Porter Wagoner News

Porter Wagoner, the rhinestone cowboy who made shiny suits and Dolly Parton fashionable, has succumbed to lung cancer. He was 80.

Complications from the disease forced Wagoner into a Nashville hospital earlier this month. He was discharged into hospice care on Friday and died Sunday.

A Grand Ole Opry fixture and card-carrying member of the Country Music Hall of Fame, Wagoner either wrote or cowrote a number of hits, including "Carroll County Accident," "A Satisfied Mind," "Company's Comin'," "Skid Row Joe," "Misery Loves Company" and "Green Green Grass of Home."

The three-time Grammy winner had an unlikely late-career second act that saw him performing with alternative-music whippersnappers like the White Stripes and Neko Case.

Following a near-fatal stomach aneurysm last year, Wagoner teamed with country star Marty Stuart to record Wagonmaster for the ANTI- label, home to the likes of Tom Waits and Nick Cave.

To promote the album, released to acclaim earlier this year, Wagoner served as an opening act for Case and the White Stripes.

"The young people I met backstage, some of them were 20 years old. They wanted to get my autograph and tell me they really liked me," Porter recounted to the Associated Press. "If only they knew how that made me feel—like a new breath of fresh air."

The twice-divorced Wagoner is survived by three children from his second marriage.

Born Aug. 12, 1927 in Missouri's Ozark Mountains, the budding crooner signed with RCA Records in 1955.

Blending gospel, bluegrass and the so-called Nashville Sound, he went on to land 20 Top 10 country hits throughout the 1960s. He garnered fame for his performances at the Opry, where he modeled his massive pompadour and trademark rhinestone-studded suits, while telling stories and cracking jokes. Aside from his own performances, Wagoner introduced James Brown to the Opry, a groundbreaking move that was met with much eyebrow-raising at the time.

Wagoner celebrated his 50th anniversary at the Opry this year. His final performance at the venerable venue came Sept. 29.

The May celebration also saw him patch things up with Parton.

He hired the buxom up-and-coming warbler in 1967, when she was just 21, to serve as his duet partner. Their collaboration flourished, hitting the charts with songs like  "The Last Thing on My Mind" and scoring Country Music Association nods for Duo of the Year and Best Vocal Group in 1970 and 1971. He also suggested she try writing ballads, which led to one of her greatest hits, "I Will Always Love You."

Off stage, however, things were stormy and they eventually called it quits in 1974. As Parton embarked on a successful solo career, eventually eclipsing her mentor, Wagoner sued her for $3 million. The case was settled out of court in 1980, and afterward Parton famously quipped that they "split over creative differences. I was creative, and Porter was different."

But she came to his side during the May tribute and visited him while he was hospitalized this month.

Wagoner was one of the original multitasking country artists, helming Nashville's first syndicated TV show, The Porter Wagoner Show,  for 21 years from 1960 to 1981. He also appeared in the 1982 Clint Eastwood flick Honkytonk Man.

Upon the release of Wagonmaster earlier this year, Wagoner looked back at a fruitful career.

"The music was simple...It was good, honest music," he said."The one thing that made my show so acceptable was the reality of it. It was for real. We weren't better musicians than anyone, but we played the best we could and laughed and had fun."