When you think of individual country artists who had TV shows, Porter Wagoner's name has to come to mind rather quickly. Porter's shows were filmed from 1960 to 1980. The early shows were filmed in black and white, and the later shows were filmed IN COLOR! The last few seasons were filmed at Opryland. Though Porter's show was always entertaining, the prime years of the show were between 1967 and 1974, and not just because those were the years when Dolly Parton was on the show. The entire cast, from the Wagonmasters to announcer Don Howser, as well as funny man Speck Rhodes, was mostly constant during those years and the camaraderie made for a (mostly) well-oiled machine. Of course, when you watch the shows now, you can see that mistakes were made from time to time (most of the time by Porter, who'd occasionally forget lyrics) but the way they were handled with a laugh and "Oops!" made the show that much more lovable.
Porter Wayne Wagoner was born August 12, 1927 in Missouri & calls the town of West Plains his home.
The Wagonmasters - Porter's band - were mostly accomplished performers in their own right. Electric banjo and guitar picker Buck Trent performed with him for many years, and the happy fiddlin' man Mack Magaha performed with him for even more years. Buck went on to become a Hee Haw cast member, and since then has had a successful run in Branson, MO. Mack, who played with Reno & Smiley before joining The Wagonmasters, suffered a stroke in the 1990's and passed away on August 15, 2003. Other members of the Wagonmasters included Don Warden on the steel guitar & George McCormick. There were quite a few more over the years, but I don't have a lot of information about them - please send me an e-mail if you know more.
Announcer Don Howser was the voice of the Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway (describing the on-track antics of Marty Robbins, no doubt), and had been a radio announcer and the host/announcer of other shows before The Porter Wagoner Show. He passed away on September 19, 2002.
"Purty Miss Norma Jean" was a fan favorite who left the show and raised her daughter. After Dolly, several other female singers came along who were all fine, but none of them had the audience's affection like Dolly Parton. As everyone knows, she's gone on to become one of the most successful country artists in history. For a time, Mel Tillis was a regular on the show.
And the guests! Everyone who was anyone (except maybe some of the stars who had their own shows) performed on Porter's show back in the day. Faron Young, Tex Ritter, Jack Greene, Hank Williams Jr., Billy Walker, Charlie Walker, Webb Pierce, Stonewall Jackson, the Oak Ridge Boys, Roy Clark, Lonzo & Oscar, Dottie West...the list goes on and on.
In 2006 he had surgery to repair an aortic aneurysm, but recently Porter celebrated his 50th anniversary with the Grand Ole Opry & released a new, critically acclaimed album called "Wagonmaster." He lives near the Opry House & performs there regularly. You can read all about Porter on his website, www.porterwagoner.net, where you can find many of his song lyrics, buy some of his CD's, & view many, many pictures. At one time you could purchase show tapes also, but I do not see them listed on there now. "The Porter Wagoner Show" can be seen several times a week on RFD-TV,."Rural America's Most Important Network."
copyright 2007, Marisa Harris Bush
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