| |
The Rubber Room
$16.99 CD
Wagonmaster
$16.99 CD
|
|
PORTER
WAGONER
The Rubber Room
(Omni)
 "The Rubber Room"
"Julie"
PORTER WAGONER
Wagonmaster
(Anti-)
"A Place to Hang My Hat"
"Be a Little Quieter"
Porter Wagoner is a true legend of American music, a pioneer of country music on radio and television, ubiquitous on the Grand Ole Opry since the late '50s and the host of his own hugely popular country music jamboree on television from 1961 until the early '80s, where he helped launch Dolly Parton's career with a series of top-10 charting duets. His bejeweled Nudie Suits, impeccable pompadour, and melancholy baritone created the look and sound of what we know of as country music, and heart-wrenching hits like "The Cold Hard Facts of Life" and "The Carroll County Accident" defined the tear-in-my-beer tone that still dominates the genre. But while artists like Hank William, Johnny Cash and Merle Haggard have fully crossed over and are rightfully recognized as true geniuses transcending the trailer park ghetto, Wagoner has yet to be fully embraced beyond aging country fans. Perhaps better known for trying to squash Dolly Parton's budding pop fame than for his role discovering her and building her career, his (often wonderful) old-timey sentimental schmaltz has sometimes overshadowed his hard-nosed hard-country songwriting for many who grew up skipping past his weathered face on TV.
The Rubber Room, an excellent 29-track collection of some of Wagoner's best performances from 1966-1977, should go a long way towards dispelling that. Featuring a slew of melancholy hits penned by Wagoner, Parton, and a few others, this is a stellar collection of heartache and passion. Wagoner was a major influence on country stars like Cash and Haggard, but also clearly on less obviously "country" singer-songwriters like Fred Neil, Lee Hazlewood and Bert Jansch, and his poetry, while stylized, contains some of the more moving and true sentiments in pop music. The Rubber Room bypasses some of Wagoner's biggest hits, from the '50s and early '60s, and even from the era covered it's not strictly a chart-topping collection, but instead focuses on his best, most enduring songs, and from start to finish the collection is a gem.
Wagoner essentially retired from recording and touring in the early '80s, and while he has continued to be a featured guest and sometime host of the Grand Ole Opry radio and TV show, and has become a staple on the Nashville Network, new studio recordings have been few and far between. And it has been a good many years since the 79-year-old has released anything of the quality of Wagonmaster, his new album on Anti. Produced by Marty Stewart in a very old-school three day whirlwind session, this is a far cry from the standard victory lap our heroes usually deliver, all "classic" numbers rehashed and lifeless duets with young stars. Instead, here we get 17 great new recordings, with simple, straightforward production, excellent playing, and Wagoner in remarkable vocal form for a fellow of his advanced years. Bluegrass, hard country, a handful of ballads...there are a number of highlights, but the finest moment, and the albums centerpiece, would have to be the Johnny Cash-penned "Committed to Parkview," a weary tale of a man stuck in the Parkview Psychiatric Institute, where it turns out both Cash and Wagoner spent some time back in the day. Cash wrote the song and gave it to Wagoner in the early '80s -- well, he actually gave it to Marty Stewart, who forgot to give it to Wagoner until they began discussing the tracks for this new album in 2006. It was worth the wait, as was the whole of this lovely coda to a career that shaped the sound of country music, and American music, indelibly. [JM]
|
|
