The Essential Glen Campbell Volume One is the first of a series of three albums which cover Glen Campbell's recordings for Capitol Records between 1962 and 1979. The tracks are presented in a non-chronological order. All three Essential CDs contain, next to single and albums tracks, previously unreleased recordings. On The Essential Glen Campbell Volume One, these are "Twelve Blues", "I Walk the Line" (a jazz version of the Johnny Cash hit) and "Blue Sky Shining", from a 1979 recording session led by Nelson Riddle. The Essential albums are also notable for containing some of the songs from The Artistry of Glen Campbell, the only original studio album by Glen Campbell that has not been released on CD or as a digital download. Included here are "Banjo Garden" and "Shenandoah".