#porter wagoner

[lisamarie-vee]

[autumnrory]

The Fellowship of the Ring, J.R.R. Tolkien / "Where You Lead", Carole King / "If You Go, I'll Follow You", Porter Wagoner & Dolly Parton / "Wherever You Will Go", The Calling / "A Thousand Miles", Vanessa Carlton / "I Will Follow You Into The Dark", Death Cab for Cutie / The Song of Achilles, Madeline Miller / Captain America: The First Avenger dir. Joe Johnston / "I Don't Wanna Break", Christina Perri / "Sea of Lovers", Christina Perri / Prince's Gambit, C.S. Pacat / "Cold Water", Major Lazer, Justin Bieber & MØ / "Lucky Strike", Troye Sivan / "Lover", Taylor Swift / Mexican Gothic, Silvia Moreno-Garcia / "Catch Fire", The Veronicas / "TAIL LIGHTS', Macklemore feat. Morray / "II Hands II Heaven", Beyonce

Dark Heir, C.S. Pacat

[guessimdumb]

Porter Wagoner and Dolly Parton - Life Rides The Train (1975)

I read recently that Jason Ringenberg (Jason and the Scorchers) and Victoria Liedtke had recently recorded a version of this Porter Wagoner tune. So I went back to the wonderful Dolly/Porter rendition from one of their last LPs together.

[affiches-concerts]

Dolly Parton, Porter Wagoner, 1967

[oldshowbiz]

1979.

The Harlem Globetrotters visit the Grand Ole Opry on ABC's Wide World of Sports.

[music-crush]

Porter Wagoner

Happy birthday, Porter Wayne Wagoner!

[desertangels70s]

Thank you to my grandmother for giving me her records. I'll make sure to pass them down whenever I have kids of my own.❤️

[joegramoe]

Paul and Linda McCartney meet Porter Wagoner and Dolly Parton! By Lee Leverett

Some people want to fill the world with silly Love songs

What's wrong with that?

[ludmilachaibemachado]

Paul, Linda, Heather, Mary (not shown Stella) with Dolly Parton & Porter Wagoner in Nashville 1974🌼

Via @paulandlindaforever on Instagram🌼

[rockincountryblues]

Porter Wagoner & Chet Atkins

[lisamarie-vee]

[mudwerks]

(via Porter Wagoner - Green Green Grass of Home (1972)

[t-tex-edwards]

http://atlantatimemachine.com/misc/porter1.htm

Welcome, Porter Wagoner fans.

The next several pages are a a bit of a departure as they don't have much to do with this website's normal topic, that of Atlanta history.  Instead, they are intended to serve as an appreciation of one of the coolest album covers ever unleashed on the music buying public.  If you've glanced over to the right, then you're probably already aware of the fact that I'm referring to Porter Wagoner's Cold Hard Facts Of Life LP.

In Aug. 2004, I headed up to Nashville for a little fun and relaxation and while there decided to do a little exploring to see if I could find the location used by Porter Wagoner for the brilliantly twisted cover photo of his 1966 RCA album The Cold Hard Facts of Life.  Having been fascinated with the album cover for well over a decade, this seemed to me like a reasonable way to spend a little vacation time.

Fortunately, I had with me a copy of the album cover itself and Steve Eng's fact-filled 1992 biography of Porter Wagoner.  The book, A Satisfied Mind: The Country Music Life of Porter Wagoner, (Rutledge Hill Press) is well worth tracking down if you're a fan of Porter's.

If you're not familiar with The Cold Hard Facts of Life,  you can click hereand give it a listen.  The song, one of the best cheating records in all of country music, is the story of a hapless stiff who returns home from a trip a day early only to  find out his wife hasn't been entirely faithful.  For a visual reference, see the album cover to your right.

On second thought,  the song The Cold Hard Facts of Life was written by Bill Anderson, who was raised in the Atlanta suburb of Avondale Estates and attended the University of Georgia.  So, upon reflection, there is a local history connection here after all.

As far as this mission was concerned, the paydirt paragraph in the Porter Wagoner biography is the final paragraph on page 159, in which the author reveals that the photograph for the LP cover was taken in Porter's own apartment, amazingly enough.    Fortunately, he also divulges the name of the building and the number of the apartment Porter inhabited!

What was a star of Wagoner's stature doing living in a tiny apartment in the first place?  Well, in 1965 Porter's marriage fell apart and he moved out of his family's home and into the Americana Apartments.

Upon arriving at 1906 Chet Atkins Place (South Street, back in the days that Porter resided there) it was very good to see that the Americana Apartments building was still standing.  

After getting the photo on the right, I headed inside to go snap a picture of the door of apartment #104 where the cover for the Cold Hard Facts of Life LP was shot.

After getting a picture of the door, I decided to see if anyone was home so I could share with the current resident the story of who used to live in his apartment.  I figured that anyone living there should definitely know such information.

Fortunately, as mentioned earlier, I had with me a of copy the LP itself and the Porter Wagoner biography that revealed that the photo was taken in the doorway of Porter's very own apartment.  It's probably always a good idea to have some documentation with you if you're going to knock on a stranger's door and try to convince him that Porter Wagoner used to live there.

After knocking on the door, though, no one answered so I reluctantly decided to head out.  On the way down the hall, I noticed a sign saying something like "If you need assistance, please knock on the manager's door."  Determined to share the information with somebody, I figured I'd burden the building manager with the story.  So I banged on his door and while waiting for an answer, a guy entered the building and walked past on his way down the hall toward apartment #104.  We exchanged courteous nods as he walked by and headed for, you guessed it, Porter's old apartment.

When I noticed he was reaching for his keys as he approached the door in question, I blurted out, "Excuse me....do you live in apt. #104?"

"Yep."

His name was Brandon and I showed him the album cover photo and the text in the biography that verified that he was indeed living in Porter Wagoner's old apartment.  Like any sensible person, he seemed to think that this was pretty cool.

Brandon was a very good sport and when  I asked if he'd mind if I posed in the doorway and stood in Porter's place for a photo, he graciously agreed.

Apart from furnishings and the fact that the cinder block walls were no longer dark green, almost nothing had changed within the apartment.

So there you have it, Porter Wagoner fans.  Who says there is no fun to be had in Nashville?

Compare and contrast!  The cover of the Cold Hard Facts of Life LP was obviously the source for artist Bob Frye, who created a brilliantly sleazy homage to Porter Wagoner's album cover for a painting that was used for the cover of a T. Tex Edwards LP in the early 1990's.  The LP (Pardon Me, I've Got Someone to Kill) was released on the Sympathy For The Record Industry label (SFTRI 43) and, like the Porter Wagoner LP, includes the song The Cold Hard Facts of Life.

[mrbopst]

[msbamamomma]

All My Rowdy Friends Video Shoot August 1984 - Dickey Betts, Porter Wagoner, Willie Nelson, Bobby Bare, Waylon Jennings, Jessi Colter, Kris Kristofferson, Hank Williams Jr, Jim Varney & George Thorogood