, that album collected a few of each artist's key songs and became country's first-ever million-selling album.

Born and raised in Spalding, Nebraska, Tompall and his brothers Chuck and Jim sang together as kids, and they first earned acclaim backing up cowboy singer Marty Robbins, who encouraged them to move to Nashville. They eventually began recording on their own as the Glaser Brothers, having hits with such folk-flavored country songs as "Gone Girl" (written by "Cowboy" Jack Clement, who also passed away just last week), "Through the Eyes of Love," "California Girl (and the Tennessee Square)," and the impossibly catchy "Rings." The latter was their highest-charting song, peaking at No. 7 in 1971.

Tompall also wrote some well-known songs (such as "The Streets of Baltimore" with Harlan Howard) and, starting in the 1970s, recorded as a solo artist. His 1976 album The Great Tompall And His Outlaw Band may have sported a somewhat inflated-sounding title, but the music inside was groundbreaking, as it mixed R&B, rock, and blues sounds (two of the bandmembers came from Bobby "Blue" Bland's band) alongside country and western swing influences and wound up stretching the genre in new directions. - more.

Tompall Glaser CDs, DVDs and MP3s Tompall Glaser T-shirts and Posters Share this article

...end