Fans welcome to attend Porter Wagoner’s funeral
Funeral arrangements for Wagoner, who died of lung cancer Sunday at 80 years old, will be open to the public, a spokeswoman has announced.
Visitation will be from 2 to 8 p.m. today at Woodlawn Funeral Home, 660 Thompson Lane, Nashville, said Opry spokeswoman Darlene Bieber. The funeral will be 11 a.m. Thursday at the Grand Ole Opry House, with burial to follow at Woodlawn Cemetery.
Wagoner had a streak of hits in the 1960s and ’70s, and enjoyed a comeback in recent months with a new album. To many longtime fans, though, he’ll best be remembered for his sparkly rhinestone suits and for launching the career of Dolly Parton, who sang with him on his TV show from 1967 to 1974.
Parton said Monday that she was with Wagoner and his family during his last few hours. She said she sang for him and prayed with him.
‘It felt good that I had the opportunity to say goodbye properly,’ she said.
Parton also said she feels as though a part of her died with Wagoner, but she added, ‘Part of him will always live through me and my music as he was my first big break.’
Marty Stuart, who produced Wagoner’s last album, the critically acclaimed ‘Wagonmaster,’ said he grew up watching Wagoner’s TV show and later became close friends with him.
Stuart was one of the musicians who backed Wagoner this summer when he opened for the influential rock group the White Stripes at Madison Square Garden, a show that underscored the aging singer’s newfound popularity with a fresh wave of young fans.
Among his hits, many of which he wrote or co-wrote, were “Carroll County Accident,” ‘A Satisfied Mind,” ‘Company’s Comin’,” ‘Skid Row Joe,” ‘Misery Loves Company” and “Green Green Grass of Home.”
The songs often told stories of tragedy or despair. In “Carroll County Accident,” a married man having an affair is killed in a car crash; “Skid Row Joe” deals with a once-famous singer who’s lost everything.
In 2002, he was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame.
In May, after years without a recording contract, he signed with ANTI- records, an eclectic Los Angeles label best known for alt-rock acts like Tom Waits, Nick Cave and Neko Case.
To many music fans, Wagoner was best known as the man who boosted Parton’s career. He had hired the 21-year-old singer as his duet partner in 1967, when she was just beginning to gain notice through songs such as “Dumb Blonde.”
They were the Country Music Association’s duo of the year in 1970 and 1971, recording hit duets including “The Last Thing on My Mind.”
The two quit singing duets in 1974 and she went on to wide stardom with pop hits and movies such as “9 to 5,” whose theme song was also a hit for her.
Wagoner sued her for $3 million in assets, but they settled out of court in 1980. He said later they were always friendly.
At a charity roast for Wagoner in 1995, she explained the breakup this way: “We split over creative differences. I was creative, and Porter was different.”
Wagoner, who had survived an abdominal aneurysm in 2006, was hospitalized again this month and his publicist disclosed he had lung cancer. He died at 8:25 p.m. Sunday in a Nashville hospice, said Darlene Bieber, a spokeswoman for the Opry.