Porter Wagoner

Porter Wayne Wagoner was born on August 12, 1927, in West Plains, Missouri, and died on October 28, 2007, at 80. He was a country singer and songwriter whose blond pompadour and rhinestone-studded Nudie and Manuel suits made him one of the most visually recognizable figures in country music. Wagoner's career took off in the 1950s, and he went on to chart 81 singles between 1954 and 1983. In 1967, he introduced a young singer named Dolly Parton on his television program, The Porter Wagoner Show, and she became his duet partner for the better part of a decade. Known as Mr. Grand Ole Opry, Wagoner was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2002.[edit]

The tributes that followed Porter Wagoner's death came from the institutions that had kept him close for half a century. Dolly Parton, who had spent the better part of a decade as his duet partner after he introduced her on The Porter Wagoner Show in 1967, spoke of him publicly as her mentor. The Grand Ole Opry, where he was known as Mr. Grand Ole Opry, and the Country Music Hall of Fame, which elected him in 2002, held his legacy in their care.

Wagoner had been hospitalized in Nashville earlier in October 2007 with an undisclosed illness and was moved to hospice care shortly before his death. He died on October 28, 2007, at Alive Hospice in Nashville, Tennessee, at age 80. His final public appearances were tied to the 2007 release of Wagonmaster, produced by Marty Stuart, and to his renewed visibility through the Opry, where he remained a member.

His death was widely reported as following the illness that had put him in the hospital, and the hospice context was the basis for that reporting.

His final album, Wagonmaster, and his catalog, including "A Satisfied Mind," which Bob Dylan recorded twice, kept his influence visible after his death. Parton's ongoing tributes and the Country Music Hall of Fame and Grand Ole Opry continue to honor him.[edit]