“I’m not sure I chose country music, in a way it kind of chose me,” explains Glen Templeton, one of Country Music’s most promising up and coming stars. “I probably had ten or eleven jobs from the time I got out of high school until the time I finally moved to Nashville and I think I was probably fired ten or eleven times too!” says Templeton with his trademark mischievous grin.
“I’d show up for work bleeding through the eyes from being out singing and playing music the night before and pretty soon the boss man would have enough and I’d be fired. The thing is, the more jobs you lose, the less and less professional that next job becomes.
One day you’re working at the Chevrolet garage or running heavy equipment and the next thing you know you’re digging ditches by hand with a shovel. That’s why I say I think country music kind of chose me.
It just kept pulling on me, no matter what the cost was at the time.” Today, GT, as his friends refer to him, wraps his hands around the neck of a guitar instead of a shovel. It’s a career change that seems to be working out – now the jobs are becoming more and more professional.
In 2008 GT was hand picked by Conway Twitty’s daughters to portray Conway in the touring musical tribute to their father. They first heard about Glen through Joni Twitty’s husband, John Wesley Ryles.
Ryles, a noted studio background vocalist, had worked with Glen on demo projects. “With more than 20,000 hopefuls auditioning for the part, Joni Twitty finally found a powerful voice capable of conveying many of the same qualities Conway had.
” “One of he biggest thrills of my life was performing the inaugural show of the musical,” explains Templeton. We were still waiting for my wardrobe to be finished for the tour and I actually got to wear some of Conway’s old suits.
I wore these custom wigs they made for me out in LA. I was singing his songs and hearing people react to them the way they must have reacted to him. In a way, it was like getting a chance to literally walk in the shoes of one of my musical heroes.
” Glen has shared the stage with a number of other country music artists as well. In his early Nashville days, he worked the clubs down on lower Broadway. At the world famous Tootsie’s, it wasn’t uncommon for an “A List” star to hop up on stage to do a few songs with Glen and the band.
After earning a reputation as one of the best singer-songwriters to play the shotgun bars and honkytonks in Nashville, Glen was recruited by Mike Murphy, owner of Cowboy’s Dancehall clubs in Texas.
He toured the circuit playing to several thousand people each weekend for his own shows and was the opening act for a number of top names in country music. Never forgetting his old school country roots, Glen cites the shows he performed on tour with George Jones in early 2009 as some of his favorites.
He has also appeared on CMT, The Grand Ole Opry, The Ryman, and a long list of regional performance venues. True to his nature, Glen doesn’t lose sight of what’s important in life: “I’ve played a lot of places, but I’d have to say some of the most personally rewarding are when I go back home to Alabama and play for hometown people that really care about me and want to see me do well.
” Securing a foothold as a performing artist on the country music stage in 2010, Templeton crisscrossed the country playing events such as The ACM’s All-Star Jam, Country Jam USA, Cheyenne Frontier Days and numerous state fairs and festivals to perfect his rollicking stage show.
Templeton signed with Nashville’s Black River Entertainment in July 2011 and his upcoming, self-titled, release (produced by the venerable Mark Lambert) features 10 songs including a duet with the celebrated Leon Russell.
From producers, studio musicians and music industry vets to country radio and its listeners, Glen Templeton has set out to impress and inspire. No bells, no whistles–just straight down the pipe–Glen is genuine in his performance; his studio recordings translate as undeniably and absolute as his live stage show.
Country music may have chosen Glen Templeton, but it won’t be long before country music fans all over the country are choosing Glen Templeton’s music.
