Porter Wagoner

“Once you have a hit song and people recognize you the moment you start into it is a big thrill!”

“I'm just so grateful, and feel so good about the fact that God let me live through that aneurysm.”

“I love to be outside.”

“When you get involved in litigation with attorneys, man, they drag you down in the mud.”

“Don't try to be something you're not, and find some great songs because there is still an interest.”

“I've always been a team player, tried to make the show and the band - especially something that I was responsible for, like 'The Porter Wagoner Show' or my show on the Grand Ole Opry - successful.”

“I felt like Dolly and I had one of the finest country duets of all time because we sang like brother and sister. That blood harmony, they call it. You can't beat that, in my view.”

“I love to write but it lays real heavy on your mind. Because I'd have to get so involved in ideas, I'd get lost in them, you know... Whenever I wrote songs, a lot of the times I was in sort of a down mood, an off-time. But I did that to have a contrast, because you can't run wide open all the time, you know.”

“I'm just a fan of music, of country music. And I think that's sort of a gift and talent also.”

“I was just really nervous the first time I was on the Opry, because I knew the importance of it to any person getting into country music. They really made me feel right at home.”

“You couldn't help but like James Brown if you came to see a show because he's such a wonderful showman.”

“I want to contribute to the music business and put something back into it so I'll be known as the man that was great for country music and a great entertainer.”

“If media ownership rules back in 1967 were like they are today, the world may never have known a lady named Dolly Parton.”

“One of the biggest things probably in my whole career is becoming a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame.”

“I think some of the records that were made during my career - and, well, let's say from the '60s up to the '80s - were some of the greatest records in history because they reflected reality.”

“Good country music is kind of like getting a straight, honest answer.”

“Country music has really gotten away from real country songs that connect with people and say something in a unique way.”

“When RCA dropped me from the label, I didn't really care about making records for another label, because I didn't have any say in what they would release and how they would make the records and so forth.”

“For the first couple of records that I made I just tried to sing like Hank Williams, you know, because I liked his things so much. But I realized early that you have to be your own person, and you can't be like someone else or pattern your career after them.”

“I'm not knocking the people who wear blue jeans on stage. For me, that wouldn't be showmanship. That's my craft.”