ROOTS of Country Music

The Professional Work of Porter Wagoner

(Aug. 12, 1927 ~ Oct. 28, 2007)

Career Highlights

Barn Dance Affiliate: Ozark Jubilee

Stage Name: The Thin Man From West Plains

Band Name: The Wagonmasters

Alter Ego: Skid Row Joe

The Wagonmasters (pre 1974)

• Announcer Don Howser
• Benny Williams (guitar)
• Buck Trent (banjo, guitar)
• Don Warden (steel guitar)
• George McCormick (rhythm guitar)
• "Little" Jack Little (drums)
• Mack Magaha (fiddle)
• Michael Treadwell (bass guitar)
• Ray Downs (rhythm guitar, vocal)
• Red Gayle (unknown)

Singer: Norma Jean (1960–1967)

Singer: Dolly Parton (1967–1974)

Comedian/Stand-up Bass: Curly Harris (1960–1965)

Comedian/Stand-up Bass: Speck Rhodes (1965 -1970)

The Wagonmasters (After 1974)

• Bobby Dyson (bass)
• Dave Kirby (guitar)
• Fred Newell (banjo, guitar, mandolin)
• Jerry Carey (drums)
• Linda Carol Moore (vocals)
• Mack Magaha on fiddle
• Stu Basor (steel guitar, dobro) 

Film, Night Club, Radio & TV 

• Ernest Tubb’s  Midnight Jamboree, 3
• Gilley’s Club, 2
• Hee Haw, 4
• Nashville Now, 4
• Opry Back Stage, 4
• Pop Goes the Country, 4
• The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour, 4
• The Johnny cash Show, 4
• The Porter Wagoner Show, 4 (1960 -1981) 4
• The Wilburn Brothers Show, 4   

1-Film, 2-Night Club, 3-Radio, 4-TV

Billboard Chart Data

• No. 1 Singles: 3
• Top-10 Singles: 29
• Crossover Singles: 0
• Charted Singles: 81
• Years Active: 1954 - 1980

Awards

Country Music Association

• Vocal Group of the Year (1968)*
• Vocal Duo of the Year (1970, 1971)*
• Country Music Hall of Fame 2002

*With Dolly Parton

TNN/Music City News

• Living Legend (1998)

Career Label:

• RCA (1954-1980)

Billboard Chart Singles

• Company's Comin' -1954
• A Satisfied Mind*, 1, -1955
• Eat, Drink And Be Merry
• What Would You Do If Jesus... -1956
• Your Old Love Letters -1961
• Misery Loves Company* -1962
• Cold Dark Waters
• I've Enjoyed As Much Of This As I Can Stand
• Sorrow On The Rocks -1964
• Green, Green Grass of Home -1965
• Skid Row Joe
• The Cold Hard Facts Of Life -1967
• The Carroll County Accident -1968
• Big Wind -1969
• What Ain't To Be, Just Might Happen -1972

*No. 1 Single

1Biggest Chart Single

Billboard Chart Duets With Dolly Parton

• The Last Thing On My Mind -1967
• Holding On To Nothin' -1968
• We'll Get Ahead Someday
• Yours Love -1969
• Just Someone I Used To Know
• Tomorrow Is Forever -1970
• Daddy Was An Old Time Preacher Man
• Better Move It On Home -1971
• Lost Forever In Your Kiss -1972
•  If Teardrops Were Pennies -1973
• Please Don't Stop Loving Me* -1974
• Say Forever You'll Be Mine -1975
• Is Forever Longer Than Always -1976
• Making Plans -1980

*No. 1 Single

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Green, Green Grass of Home

The Porter Wagoner Story

Porter Wayne Wagoner was a popular country music singer known for his flashy nudie suits and charming stage presence. Porter introduced a young Dolly Parton on his long-running television show and they were a well-known duet team throughout the late 1960s and early 1970s. Known as Mr. Grand Ole Opry, Wagoner charted 81 singles from 1954 ~ 1983; and is a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame.

Porter Wagoner was born in West Plains, Missouri. As he grew up, he fell in love with the country music he heard over the radio, teaching himself guitar so he could sing and play along with them. When he was a teenager, he landed a job at a local market, where he would frequently sing when business was slow. The owner believed that Porter's singing was actually helping the store's reputation, so he arranged to sponsor a local radio show that would feature the fledgling vocalist.

Throughout the late 1940s, Wagoner was singing on the local West Plains radio station. Eventually, a Springfield radio station called KWTO offered Porter a show in 1951. Around the same time, Red Foley was beginning his Ozark Jamboree program, which was based in Springfield and broadcast both on KWTO and national television. Foley brought Wagoner onto his show, which helped the young vocalist land a record contract with RCA Records.

In 1954, his 9th single, Company's Comin', hit the top-10. It was followed in the spring of 1955 with A Satisfied Mind which stayed at number four for four weeks. At the end of the year he released Eat, Drink, and Be Merry (Tomorrow You'll Cry), which climbed to number three in early 1956. In 1957, he joined the Grand Ole Opry and moved to Nashville, where he formed his backing band, the Wagonmasters.

Porter’s charted records include, Misery Loves Company (No. 1, 1962), I've Enjoyed as Much of This as I Can Stand (No. 7, 1962–1963), Sorrow on the Rocks (No. 5, 1964), Green, Green Grass of Home (No. 4, 1965), Skid Row Joe (No. 3, 1965–1966), The Cold Hard Facts of Life (No. 2, 1967) and “The Carroll County Accident (No. 2, 1968–1969). Among his hit duets with Dolly Parton were We'll Get Ahead Someday (1968), Just Someone I Used to Know (1969), The Right Combination (1972), Please Don't Stop Loving Me (No. 1, 1974) and Making Plans (No. 2, 1980).

Television was a major part of Porter's time in the public eye. He started the syndicated Porter Wagoner Show in 1960 and it remained on the air for an amazing twenty-one years. The Porter Wagoner Show was a key factor in popularizing country and gospel music across the United States. Throughout the 1960's, there were lots of hit recordings and television work. Wagoner often sang with Norma Jean, a new female singer he introduced to the country audience, on those programs.

The look of Porter's television show defined country music for much of America's general public during the '60s, although his music rarely departed from traditional country. In 1967, Norma Jean was fired from the show and replaced by Dolly Parton, who was then an unknown singer. Not only did exposure on Wagoner's program kick-start Parton's career, it provided a boost for Porter's as well.

Parton was enormously popular on the show, and their first joint single, The Last Thing on My Mind, soared to number seven at the beginning of 1968. The song launched a string of top-10 hits that ran more or less uninterrupted until 1975, when the duo stopped working together.

Wagoner brought James Brown to the Grand Ole Opry, produced a rhythm & blues album for Joe Simon and appeared in the Clint Eastwood film Honkytonk Man. During the mid-1980s,

Porter formed an all-girl group, The Right Combination, named after one of his hit records with Parton. He also hosted Opry Backstage during the 1990s on The Nashville Network.

Wagoner was honored on May 19, 2007 at the Grand Ole Opry for both his 50 years of membership and his 80th birthday. Porter was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2002. He also won three Grammy Awards for gospel recordings. Until his illness and death, Wagoner appeared regularly on the Grand Ole Opry and toured actively. He died from lung cancer in Nashville on Oct. 28, 2007.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------Researched, written and compiled by Richard Bell, Roots of Country Music. Aug. 16, 2011.

For many, Porter Wagoner’s broad smile, flashy stage costumes and distinctive voice have been the essence of Country Music stardom. Yet even these descriptors do not capture the importance of the Thin Man from West Plains to Country Music.

A staggering 81 singles on the country charts, a huge television presence in the 1960s and 1970s, a superb writer of country songs and a key role in launching Dolly Parton’s career have solidified Porter Wagoner’s position as one of the most influential and respected country artists ever.

After his death in late October of 2007, the Martin guitar he inspired serves as a fitting tribute to such a fine performer and individual. 

Among Porter Wagoner’s most cherished accolades was his induction into the Grand Ole Opry in 1957. 2007 marked the 50th year that Porter performed with the Grand Ole Opry and with the assistance of Marty Stuart, C. F. Martin embarked on the creation of a D-41 Porter Wagoner Custom Edition to mark the anniversary and honor this fine man for his contributions to Country Music. 

A Martin representative presented Porter with the prototype of this signature edition at the May 2007 50th Anniversary tribute at the Grand Ole Opry. Each guitar is personally signed by Porter Wagoner and Marty Stuart and numbered in sequence.

Martin D-41

Porter Wagoner

Porter Wagoner Trio

Porter Wagoner, Red Gayle

Don Warren (steel)

D. Parton & P. Wagoner

Speck Rhodes