I was going to do a post highlighting my hometown radio station, but I heard this morning that country music legend Porter Wagoner died yesterday. I have become increasingly fond of country music over the past months to a year or so - from my mainstays of Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, and Hank Williams, to an increasing fondness for Randy Travis, Merle Haggard, and Mel Tillis. Porter Wagoner was a member of the Grand Old Opry, and among his many achievements was finding and promoting a talented singer and songwriter from the mountains of Tennessee named Dolly Parton:
Here he is doing "I'll Fly Away" with The Willis Boys, which included Stringbean and Grandpa Jones:
Here he is doing an old song of his own, "Satisfied Mind".
While it is easy to dismiss Wagoner for his outlandish suits, and later on his "hair", I think focusing on those trappings, which merely show he was a showman as much as a musician, misses the fact that he was a talented singer, and had an eye for talent. He will be missed, even by those who don't like country music, because he gave us a richer musical life.
