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Porter's Best Yet! Jan 11, 2009
This album is one of the best he's done yet! Marty Stuart does an excellent job of producing this CD. My hats off to him in not trying to change what Porter is and was. One critic said all of the songs sound the same, but if you listen, it is Porter's style that shines through. Not all of the songs are the same; take for example Committed to Parkview. This is the kind of dark slow song Porter is known for, yet it contrasts sharply with the upbeat (but still dark themed) Albert Erving. Knowing the story behind that song, as introduced by Porter, makes it all the more delightful. It was good to hear also that Porter kept his voice right up until the end. The last album from some other elderly stars has been quite bad.
straight from the heart, the honest truth Sep 01, 2008
I am not a Porter Wagoner fan. I have never listened to his music intentionally before this. I am not a Marty Stuart fan although I want to listen to what he has done after hearing this CD. I do not even like what most of country music has become--homogenized, slick, bad 80s light rock. I was talked into buying this album. I can't stop listening to it. It is simple but powerful. His honesty grabs you and holds on to you until you believe in him and his music. Committed To Parkview, while not written by Wagoner, belongs to him the way he delivers it. The entire album is an experience, an introduction to an artist who had greatness in him that will endure because of this one album.
 All right, buddy! Aug 20, 2008
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 Erving" 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.
Last Trail Ride of the Wagonmaster Apr 14, 2008
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.
Porter's Last may be His Best Apr 07, 2008
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!
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