Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Country Music Legend Porter Wagoner dies at 80

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Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 10-28-2007, 11:56 PM:

Some of my earliest memories of TV involved watching the Porter Wagoner show. We tuned-in weekly. I remember how his rhinestone suits with the wagon wheels on them glistened in the lights, and flared camera tubes. He was a member of the Grand Ole Opry for 50 years, and had just restarted his recording career with an obscure L.A. label.

Porter Wagoner dies at 80 - (link to full story)

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Porter Wagoner, the rhinestone-clad Grand Ole Opry star who helped launch the career of Dolly Parton by hiring her as his duet partner, died Sunday. He was 80.

Wagoner, who had survived an abdominal aneurysm in 2006, was hospitalized again this month and his publicist disclosed he had lung cancer. He died at 8:25 p.m. CDT in a Nashville hospice, a spokeswoman for the Grand Ole Opry said.

In May 2007 he celebrated his 50th year in the Opry. After years without a recording contract, he also signed with ANTI- records, an eclectic Los Angeles label best known for alt-rock acts like Tom Waits, Nick Cave and Neko Case.

The CD "Wagonmaster," produced with Marty Stuart, was released in June 2007 and earned Wagoner some of the best reviews of his career. Over the summer, he also was the opening act for the influential rock duo White Stripes at a sold-out show at New York's Madison Square Garden.

The West Plains, Missouri-born Wagoner signed with RCA Records in 1955 and joined the Opry in 1957. His showmanship, rhinestone suits and pompadoured hair made him famous, with his own syndicated TV show, "The Porter Wagoner Show," for 21 years beginning in 1960. It was one of the first syndicated shows to come out of Nashville, and it set a pattern for many others.

Among his hits, many of which he wrote or co-wrote, were "Carroll County Accident," "A Satisfied Mind," "Company's Comin'," "Skid Row Joe," "Misery Loves Company" and "Green Green Grass of Home."

In 2002, Wagoner was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame.

To many music fans, though, he was best known as the man who boosted Parton's career. He had hired the 21-year-old singer as his duet partner in 1967, when she was just beginning to gain notice through songs such as "Dumb Blonde."

The two quit singing duets in 1974 and she went on to wide stardom with pop hits and movies such as "9 to 5," whose theme song was also a hit for her.

Wagoner started in radio, then became a regular on the "Ozark Jubilee," one of the first televised national country music shows.

After his New York show in 2007, tears came to his eyes as he recalled the reaction.

"The young people I met backstage, some of them were 20 years old. They wanted to get my autograph and tell me they really liked me. If only they knew how that made me feel, like a new breath of fresh air. To have new fans now is a tremendous thing."

Posted by Hillary Charles (Member # 769) on 10-29-2007, 05:28 AM:

Tim, I remember his show, too! When I would see it was when the Lancaster station played it very early in the morning. I couldn't believe the color! They must have used those old TK-41 cameras. In addition to his flashy suits, I remember his otherworldly pompadour.

Posted by Louis Bornwasser (Member # 3063) on 10-29-2007, 10:42 AM:

Porter was syndicated out of WLAC, Nashville. Louis