Glen Glenn

Glen Glenn never attained the widespread renown of fellow West Coast rockabilly trailblazers Eddie Cochran and Ricky Nelson, yet his abilities surpassed the breaks he received in the industry; his standout recordings achieved iconic status with rockabilly devotees and prompted stage renditions by roots-rock figures including Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty, and Bob Dylan.

Born Orin Glenn Troutman in Joplin, Missouri, on October 24, 1934, he grew up immersed in the traditional country music of the South and counted Porter Wagoner as a relative by marriage. After the family moved to San Dimas, California, in 1948, his passion for country classics and Western swing only intensified. At age seventeen he purchased a guitar and began playing alongside Gary Lambert, a skilled guitarist who attended the same high school and had also embraced the R&B broadcasts flooding California. The pair formed the Missouri Mountain Boys, a country duo that worked the Los Angeles bar circuit; Troutman left high school to pursue music full time.

The duo secured a recurring appearance on a local country-music television program, where they befriended the stylistically distinctive Eddie Cochran. Lambert recorded demonstration tracks with Cochran, and Troutman absorbed Cochran’s fusion of country twang with R&B rhythm. Troutman soon introduced R&B and up-tempo country numbers into their performances, shortened his professional name to Glen Trout, and began steady touring while cutting demonstration recordings for multiple labels, usually with Lambert but sometimes alone. In late 1957 he signed with ERA Records in Los Angeles; January 1958 brought the release of his debut single, the exceptional “Everybody’s Rockin’” backed by “I’m Glad My Baby’s Gone.” ERA unilaterally assigned him the stage name Glen Glenn, and shortly afterward he received his draft notice; Lambert was drafted around the same period.

Although ERA continued issuing Glenn’s material, lack of promotion limited its impact. Collectors later hailed tracks such as “Blue Jeans and a Boy’s Shirt,” “One Cup of Coffee,” and “Laurie Ann” as classics, yet outside California the records drew scant attention. Following their 1960 discharge from the Army, Glenn and Lambert attempted to resume their careers, but rockabilly had lost favor; ERA transferred Glenn to its Dore subsidiary and recast him as a polished pop vocalist. The resulting sides sold modestly at best, prompting Glenn to step away from music as a full-time pursuit while he and Lambert kept occasional weekend performances. A country recording the pair made in 1961 appeared belatedly in 1964. A British compilation of Glenn’s scarce rockabilly tracks surfaced in 1977, after which he developed a devoted following in the United Kingdom; in 1984 he and Lambert recorded a new album for Ace. Glenn became a steady presence on the California club circuit and mounted periodic European tours. He died on March 18, 2022, at the age of 87.