Radio Alert: On his radio show tomorrow, the Dean of Country Music Historians, Bill C. Malone, will feature guest Robbie Fulks. You can listen online to WORT’s ”Back to the Country,” every Wednesday from nine to noon.

David Cantwell writes:

Some of you may recognize the image above as the one used so indelibly on the cover of Porter Wagoner’s The Carroll County Accident. A second look, though, reveals that 1969 image has been recycled here for The Rubber Room, a 29-track 2006 Australian import, with the intriguing subtitle: The Haunting, Poetic Songs of Porter Wagoner: 1966-1977.

It’s an excellent collection, highly recommended, and not just by me but by Porter himself. When I spoke with him for my No Depression piece earlier this year, he wanted to make sure I was familiar with two aspects of his work. First, of course, was gospel music. In fact, the reason I have his several recent gospel albums (from which I pulled a couple of tracks here last week) is because he insisted upon sending them to me.

He also wanted to know if I had The Rubber Room collection. When I said I did, he was clearly glad. He thought the set was very well done and was happy I would be familiar with the more twisted side of his catalogue from which The Rubber Room anthology cherry picks.

As I’ve argued elsewhere, the Johnnys Cash and Paycheck long ago gained a reputation for songs of murder and madness even though those topics comprised a relatively small part of their catalogues. Wagoner, however, really did emphasize murder and madness, the hit “The Cold, Hard Facts of Life” and the 1972 cult favorite “The Rubber Room” being his best known examples in each category.

But there’s lots more where that came from, even more than what The Rubber Room includes. As I’ve said before, Wagoner’s catalog isn’t just excellent and significant; it is deep. As deep as “The Cold Dark Waters” that provided the title for his 1962 top ten single: “All the tears that I’ve cried/ will be easy to hide/ in the cold dark waters below.”

Besides it’s well-known and frequently anthologized title track, The Cold Hard Facts of Life includes three more tracks that are perhaps even colder and harder. “I Just Can’t Let You Say Goodbye,” written by Willie Nelson, includes the chilling line: “The flesh around your throat is pale/ indented by my fingernail.” Bill Anderson’s “The First Mrs. Jones” is a creepy murder ballad in the best E.C. comics style, and “Julie,” a Waylon Jennings song, ups the body county even further.

Life’s cold hard facts aren’t limited to homicide, of course. Wagoner was expert at singing about people who’s lives had fallen apart and who feared losing their minds as a result. Expert, because at different times in his life he too had hit bottom. “Committed to Parkview,” the centerpiece of his final album, was written for him by Cash because they had both spent time in that very mental hospital. It’s a haunting song, but he could joke about such times, too, as on “Waiting for the Man in the Little White Suit.”

Mostly, though, his tragic songs of life were just that. “In the Shadow of the Wine” is one of his many fine drinking songs, as empathetic a look at alcoholism and the men it leaves with broken hearts as is his great recitation “Skid Row Joe.” And Wagoner’s version of the old murder ballad “Banks of the Ohio” was the primary inspiration for Mike Ireland’s version on Learning How to Live.  

There are a few other songs to check out below, but I don’t want to ruin them for first time listeners by talking about them too much. Particularly “Jim Johnson” (no way would this be released as a single today), “Your Mother Eyes,” “Comes and Goes,” and the unforgetable “If I Lose My Mind.” Wagoner wrote and recorded that last one himself, then refashioned it to go where no other country song had gone before for his protege Dolly Parton.

More soon.

Porter Wagoner “Cold, Dark Waters” [#10 country] RCA single, 1962

“I Just Can’t Let You Say Goodbye” and “The First Mrs. Jones” and “Julie” [#15 country] from The Cold Hard Facts of Life (RCA, 1967)

“Waiting for the Man in the Little White Suit” from Green, Green Grass of Home (RCA, 1967)

“In the Shadow of the Wine” [#29 country] from The Bottom of the Bottle (RCA, 1968)

“Your Mother’s Eyes” and “The Banks of the Ohio” and “I’ve Lived So Fast and Hard” from The Carroll County Accident (RCA, 1969)

“Jim Johnson” [#41 country] from Simple As I Am (RCA, 1971)

“Comes and Goes” and “If I Lose My Mind” from What Ain’t to Be Just Might Happen (RCA, 1972)

Dolly Parton “If I Lose My Mind” from Coat of Many Colors (RCA, 1972)

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