Porter Wagoner has gone to his maker [1]. He was 80. Many Tennesseans, of a certain age, will definitely remember Mr. Wagoner and his TV show. He brought Dolly Parton along with a lot of great country/western/gospel music to our living rooms. Apparently he influenced the Grateful Dead as well. "We (the Dead) were getting off of that psychedelic run that we were on,” said Hunter, who watched the show each week with Garcia in Northern California. “We had evolved from bluegrass and old-timey bands, but what we didn’t know was country & western, or whatever it was that Dolly and Porter were doing. So a little bit of Nashville moved into the Bay Area, and it was like nothing I’d ever seen.” Hunter eventually made his way backstage at the Opry, where he told that story to Mr. Wagoner, who smiled and said, “Well, I never did hear nothing by that Grateful Dead that I didn’t like.” H/T Sharon Cobb [2]. Porter Wagner