Porter Wagoner


Porter Wayne Wagoner was an American country music singer known for his flashy Nudie and Manuel suits and blond pompadour.
In 1967, he introduced singer Dolly Parton on his television show, The Porter Wagoner Show. She became part of a well-known vocal duo with him from the late 1960s to the early 1970s.
Known as Mr. Grand Ole Opry, Wagoner charted 81 singles from 1954 to 1983. He was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2002.

Biography

Early life and career

Wagoner was born in West Plains, Missouri, United States, the fifth and last child, and second son, of Bertha May and Charles E. Wagoner, a farmer. His first band, the Blue Ridge Boys, performed on radio station KWPM-AM from a butcher shop in his native West Plains, where Wagoner cut meat. In 1951, he was hired by Si Siman as a performer on KWTO in Springfield, Missouri. This led to a contract with RCA Victor.
With lagging sales, Wagoner and his trio played schoolhouses for the gate proceeds; but in 1953, his song "Trademark" became a hit for Carl Smith, followed by a few hits of his own for RCA Victor. Starting in 1955, he was a featured performer on ABC-TV's Ozark Jubilee in Springfield. He often appeared on the show as part of the Porter Wagoner Trio with Don Warden and Speedy Haworth. Warden, on steel guitar, became Wagoner's long-time business manager. In 1957, Wagoner and Warden moved to Nashville, Tennessee, joining the Grand Ole Opry.

Chart success

Wagoner's 81 charted records include "A Satisfied Mind", "Misery Loves Company", "I've Enjoyed as Much of This as I Can Stand", "Sorrow on the Rocks", "Green, Green Grass of Home", "Skid Row Joe", "The Cold Hard Facts of Life", and "The Carroll County Accident".
Among his hit duets with Dolly Parton were a remake of Tom Paxton's "The Last Thing on My Mind", "We'll Get Ahead Someday", "Just Someone I Used to Know", "Daddy Was An Old Time Preacher Man", "Better Move It on Home", "The Right Combination", "Please Don't Stop Loving Me", and "Making Plans". He also won three Grammy Awards for gospel recordings.

Television series

His syndicated television program, The Porter Wagoner Show, aired from 1960 to 1981, with 686 30-minute episodes taped, the first 104 in black-and-white and the remainder in color. At its peak, his show was featured in over 100 markets, with an average viewership over three million. Reruns of the program air on the rural cable network RFD-TV and its sister channel in the UK Rural TV.The shows usually featured opening performances by Wagoner with performances by Norma Jean, or later Dolly Parton, and comedic interludes by Speck Rhodes. During Parton's tenure, Wagoner and she usually sang a duet. Each episode also featured a guest who would usually perform one or two songs. A spiritual or gospel performance was almost always featured toward the end of the show, generally performed by either Wagoner, Parton, or the show's guest star, or occasionally the entire cast. After Parton left the show, Porter began taping the show at Opryland USA in various locations around the park.
The shows had a friendly, informal feel, with Wagoner trading jokes with band members and exchanging banter with Dolly Parton and Don Howser. In 1974, Parton's song "I Will Always Love You", written about her professional break from Wagoner, went to number one on the country music chart.
Wagoner's stage alter ego was Skid Row Joe. The cast included:

Later work

Wagoner brought James Brown to the Grand Ole Opry, produced a rhythm and blues album for Joe Simon, and appeared in the Clint Eastwood film Honkytonk Man. During the mid 1980s, Wagoner formed an all-girl group, the Right Combination, named after one of his hit records with Parton, and toured with them for several years. He also hosted Opry Backstage during the 1990s on The Nashville Network. Though Parton's departure was difficult for both, the two reconciled in the late 1980s and appeared together a number of times in the following years. Parton inducted Wagoner into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2002.
Wagoner made a guest appearance on the HBO comedy series Da Ali G Show in 2004, its second season, interviewed by Borat Sagdiyev.
Wagoner was honored on August 12, 2007, his 80th birthday, at the Grand Ole Opry for his 50 years of membership. It was telecast on GAC's Grand Ole Opry Live that day, with artists including Parton, Marty Stuart, and Patty Loveless. Grand Ole Opry Live host Nan Kelley was part of the birthday celebration.
On June 5, 2007, Wagoner released his final album, called Wagonmaster. Produced by Stuart for the Anti- label, the album received the best reviews of Wagoner's career and briefly appeared on the country chart. A music video was also produced of one of the tracks, a cover of Johnny Cash's "Committed to Parkview". He toured during the summer of 2007 to promote the album, including a late-July appearance on Late Show with David Letterman. One of these performances was to open for the rock group the White Stripes at a sold-out concert at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

Personal life and death

Wagoner was married twice, to Velma Johnson for less than a year in 1943 and to Ruth Olive Williams from 1946 to 1986, though they separated 20 years before the divorce. He fathered three children, Richard, Denise, and Debra.
Wagoner, a heavy smoker, died from lung cancer in Nashville on October 28, 2007, with his family and Dolly Parton at his side. His funeral was held November 1, 2007, at the Grand Ole Opry House. He is buried at Woodlawn Memorial Park in Nashville.

Legacy

Dolly Parton performed a concert at her theme park Dollywood in Wagoner's memory after his death.
Porter Wagoner Boulevard, a road in his native West Plains, Missouri, is named in his honor.
In 2013, the television show Drunk History presented a brief summary of Wagoner's relationship with Parton.
Dan Cooper at AllMusic noted, "As for his music, after signing with RCA in 1952, he produced a wealth of superb hard country, and just as much of the most wretchedly oversentimentalized tripe you'll ever want to hear. The latter, of course, is half the reason he's loved".

Discography

Studio albums