Country star Ashley Campbell remembers her legendary father Glen as a “forever cool” man who struggled with the separation from his family when he went on tour.
Singer Ashley (39), who tours Ireland this month with shows including the Sligo Live Festival, played banjo in her dad Glen Campbell’s band during his final world tours until his retirement in 2012 due to Alzheimer’s.
“I think any melancholy that my dad had, that I ever witnessed, especially growing up, was just because he didn’t like being away from home and his family,” Ashley says. “Most of the time he couldn’t take us with him and I think that made him sad.”
Glen Campbell died in August 2017 and Ashley clearly still feels the pain of his loss.
Ashley Campbell says time hasn’t healed the loss of her dad Glen Campbell
Asked if it has got easier with the passing of time, she says: “That’s a difficult question to answer because if you live with something long enough you get used to the feeling, but I don’t know if it gets easier.
“It’s more like time dulling than time healing, but you learn to process it and think about it in different ways.”
But you are a lucky to have had all those close working years with Glen as well as being his daughter, you got to have that incredible connection.
“Yeah, absolutely, it was a tremendous privilege to get to have that time with him on stage and off,” Ashley acknowledges.
She feels the love for her father in Ireland whenever she tours the country.
Ashley with her dad Glen Campbell
“We played The Ruby Sessions (Dublin) on Tuesday and this young guy in his late 20s came up to me and said my dad was his hero and he was just so excited to hear me play,” she says.
“It’s usually an older crowd who say ‘I loved your father’, so it was very cool to see a guy in his 20s saying your father was the sh*t.
“Ireland has such a beautiful, natural connection with country music because country music comes from folk music and folk music came from Irish immigrants coming to the States. It’s all so connected at the roots.”
Ashley Campbell is now a successful country singer and songwriter
Ashley explains how the banjo made its way into her life while studying acting. “I was in college, I was a theatre major, and they needed someone playing banjo in a play that we were taking to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, so I was the one they went to,” she recalls.
It wasn’t something that you planned and you couldn’t play the banjo at the time? “No, not at all. My life would have been very different if I hadn’t been asked to learn banjo.”
Is that the universe doing something there? “It has to be,” she laughs.
And that’s how you ended up joining your dad’s band and heading out on the journey to where you are today? “Yeah. It’s amazing how it all topples over in dominoes.”
Is it going well for you? “Yeah, I think it is. I’m really loving my life now. I moved to London three years ago with my partner Thor and we just love our life over here.
“We love touring the UK, we love coming to Ireland a couple of times a year. Just being close to Europe living that European lifestyle had been a dream of mine for a long time so I’m happy as a clown.
“I find a great sense of contentment, even when I get a little anxiety, that I’m right on track. You know that thing they say, if you go five years back to yourself and tell yourself where do you want to be at right now, it’s pretty much where I dreamed I’d be, so it’s great.”
Ashley paying tribute to her dad Glen Campbell
And finding a partner who understands the nature of the beast that is a performing artist and being one himself, that works really well I presume?
“Yeah, I feel really lucky that I’m able to work with my partner, that he is such an incredible musician to have in my band and when we do our duo stuff it just works. I don’t know if I’d be able to handle all the travel if I was away from my partner. I think I’d be so lonely.”
Ashley reveals that the couple now have a new dog called Murphy following the shock death of their miniature schnauzer Frodo after a Dublin show two years ago.
“Frodo had a stroke that night. It was very traumatic for us and I still feel him and all those feelings bubble up when I come back to Dublin,” she says.
“I’m always almost on the verge of tears when I’m in Dublin now, but I still love Dublin. Frodo was such a great dog who’d sit on the stage with us while we played. I honestly can say I think of Frodo every single day.”
ASHLEY Campbell plays the Hawk’s Well Theatre on October 31 as part of Sligo Live Festival. Her Irish tour includes Cavan Arts Centre (Oct 23), The Greyhound Bar Kilkee (Oct 25), Raheen House Hotel Clonmel (Oct 28) and The Sugar Club Dublin (Oct 29).