|
After traveling extensively throughout the United States, Eddie then
headed back to Oakland, California where he resided with his brother Sid
Campbell for several years (
www.SidCampbell.net). Sid, being one of the first Americans to open a commercial Okinawan
shorin-ryu karate schools in the U.S., taught him karate and he earned his
4th degree black belt rank and certified instructors credentials. This was another creative time
in his life where ink flowed and his a new personal style of music emerged.
From this period such songs as Stepped on Promises & Broken
Dreams, Let's
Not Think About Tomorrow, Back
In My Younger Days, Concrete
Cowboy, The Youth of Today, While You're Cruising, I'm Losing, Everybody Has a Reason To Live, Don't Tease Me If You Can't Please Me, Spoke In Your Wheel, Women! Women! Women!, We're Both Going To Heaven emerged. While living in
Oakland, he also attended welding school to learn a trade while playing gigs
in local night clubs, country and western establishments at night to earn a
living. He also sought gainful employment by worked briefly in a steel
foundry in Berkeley, California. Soon thereafter, restless fever set in and
Eddie sensed a need to get back in the wind. This time, Eddie set out to Alaska to work
as a full-time welder and part-time singer on the "Pipeline". For three years he
endured the rugged hardships of "North to Alaska" life while
singing to and for the workers. he wrote numerous songs about his experiences there that are featured in
several of his albums. Songs like When It's 2 A.M. in Seattle, Alcan Highway Blues, Chugach Mountain Home, My Back To the Wind, Take It On Down the Street were all penned during this adventuresome albeit
chilling era. After returning to
the "Lower
48" he relocated to Yuma, Arizona to take in the
warm southwestern sun and thaw out from the four years of working on the Alaskan pipeline, he was an immediate success in the city of Yuma and
the surrounding towns where he played in clubs, dinner houses and honky tonks. This again, proved to be an invaluable
experience for expanding his song
portfolio while enhancing his performing repertoire. Writing about border
towns, common folk, and life that few people know outside of mainstream
society, Eddie was essentially writing and singing about the life he was
living at the time. This is perhaps the defining characteristic that
trademarks his style as a country and western singer. He has walked the walk
and, in talking the talk (musically of course) he sings with conviction and sincerity that
is true to the way he feels when he performs live. Much in the vein of Jimmie
Rodgers, Hank Williams and Woodie Gunthrie, Eddie Campbell has lived the life
that he expresses in the lyrics and tunes of his songs. |
|
This was the first time in his life that he felt truly on his own and had
the freedom to travel and express himself creatively. He was not content just to live a life as a singer or performer that had a few hours of glory on stage and then return to a
mundane life until the next gig came along. Eddie wanted to pen his own
lyrics and experience the words while developing his own unique style and
sound. Hoboing railroad trains, stopping along the way to work various jobsand in some
cases donating blood to survivegave him a fresh perspective about singing
and songwriting process that few
creative songsmiths ever experience. From these trials and tribulations of
being on the roads and rails Eddie wrote a portfolio of songs that have
defined his style during these uncertain times. These original works
include: Rambling
Blues, Empty
Bottle on the Shelf, Good
Morning, Mr. Miller, Jug
of Red , Say
Mister, I Need a Quarter, Freight
Train Pop, Catching
Out, A
Longing To Be Free, My
Life Has No Meaning, Destination
Anywhere, The
Gray Ghost, The
Railroad Bulls of Cheyenne, Broke,
Busted and Disgusted, Nobody Cares If You Live or Die, Great Northern Railway, Rails
Across the Rockies and others. |