Porter Wagoner - Wagonmaster

All right, buddy!

This was the last album recorded by country music legend Porter Wagoner. Porter's admirer Marty Stuart produced it. Most of the songs tell a story of some kind, which is the kind of song Porter put over very well. I found several of the songs to be quite moving. Some of my favorites include Johnny Cash's "Committed to Parkview" and Porter's own "Albert Eving" and "Brother Harold Dee". The album ends with an unlisted track where Porter and Marty reminisce about Hank Williams and Porter does two of Hank's songs ("Men With Broken Hearts" and "Lonesome Whistle"). This is a very fine album that is the perfect capper to a legandary career. August 20, 2008

Last Trail Ride of the Wagonmaster

You could listen to Wagonmaster simply as a pleasant, nostalgic "old crooner reprises past hits" album -- but you would making a gigantic oversight. Because you could also listen to Wagonmaster just as a fiddle tour de force by Stuart Duncan. Or -- count three -- you could regard it primarily as a fiery pedal steel recital by Fred Newell.

In fact, Wagonmaster features virtuosos of their craft, weaving the human voice and instrumental voices (especially fiddle and pedal steel) in an elaborate, thrilling tapestry of call-and-response. Do not attempt this at home! Beneath the deceptively simple structures of seemingly easygoing songs, the careful listener will discern smoke pouring out of the seams. Take the fourth cut, "Albert Erving," for example. During Porter's two-minute recitative introduction, anchoring the story in his past, Stuart Duncan's brooding, portentous fiddling on the bass strings warns that all hell is gonna break loose. As Porter winds up his story, Harry Stinson comes in with a rat-a-tat-tat percussion attack, too late to stop a song launch so violent that it may leave you with whiplash. Anyone naively expecting a sedate walk in the park with the 79-year-old Porter Wagoner will find that they were gravely mistaken.

Fiddle and steel, of course, hark back to Hank Williams, more than to arrangements typical of the Sixties and Seventies when Porter Wagoner was in the prime time of his career. The song Johnny Cash wrote for Porter Wagoner, "Committed to Parkview," contains a passing reference to a patient who "thinks he's Hank Williams." But in the "Porter and Marty" conversation which ends the album, it's all about Hank Williams, whose presence seems to hover over this album.

Throughout "Wagonmaster," fiddle and steel are both played and mixed more aggressively than in Hank's recordings, creating (along with the guitars and occasionally piano and electric banjo) a "wall of sound" effect which would have been shocking to Forties ears. Yet Marty Stuart's arrangements impart a beautiful, powerful neotraditional purity which gives us a fresh take on these familiar songs -- in some cases (e.g. "Albert Erving"), an utterly definitive one. Special mention should be made of the killer banjo breakdown by Porter's long-time bandmate, Buck Trent, in "Buck and the Boys."

The uncompromising, hardball country sound is so clean and strong that it sounds radically alternative, or "beautifully archaic," in Marty Stuart's words about Porter. What also shines through this album is the love and respect that producer Marty Stuart had for his friend and mentor, Porter Wagoner. Porter thanks Marty in a liner note for his brilliant talent, superb musicians, and the easiest recording session of his long career. This was not intended to be a valedictory album, but it ended up being a majestic 53-minute farewell, wrapping up a lifetime of Porter Wagoner's musical achievements. In honoring Porter Wagoner, Marty Stuart helped create a surpassing masterpiece. Wagonmaster is very, very great; probably the finest work that either ever did, not to mention a landmark of country music. April 14, 2008

Porter's Last may be His Best

Excellent CD. The best, or one of the best Porter ever did. A fitting tribute as has last CD. If you like country music, I would recomend it highly! April 7, 2008

Emmylou Harris has this to say:

January 18, 2008 Indianapolis, IN on stage Emmylou Harris said:

"I loved Porter Wagoner's record from last year. It reminds me why I love country music, because when I listen to the radio I forget." January 19, 2008

Porter at his best

A great album by Porter. This is good classic country, not the phony fluff churned out by the so-called "hot new country" clones. The last track of just Porter and his guitar doing old Hank"s Lonsome Whistle Blow, was worth more than the cost of the CD. Glad I bought it.
murf January 18, 2008

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