Monday, October 29, 2007

Porter Wagoner

I'm less a country music fan than I am a fan of songs that tell stories. And one of the pioners of modern story-tellin' songs was Porter Wagoner, who died over the weekend. His syndicated TV show--with which he was also a pioneer, ahead of Hee Haw and Country Music Television--was on one of the few TV channels I received as a kid, so I became a fan.

Dolly Parton, who got her big break in the '60s as a regular of his show, penned I Will Always Love You for him when she left the show. It'll be sung a lot this week.


3 comments:

This Is My Blog - fishing guy said...

I am a big country music fan and remember when Porter Wagoner was the king of country TV. His show was a joy to watch. Dolly was just a young girl when she started on the show and there was always a shared connection between the two.

I still like the ballads that tell a story. Today we have Blake Shelton "The Baby"/"Austin" and Clay Walker "Fall" who can sing great ballads.

The Film Geek said...

In retrospect, I doubt I'd be a real fan in the modern world, Fishing Guy. It's just not my cup of tea. But, the fact that his show existed in a time when little else did made me a fan. It forced to me listen and pay attention. He was a talent, for sure.

larryosaurus said...

I'm assuming from your post he died..which sucks. I almost went as him for Halloween last year. I've still got a bunch of his albums...and by albums I mean LPs and not CDs :)