Wagonmaster

That Porter Wagoner released a new album during the year of his 80th birthday -- some 55 years after his first recording -- is an event worth celebrating in itself. That it is consistent with the best work of his career is remarkable. Wagoner has always played it straight -- his brand of mainstream country-tonk never was as fashionable as his spangled stage outfits, and he never pretended to be an outlaw -- and that's just what he continues to do here. Though his baritone is more weathered than during his prime, Wagoner sounds decades younger on Wagonmaster, and there remains a youthful exuberance to the music. The only obvious signs of his age surface during the {spoken word} sections, such as the intros to Albert Erving, a song of abject loneliness, and Committed to Parkview, which Johnny Cash wrote for Wagoner but never recorded himself. Like many songs in Wagoner's canon, it's eerie, creepy, and more than a little bit sad, a vivid account of life inside a Nashville asylum, listening to the guests, one of whom thinks he's Hank Williams. One of the highlights of Wagonmaster, the song was presented to Wagoner -- himself a former guest at the facility, as had been Cash -- by Marty Stuart, who took a no-frills, purist's approach to his production of Wagonmaster (pedal steel rules!). There are songs of hard loss (The Late Love of Mine, Be a Little Quieter) and hard work, songs of faith (the back-to-back Brother Harold Dee and Satan's River), and songs of good times too -- all of them are classic Wagoner, one of the last of the true giants of Nashville's golden era. ~ Jeff Tamarkin, All Music Guide