Glen Campbell to visit NZ this month 

Source: ONE News/LawrieMGlen Campbell

The Rhinestone Cowboy, Glen Campbell himself, will return to New Zealand later this month for three shows.

Now sobered up and going on tours, he says he has only one thing left to achieve - a place in Heaven.

The former hard-drinking, drug-taking Country Music Hall of Fame inductee says his life has changed in the past six or seven years since he discovered God.

"It's really been cool. We go to a congregation here, and it's fun," Campbell says from his Malibu, California, home, punctuating his conversation with God-bless-yous, golfing references and anger at the state of world politics.

"We've got a scholar there, it's just incredible, he taught me more about how the world was going and what religion really was, and it's just awesome.
  
"I'll tell you, there's some strange people out there. In this day in time, there's a lot of strange people. Some of them who want to rule the earth, some want to do something else."

While proudly declaring he's a Republican, Campbell admits he doesn't pay a lot of attention to politics, focusing instead on his family and golf game.

An average day for Campbell involves playing golf and playing golf, and then I take a nap.

He used to play golf with rocker Alice Cooper every day when he lived in Phoenix, Arizona, but hasn't seen "Coop" much in recent times.

"He's a born-again Christian, he's off to church every Sunday, he does Bible study."
Campbell has a golfing nickname for his wife, Kim, too.

"My wife's a scratch shopper. You know what a scratch golfer is? A scratch golfer is a guy that shoots par or better, and that's what I call her. She's my scratch wife."

His wife will join him on tour, including three upcoming shows in New Zealand - and shop while he plays, he says.

The pair have visited New Zealand about four times, and Campbell says it's just like being at home.

"I enjoy it. It's like going back a little bit, you know ...It's like going home coz it's laidback. Nobody's hustling here and hustling there, I love it over there."

After New Zealand, it's onto to Australia for nine shows and an American tour early March, with both a greatest hits album and an upcoming new album to promote - on the back of more than 60 albums he's released since 1962.

Despite past hits with Elvis Presley, The Monkees, Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin, Campbell says he'd love to work with more modern musicians like Taylor Swift and Miley Cyrus - both of whom have country roots.

"For sure, I'd play with them. I'd love it. It's good. I think it's getting back to more like the 70s, it is out here anyway.

"A lot of the acts, and some of the older acts, like myself, I have to turn them down sometimes, not a lot.

"It's fun out there, I still enjoy playing, I still enjoy singing, and my wife likes to go all over the world and shop. She's a scratch shopper."

Glen Campbell plays three shows in New Zealand this month:
- ASB Theatre, Auckland, November 20
- Energy Events Centre, Rotorua, November 21
- Michael Fowler Centre, Wellington, November 22