Porter Wagoner Takes Victory Lap

Grand Ole Opry star Porter Wagoner.

July 27, 2007 — Although Porter Wagoner's career path didn't bring him the kind of success and recognition enjoyed by his late friend Johnny Cash and protégée Dolly Parton, he tells the Wall Street Journal that he wanted it that way.

"I just never had the desire to go beyond that," Porter says, "just to be a good country singer and a good country songwriter. You know, Marty [Stuart] told me, 'Porter, the other artists on the Grand Ole Opry came here to learn how to play the music on there; you're a farm boy from Missouri that knew how to sing when you came here, brought your style with you, and you've never varied; you've kept that same feeling in your voice, that sincerity and drive.' And I said, 'Marty, I'd never thought of it that way, but really, that is what I did.' "

In recent years, Porter has largely stuck to gospel music and his regular Opry hosting duties, but since recording his new album, Wagonmaster, produced by Marty, people are getting to see him well beyond his Opry role. He recently opened in Los Angeles for indie rock favorite Neko Case, and on Tuesday he opened for rockers the White Stripes at Madison Square Garden, backed by Marty and his band, the Fabulous Superlatives.

"Porter's the last man standing of the old cloth, from the old Hank Williams era," Marty says. "My job was to put him back in touch with his classic sound, to get his pompadour up in there again, and to get a guitar back around his neck. Those three things are accomplished; now I also get to see him take a victory lap."