Porter Wagoner, 80; singer, songwriter personified the glitz of Nashville
Porter Wagoner, the original rhinestone cowboy who indelibly expanded country music's reach far beyond the heartland with his syndicated television show that also launched Dolly Parton's career, died Sunday night of lung cancer at a Nashville hospice. He was 80.
Mr. Wagoner's Technicolor persona - the towering blond pompadour, the car salesman's smile, the bedazzled Nudie western suits that opened to reveal "Hi!" emblazoned on the inside - was the very embodiment of Nashville glitz tempered by his aw-shucks demeanor.
"He was a masterful showman, who understood the art of the final act," fellow country musician Marty Stuart said on the website of the Grand Ole Opry. "He left the world on top."
From 1960 to 1979, "The Porter Wagoner Show" was broadcast in an estimated 100 markets, bringing a weekly dose of downhome country charm into American living rooms. Never released on DVD, episodes have since found a new life on websites such as YouTube, where fans marvel at Mr. Wagoner's chemistry with Parton.
"We're back again, me and my sidekick here," Mr. Wagoner joked on one segment. "She just kicked me in the side."
Up until the end, the two were friends and shared a mutual appreciation for each other. In May, at the Grand Ole Opry, at a show celebrating Mr. Wagoner's 50th anniversary as an Opry member, Parton saluted a tearful Mr. Wagoner with "I Will Always Love You," which she wrote for him after their turbulent professional split in 1974.
Before the performance, Mr. Wagoner remembered Parton as a timid young singer when she auditioned for his TV show in 1967. In his deep Missouri drawl, he asked her if she knew "many hymns," which Parton misunderstood and asked, "Who's she?"
By all accounts, Mr. Wagoner enjoyed a career revival this past year with a celebrated new album that earned him generations of new fans. After an abdominal aneurysm nearly killed him last year, Mr. Wagoner teamed with Stuart, who had idolized Mr. Wagoner since his childhood glued to his TV to watch "The Porter Wagoner Show," to make "Wagonmaster," released in June on Anti-Records, the indie LA label. Mr. Wagoner and Stuart became inseparable, with Mr. Wagoner turning to Stuart for guidance and friendship, as both a supporting musician and a trusted sidekick.
The album capped a newfound fascination with Mr. Wagoner's music, here and abroad. Last year, an Australian label released "The Rubber Room," a compilation of Mr. Wagoner's creepy Southern Gothic country songs, including the title track about Mr. Wagoner's time in a psychiatric hospital.
Even though Waylon Jennings once famously remarked that Mr. Wagoner "couldn't go pop with a mouthful of firecrackers," Mr. Wagoner attracted a wide fan base, especially in his later years. A day before his appearance on the "Late Show With David Letterman" in July, he opened for the White Stripes at Madison Square Garden and previously shared a bill with alt-country chanteuse Neko Case.
After a sold-out show at Joe's Pub in New York in March, Mr. Wagoner took a deep breath and quipped: "I'm so glad my granddaughter is here in the audience tonight. I've been telling her for years that I'm popular as hell."
Mr. Wagoner, nicknamed "The Thin Man from West Plains" for his lanky frame, grew up on the family farm in Missouri in the Ozark mountains, daydreaming about being a star on the Grand Ole Opry.
He started in radio, then became a regular on the "Ozark Jubilee," one of the first televised national country music shows. His early recordings revealed an affectionate, if obvious parroting of his idol, Hank Williams.
By 1955, Mr. Wagoner had distinguished himself with his first and biggest hit, "A Satisfied Mind." He went on to chart hits with "Misery Loves Company," "Company's Coming," "Green, Green Grass of Home," "Skid Row Joe," and "The Cold Hard Facts of Life," not to mention several popular duets with Parton ("Please Don't Stop Loving Me").
Not just a singer, Mr. Wagoner also wrote several classic country songs, many of which Parton recorded, most notably the bittersweet "Lonely Comin' Down."
He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2002.
He leaves his children Richard, Denise, and Debra.
Material from wire services was included in this obituary.
