I think I've mentioned before that back in the late 1960's and early 1970's I was the world's worst guitar student. It's a funny thing what not practicing diligently does to your musical career.
Regardless of my ineptitude, one of the songs that I did manage to pick my way through mostly one note at a time with a few strummed chords thrown in was Mr. Wagner's 1965 hit "The Green Green Grass Of Home."
(If you look at the lyrics, the song is actually written from the viewpoint of a prisoner on death row dreaming about his home before he's executed. Fortunately Porter took a substantially different path to his grave.)
Living down in Lower Alabama back in those days, it wasn't uncommon for shows like "Hee Haw" and the "Grand Ole Opry"--which Porter joined in 1957--to flash across our new color TV screen every few weeks and there he was in his fancy sequin spangled suits singing and strumming away.
I have to admit that I wasn't a huge Porter Wagner fan, but I still have a great deal of respect for he and the other musical artists of his generation that put country music on the international map while making their meager incomes (by today's standards) from small venue live performances and radio, long before TV invaded the lives of most Americans.
RIP Mr. Wagner...
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