Wagoner on a Wednesday - Porter on David Letterman

Nashville Tidbits with Beverly Keel

Marty Stuart

Jim Lauderdale

Emmylou Harris

From Tennessean music writer Peter Cooper:
With Marty Stuart's Sparkle & Twang exhibit as the sparkling, twanging background, Emmylou Harris, Buddy Miller, Jim Lauderdale, Rodney Crowell, Mike Farris and other artists paid tribute to Porter Wagoner on Wednesday night at the Tennessee State Museum.

"We've been so inspired by him for so long," said Emmylou, who sang three Porter songs with Buddy before inviting Jim up for a resplendent version of "Satisfied Mind."

The event was a kickoff to the Americana Music Conference and a chance for Porter's friends, family and fans to remember the Wagonmaster


~Titans QB Vince Young not only gave away candy Halloween night, but he also signed footballs (which he provided) and photos for trick-or-treaters at his Sumner County home.


~Jessica Simpson will be in town next week to attend the BMI and CMA Awards.



Read Beverly Keel's column and read more of these stories PLUS read about Toby Keith, Carrie Underwood, Koinonia reunion and more.

Visit the Porter Wagoner Page in the Tennessean

Porter is now walking in the "green, green grass of home." So long old friend, we'll miss you.



Visit Porter's Page in the Tennessean newspaper.

The Wagonmaster Has Left the Building

For 50 years, Porter Wagoner starred on the Grand Ole Opry, wearing otherworldly suits and singing about salt-of-the-earth concerns.

The Country Music Hall of Famer died at age 80 tonight, as dignitaries and stars gathered at the Country Music Hall of Fame to induct its three newest members. Mr. Wagoner was admitted to the hospital on Monday, Oct. 15 and had been under doctors’ care since then. Mr. Wagoner was released to hospice care on Friday, days after the announcement of a lung cancer diagnosis.

Known as “The Thin Man From West Plains,” Mr. Wagoner’s contributions to country music are manifold and consequential. Marty Stuart, who produced this year’s much-heralded comeback album Wagonmaster, calls him “an American master and a cornerstone of our music.”

A hit-maker for more than a quarter-century, he was a Country Music Hall of Famer and a three-time Grammy winner whose best-loved singles included “A Satisfied Mind,” “Misery Loves Company” and “Green, Green Grass of Home.”



His syndicated television show allowed him to serve as an ambassador for the genre, and it proved invaluable in spreading the fame of Wagoner’s hand-picked “girl singer,” Dolly Parton, with whom he had hit duets including “Just Someone I Used To Know” and “Making Plans."

In the studio, he was an innovator who tweaked traditional country arrangements and found fresh sounds in a genre that often tugs against change.

He was among the pioneers of the country “concept album,” releasing song-sets such as “What Ain’t To Be Just Might Happen” and “The Cold, Hard Facts of Life” that offered unified themes. As a performer and producer, he sought the beauty of harmony and the reality of dissonance.

He was a tenacious song-scavenger, listening to outside material even during down-time at the Opry in this new millennium, hoping to find hit songs and new ideas. And in the wake of Minnie Pearl’s 1996 death, Mr. Wagoner and Jimmy Dickens became the public faces of the Grand Ole Opry.



Oh, yes, and there were the suits. Mr. Wagoner wasn’t the first to wear a rhinestone suit on the Opry — Dickens has that designation — but he was certainly a famed and ardent devotee of the power of garb.

Backstage in his dressing room, the suits were so heavy that they were hard to hoist with one hand. They must have been hot, and burdensome to wear. But under the lights, on the grand stage, they sparkled and dazzled. Opry patrons would always applaud at the first sight of Wagoner, cheering him as a vision and as a visionary as he welcomed them to the show, professed his pleasure to be there and told a joke or two.

Clothes didn’t make the man, but they accentuated him, and Mr. Wagoner’s stage outfits could be read like rhinestone novels, with glittering wagon wheels and other symbols that told stories of the songs and life of this farmer’s son from Missouri.

Read the entire story of this great entertainer in the Tennessean.
By PETER COOPER
Staff Writer
Published: Monday, 10/29/07

Porter Wagoner Has Lung Cancer

Country Music Hall of Famer Porter Wagoner has been diagnosed with lung cancer, says a statement issued by the publicity firm that represents the Grand Ole Opry.



On Friday, Wagoner’s former duet partner Dolly Parton sent a letter to Grand Ole Opry Vice President and General Manager Pete Fisher. The letter said she had visited Wagoner that day and that he was “in good spirits… weak and not feeling great, but feeling much better he said. He wanted to thank everybody for their thoughts and prayers. He’s looking forward to getting better and getting back to the Grand Ole Opry. I promised him I’d sing with him his first night back!”

Read the full article in the Tennessean newspaper.