Porter Wagoner
August 12, 1927 – October 28, 2007. "Mr. Grand Ole Opry." Country Music Hall of Fame, inducted 2002. A founding member of Warden Music Company Inc. alongside Don Warden, and the bandleader Warden played steel guitar for on the Ozark Jubilee, the Grand Ole Opry, and The Porter Wagoner Show — and a real presence in the catalog itself, both as a recording artist and a credited writer.
From an Ozarks farm to "Mr. Grand Ole Opry"
Porter Wayne Wagoner was born August 12, 1927, on a farm about eighteen miles south of West Plains, Missouri — the same corner of the Ozarks Don Warden and Speck Rhodes were from. He dropped out of school by seventh grade and started performing locally as a teenager, singing on radio with his band, the Blue Ridge Boys, from 1950.
He signed with RCA Victor in the early 1950s and became an early mainstay on the ABC television show Ozark Jubilee in 1955 and '56 — the same show where he and Don Warden first crossed paths. Wagoner moved his family to Nashville in 1956 and joined the Grand Ole Opry the following year, on February 23, 1957.
A timeline
Ozark Jubilee
An early mainstay on the ABC television show Ozark Jubilee, broadcasting out of Springfield, Missouri — where Don Warden was also performing.
Grand Ole Opry
Joined the Grand Ole Opry on February 23, 1957, alongside Don Warden, who played steel guitar in his band. Wagoner would remain an Opry member until his death fifty years later.
Warden Music Company Inc. is founded
A founding member of Warden Music Company Inc. alongside Don Warden. Wagoner's name was on the founding; by the current owner's account, he was never really an active part of running the company from day to day — that work fell to Warden.
The Porter Wagoner Show
Hosted his own syndicated television program for over two decades, building out a full cast around him over the years: comedian Speck Rhodes, singer Norma Jean, and eventually Mack Magaha on fiddle, George McCormick on guitar, and Buck Trent on banjo — every one of them a name that also turns up in Warden Music's own catalog.
Dolly Parton
Introduced a young Dolly Parton as his show's female singer in 1967. The duo won CMA Vocal Duo of the Year in 1970 and 1971, and TNN/Music City News awards for vocal duo in 1968, 1969, and 1970. Their partnership ended in 1974 over creative differences, with legal disputes that ran into the rest of the decade — though the two later reconciled, and Parton inducted Wagoner into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2002.
Country Music Hall of Fame
Elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame, with Dolly Parton doing the inducting.
Passing
Celebrated his 50th anniversary as a Grand Ole Opry member on May 19, 2007, released his final album, Wagonmaster, produced by Marty Stuart, that June, and died of lung cancer on October 28, 2007, at age 80, in Nashville. Dolly Parton was among the close friends who visited him in his final days.
More than a recording artist
Wagoner recorded Carroll County Accident and Skidrow Joe, two Warden Music compositions. But he also shows up as a credited writer himself, on Darlin' Debra Jean, Denise Mayree, How Can I Dream of Tomorrow, and Just for the Lonely Ones — and two of those titles are hard to miss: Debra and Denise were the names of his own daughters, from his marriage to his second wife, Ruth Williams.