Wagoner's country music style will be missed
Music Stop
Mike Konvicka

I was watching clips from Porter Wagoner's old television shows on my computer Sunday night.

Just 12 hours later, I learned the Country Music Hall of Famer had passed away.

Wagoner's illness, lung cancer, came after a comeback that saw him recording again and gaining new fans even as he reached his 80s.

In May, he celebrated his 50th year at the Grand Ole Opry. After years without a recording contract, he also signed with Anti Records records, a Los Angeles label known for alternative-rock acts like Tom Waits, Nick Cave and Neko Case.

The 80-year old crooner, always wearing a colorful Nudie suit, sang country songs the way they were supposed to sound during his long career.

I came to appreciate his music over the past five years and found his songs very appealing with heart felt themes.

He was superb songwriter as well.

Unfortunately, most current county music fans don't know who Wagoner was.

He was cordial, sincere and appreciative to his fans. His fellow singers admired his talents.

Wagoner was a household name in the country music from the mid 1950's through the mid 1970s.

Tabbed "The Thin Man from West Plains", he was born in Missouri in 1927.

Wagoner was first a local radio fixture on his way to becoming a pillar of the Grand Ole Opry, a hit recording artist, television icon, Country Music Hall of Fame member, and the very model of the quintessential country music star.

Beginning in the early 50s, Porter had more than 80 charting singles.,

Some of my favorites hits included "Blue House Painted White," "Skid Row Joe," "Sorrow Overtakes The Wine," "This Cowboy's Hat," "The Cold Hard Facts Of Life," "Green Green Grass Of Home," "Katy Did," "Carroll County Accident," "Satisfied Mine," "Tennssee Saturday Night," "You Can't Make TheHeel Toe The Mark," "Everything She Touches Gets The Blues," "40 Miles From Poplar Bluff," "Out Of Sight, Out Of Mind," and "I Thought You Heard Me Calling Your Name."

Porter brought his songs, his resplendent wardrobe of flashy rhinestone suits, and country music as a whole, to a massive and often new audience through the most modern means then available - syndicated television.

"The Porter Wagoner Show" ran for an amazing 21 years, beginning in 1961, and reached more than 100 TV markets.

Like its namesake, the show was one of the most influential forces in country music history.

And it was on his show that Porter introduced fans to the talents of Dolly Parton. Their duets yielded hit after hit, winning a Grammy and three CMA Duo of the Year Awards.

Their hits included "Right Combination," "Just Someone I Used To Know," "Making Plans," "The Last Thing On My Mind," "Burning The Midnight Oil," "Daddy Was An Old Time Preacher Man," "If Teardrops Were Pennies," "Mommy Ain't That Daddy," "''Put It Off Until Tomorrow" and "Together Always."

In 1981, Wagoner and RCA Victor parted ways after nearly 30 years, and his television show went off the air.

He mounted a minor comeback in 1982, appearing in the Clint Eastwood film Honkytonk Man and recording an album, Viva Porter Wagoner, for Eastwood's label imprint at Warner Bros. Records, Viva, that made the country charts and produced a couple of minor country singles chart entries.

After that, he only made occasional recordings for small labels.

He toured with the Right Combination, an all-girl band, for several years.

In the late '80s and early '90s, he became increasingly active on the Nashville Network, to the point that Opryland named him its "Goodwill Ambassador" and he was a regular host of the Grand Ole Opry radio and television program.

In July 2000, he released his first new album in many years, The Best I've Ever Been.

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

Wagoner was a featured on GAC "Great American Country" television network earlier in the year on the Master Series.

He was honored by his peers and Parton was on hand to show her support.

She sang "I'll Always Love You," to close the show that was rebroadcast Monday night.

Hopefully Wagoner will be honored on tonight's CMA (Country Music Association) awards show that will be aired on ABC.