Porter Wagoner - Highway Headin' South '1974 / 2024

Tracks list

Tracklist:

1. Life Rides The Train (02:20)
2. Freida (02:42)
3. Highway Headin' South (02:06)
4. Lonelyville (02:09)
5. Last Chance For Happiness (02:47)
6. Not A Cloud In The Sky (02:55)
7. Holding Lonely Hands (02:54)
8. An Old Memory Gets In My Eye (02:30)
9. Lonely Without You (01:50)
10. I'll Start Tomorrow (02:47)


 moreWagoner was born in West Plains, Missouri. As he grew up, he fell in
love with the country music he heard over the radio, teaching himself guitar so
he could sing and play along with them. When he was a teenager, he landed a job
at a local market, where he would frequently sing when business was slow. The
owner believed that Porter's singing was actually helping the store's
reputation, so he arranged to sponsor a local radio show that would feature the
fledgling vocalist. Throughout the late '40s, Wagoner was singing on the local
West Plains radio station. Eventually, a Springfield radio station called KWTO
offered Porter a show in 1951. Around the same time, Red Foley was beginning his
Ozark Jamboree program, which was based in Springfield and broadcast both on
KWTO and national television. Foley brought Wagoner onto his show, which helped
the young vocalist land a record contract with RCA Records. In 1954, his ninth
single, "Company's Comin'," hit the Top Ten. It was followed in the spring of
1955 with "A Satisfied Mind," which stayed at number four for four weeks. At the
end of the year he released "Eat, Drink, and Be Merry (Tomorrow You'll Cry),"
which climbed to number three in early 1956. In 1957, he joined the Grand Ole
Opry and moved to Nashville, where he formed his backing band, the Wagonmasters.

For the rest of the '50s, Porter continued to record, but he never broke the Top
Ten again. It would take another television show for him to return to the top of
the charts. In 1961, he began hosting his own television show, which was
syndicated out of Nashville. It was the most popular country show of the '60s,
growing from 18 stations in 1961 to over 100 stations in the early '70s. Wagoner
often sang with Norma Jean, a new female singer he introduced to the country
audience, on these programs. The look of Porter's television show defined
country music for much of America's general public during the '60s, although his
music rarely departed from traditional country. In 1967, Norma Jean was fired
from the show and replaced by Dolly Parton, who was then an unknown singer. Not
only did exposure on Wagoner's program kick-start Parton's career, it provided a
boost for Porter's as well. Parton was enormously popular on the show, and their
first joint single, "The Last Thing on My Mind," rocketed to number seven at the
beginning of 1968. The song launched a string of Top Ten hits that ran more or
less uninterrupted until 1975, when the duo stopped working together. In 1968,
the Country Music Association named the duo the Vocal Group of the Year; the CMA
would award them Vocal Duo of the Year in 1970 and 1971 as well.

Although the duo of Wagoner and Parton was successful, it wasn't stress-free.
Porter continued to have solo hits during the late '60s and early '70s, though
none of them was as big as his songs with Parton. Furthermore, he resented her
attempts at a solo career; on her part, she felt musically restrained by him.
The tensions culminated in late 1974, when she parted ways with Wagoner. RCA
issued two singles in 1975 and 1976, and both of the songs -- "Say Forever
You'll Be Mine" and "Is Forever Longer Than Always" -- hit the Top Ten. The pair
would continue to duet sporadically over the next decade, highlighted by the
number two hit "Making Plans" from 1980. After Parton and Wagoner separated in
1975, Porter continued to film his TV show and to chart singles, but all of his
hits were minor. In 1976, he retired from touring, choosing to concentrate on
producing at his own studio, Fireside. Wagoner sued Parton in 1979 over various
contractual problems; the suit was settled out of court the following year. For
the first few years of the '80s, Porter had several minor hits, but he stopped
recording in 1983.

In 1981, Wagoner and RCA Victor parted ways after nearly 30 years, and his
television show went off the air. He mounted a minor comeback in 1982, appearing
in the Clint Eastwood film Honkytonk Man and recording an album, Viva Porter
Wagoner, for Eastwood's label imprint at Warner Bros. Records, Viva, that made
the country charts and produced a couple of minor country singles chart entries.
After that, he only made occasional recordings for small labels. He toured with
the Right Combination, an all-girl band, for several years. In the late '80s and
early '90s, he became increasingly active on The Nashville Network, to the point
that Opryland named him its Goodwill Ambassador, and he was a regular host of
the Grand Ole Opry radio and television program. In July 2000, he released his
first new album in many years, The Best I've Ever Been. In 2007, as Wagoner
turned 80 and some 55 years after his first recording, the Marty Stuart-produced
Wagonmaster was released on Anti Records; it was his first album to chart on
Billboard since 1983, peaking at 63. Not long after its June release, Wagoner
succumbed to lung cancer at his home in Nashville on October 28, 2007. © Dan
Cooper



Porter Wagoner - Highway Headin' South Hi-Res.rar - 1.1 GB
Porter Wagoner - Highway Headin' South FLAC.rar - 159.4 MB

Related artists