PORTER WAGONER R.I.P.
pickwick33
8,946 Posts
This country legend unfortunately just passed away. And earlier this year, he had released his first album in a long time, too...This 1967 LP is not the album that was released this year, but Porter was known as much for his freaky album covers as for his often-oddball music, and The Cold Hard Facts Of Life is usually considered to be Exhibit A...
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One of the better covers ever, IMO.
Post up your mp3s, folks. Wagoner was one of the best descendants of "true country." Hank Williams Sr. would've been proud.
Wagoner, who sported a pompadour until he changed his hairstyle to curls, annoyed some Opry performers when he invited Soul Music King James Brown to perform on a stage not regularly graced by black performers.
At the time, Wagoner said he invited Brown to add to the Opry's reputation and "I hope none of the opposition by some members was racial but people have a problem accepting anything that's new."
He was also criticized by some for producing an album by soul artist Joe Simon to which he replied that "that's strange because there is such a similarity between black music and country music."[/b]
I'd never heard either of those things. I just picked up the 'Rubber Room' comp a few months ago.
'George Leroy Chickashea' =
Here's some good ole' honkeytonk drinkin tunes.
Do I hear the bakersfield sound in these?
"I'll Go Down Swinging"
"Turn the Jukebox Up Louder"
Damn, I like those Dolly duet LPs too....
R.I.P.
If only those Nashville studio guys would have cut loose and given the guitar more leeway, "...Swinging" would have been straight-up no-nonsense Bakersfield. Buck Owens & the Buckaroos woulda tore that one up.
Seek out 1961's "Heartbreak Affair," which has "Everly Brothers" written all over it and could have been a crossover pop hit, if it weren't buried on a B-side. It later appeared on the album Your Old Love Letters & Other Country Hits on RCA Camden (RCA Victor's in-house budget label).
"Dark End of the Street" available? I'll rip a
few things tonight, but I'd love to hear that.
Dark End Of The Street