Ronnie Dunn's Answered Prayer

(http://www.gactv.com)

Brooks & Dunn's Ronnie Dunn is known as a religious man, and Country Weekly recently asked him if there had ever been a moment when he knew with certainty that God heard his prayer.

"I went to my knees — the only time I've done it — I dropped to my knees in a field in Oklahoma years ago," Ronnie says. "I said, 'I've come to the end of my rope. This is it. I've done it.' And I had. I was with a weed-eater a mile out in the middle of some 106-degree prairie. I said, 'I'm either gonna make it in this business or I have ruined my life. I don't know where to go, what to do.' "

Ronnie says as he got up and started walking back home, his wife, Janine, drove up and said, "A guy named Tim Dubois just called and said for you to call him."

Ronnie says he knew who Tim was but hadn't been talking to him. "I went and picked up the phone, and he goes, 'I want to take 'Boot Scoot' and cut it for a single with Asleep at the Wheel.' I'm like, 'Ahhh, that's not what I wanted to hear.' But at least someone on the end of the line liked it.

"It happened that quick — just like that," Ronnie continues. "All the religious training I had, the one thing I remember them teaching that really stuck with me was when it is truly the end of the line, and your pride and everything you have is washed out of the picture — when you could never doubt that it's coming from some other place [he snaps fingers] just like that lightning striking right where you are, that happened. And it started all this...it started it."

Friends Say Goodbye to Porter Wagoner

(www.gactv.com)

At the Grand Ole Opry House yesterday, some of the many people Porter Wagoner inspired during his lifetime tried to find a way to say goodbye to the man who was always saying hello, The Tennessean reports.

The service included music by Marty Stuart, Ricky Skaggs and the Whites, Vince Gill, Patty Loveless and the Oak Ridge Boys' Duane Allen, who performed with former members of Porter's band, the Wagonmasters.

"Goodbye Porter" were the last words Dolly Parton said to her longtime duet partner. Dolly did not sing "I Will Always Love You," the song she wrote years ago for Porter. "I was afraid I couldn't get through it," she said before leading the Grand Ole Opry cast in singing Hank Williams' "I Saw the Light."

Dial-Global reports that a very emotional Dolly sat on the front row during the service, wiping tears from her eyes, especially when Vince sang "Go Rest High on That Mountain," a song he noted was the last one Porter heard before he passed away on Sunday night.

Many in country music attended the service, including Opry members Garth Brooks, Trisha Yearwood, Martina McBride, Travis Tritt, Steve Wariner, Little Jimmy Dickens, Jan Howard, Jeannie Seely and new Country Music Hall of Fame inductee Ralph Emery.

The night before, with Marty Stuart's Sparkle & Twang exhibit as background, Emmylou Harris, Buddy Miller, Jim Lauderdale, Rodney Crowell, Mike Farris and other artists paid tribute to Porter at the kickoff to the Americana Music Conference. Porter was originally slated to appear at the tribute.

"We've been so inspired by him for so long," said Emmylou, who sang three of Porter's songs with Buddy before inviting Jim up to sing "Satisfied Mind."

Two important Jeans in Porter's life — daughter Debra Jean and duet partner Pretty Miss Norma Jean — were on hand, as well as other notables, including former Attorney General Janet Reno.

"My daddy had every intention of being here tonight," said Debra Jean, who accepted an American Original award on behalf of her father.

Porter Wagoner dead at 80

(http://www.tennessean.com/)

Country Music Hall of Famer Porter Wagoner died Sunday, the same day country music dignitaries gathered at the Hall to induct its three newest members.

Mr. Wagoner, known as “The Thin Man From West Plains,” was 80. He had been admitted to an undisclosed Nashville-area hospital on Monday, Oct. 15 and it was announced he had lung cancer. Mr. Wagoner was released to hospice care on Friday, a Grand Ole Opry spokeswoman announced.

Mr. Wagoner’s contributions to country music are manifold and consequential. Marty Stuart, who produced this year’s much-heralded comeback album Wagonmaster, calls him “an American master and a cornerstone of our music.”

A hit-maker for more than a quarter-century, he was a Country Music Hall of Famer and a three-time Grammy winner whose best-loved singles included “A Satisfied Mind,” “Misery Loves Company” and “Green, Green Grass of Home.”

His syndicated television show allowed him to serve as an ambassador for the genre, and it proved invaluable in spreading the fame of Wagoner’s hand-picked “girl singer,” Dolly Parton, with whom he had hit duets including “Just Someone I Used To Know” and “Making Plans.”

In the studio, he was an innovator who tweaked traditional country arrangements and found fresh sounds in a genre that often tugs against change.

Wagoner's Lung Cancer Moving "Aggressively"

(http://www.the9513.com/)

According to WSM DJ Eddie Stubbs, Porter Wagoner’s lung cancer is moving aggressively and on Friday Porter was transferred from the hospital to a hospice care facility. The Associated Press has more info.

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