Porter Wagoner, Country-music legend, passes away at 80
Posted: Mon Oct 29, 2007 9:26 am
Country music's Wagoner dies at 80
When he thought he had the right audience, Porter Wagoner liked to reach into the inner breast pocket of his electric-blue sport coat and remove a slender electronic device. "iPod!" he exclaimed. "One thousand songs! My entire career is on here."
Like everything else Wagoner did in public, it was a beautiful piece of showmanship. It surprised people who were inclined to think of him as a spangle-wearing singer of old-fashioned country songs such as Company's Comin', reminding them that he was a bit of a technology geek — a country-music television pioneer and forward-thinking producer. It also let them know that he was still keeping up.
Wagoner, who died Sunday night in a Nashville hospice at age 80 from lung cancer, had a career that didn't fit into any kind of container.
Wagoner's working life began in a butcher's shop in West Plains, Mo., where he occasionally stopped to sing for a local radio show. He made his earliest records, including his first No. 1, A Satisfied Mind (1955), at a radio station in nearby Springfield, but he eventually moved to Nashville.
In 1957, he joined the cast of the Grand Ole Opry and celebrated his 50th anniversary with the show this spring. He eventually became the radio show's public face.
He was best known, perhaps, for his flashy, custom-made stage suits that cost thousands of dollars. He sometimes joked that the suits forced him to stay thin, saying he couldn't afford to replace them.
In 1960, he launched TV's syndicated Porter Wagoner Show, on a budget of less than $1,000 an episode. It predated Hee Haw and CMT. At its peak, it aired in more than 100 markets, making it the most important country-music TV property of its time.
Wagoner introduced a young Dolly Parton in 1967. They recorded many duets together, including The Last Thing on My Mind and Just Someone I Used to Know. Wagoner produced some of Parton's early solo hits (1975's The Seeker). The partnership ended acrimoniously in 1974, but Parton wrote I Will Always Love You for him as she left.
More than anything, Wagoner loved a song that told a story. He favored sentimental recitations and macabre tales of murder and insanity, like the cult favorite The Rubber Room. Between 1954 and 1980, he had 20 top 10 country hits, including Green, Green Grass of Home, The Carroll County Accident and The Cold Hard Facts of Life. He won Grammys for three gospel albums with the Blackwood Brothers. In 2002, he became a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame.
Wagoner this year recorded a final album, Wagonmaster. "It's the kind of country that defined what real and true, pure, authentic country music is," says Marty Stuart, who produced Wagonmaster. "It's the remnant of that old cloth that so little is left of, from the Hank Williams era. It's just a tiny remnant of that. But, man, is it a good one."
When he thought he had the right audience, Porter Wagoner liked to reach into the inner breast pocket of his electric-blue sport coat and remove a slender electronic device. "iPod!" he exclaimed. "One thousand songs! My entire career is on here."
Like everything else Wagoner did in public, it was a beautiful piece of showmanship. It surprised people who were inclined to think of him as a spangle-wearing singer of old-fashioned country songs such as Company's Comin', reminding them that he was a bit of a technology geek — a country-music television pioneer and forward-thinking producer. It also let them know that he was still keeping up.
Wagoner, who died Sunday night in a Nashville hospice at age 80 from lung cancer, had a career that didn't fit into any kind of container.
Wagoner's working life began in a butcher's shop in West Plains, Mo., where he occasionally stopped to sing for a local radio show. He made his earliest records, including his first No. 1, A Satisfied Mind (1955), at a radio station in nearby Springfield, but he eventually moved to Nashville.
In 1957, he joined the cast of the Grand Ole Opry and celebrated his 50th anniversary with the show this spring. He eventually became the radio show's public face.
He was best known, perhaps, for his flashy, custom-made stage suits that cost thousands of dollars. He sometimes joked that the suits forced him to stay thin, saying he couldn't afford to replace them.
In 1960, he launched TV's syndicated Porter Wagoner Show, on a budget of less than $1,000 an episode. It predated Hee Haw and CMT. At its peak, it aired in more than 100 markets, making it the most important country-music TV property of its time.
Wagoner introduced a young Dolly Parton in 1967. They recorded many duets together, including The Last Thing on My Mind and Just Someone I Used to Know. Wagoner produced some of Parton's early solo hits (1975's The Seeker). The partnership ended acrimoniously in 1974, but Parton wrote I Will Always Love You for him as she left.
More than anything, Wagoner loved a song that told a story. He favored sentimental recitations and macabre tales of murder and insanity, like the cult favorite The Rubber Room. Between 1954 and 1980, he had 20 top 10 country hits, including Green, Green Grass of Home, The Carroll County Accident and The Cold Hard Facts of Life. He won Grammys for three gospel albums with the Blackwood Brothers. In 2002, he became a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame.
Wagoner this year recorded a final album, Wagonmaster. "It's the kind of country that defined what real and true, pure, authentic country music is," says Marty Stuart, who produced Wagonmaster. "It's the remnant of that old cloth that so little is left of, from the Hank Williams era. It's just a tiny remnant of that. But, man, is it a good one."
RIP