Tompall Glaser

• Genre: Outlaw Country
• Hometown: Spaulding

About

Glaser is something of a forgotten visionary in Nashville's fickle, find 'em and forget 'em world. He and his brothers worked as a folk group, backing artists such as Johnny Cash and working on the fringes of fame in Nashville until they got a deal of their own and charted a couple of records in the mid-1960s. Tompall not only had a knack for writing his own hits, he also seemed to see ability in others. His publishing company put Glen Campbell together with John Hartford's "Gentle On My Mind" and had a smash hit, making him a mover and shaker in Music City. He co-wrote the classic hit song "Streets of Baltimore" with Harlan Howard. In the '70s he had numerous hit records and was a leading member of the loose Outlaw Country fraternity, along with Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson. Glaser's rough yet sweet tenor voice and insistence on high-quality songwriting should have made him more than the cult figure he is today.

- Tom Heyman