New Porter Wagoner Collection is What a Compilation Should Be

For me, greatest hits and compilation albums serve two purposes: they provide an introduction to artists with whom I’m unfamiliar and they’re an affordable way to obtain the best tracks from artists who do not make good albums. We’ve discussed this at The 9513 and it appears that our readers value these collections for a variety of reasons, but I’ve always had trouble appreciating the compilation as an art form itself. Greatest hits collections seem to be the product of commercial convenience and compilation albums focus on exhaustively presenting one period of an artist’s catalog; seldom is the result artistically compelling. Out of the Silence Came a Song: The Somber Sound of Porter Wagoner, the new compilation from Legacy Recordings and Porter Wagoner’s first posthumous compilation album, is a welcome exception.

The album title ensures that few listeners will mistake this compilation for a greatest hits collection and indeed it is not. Up-tempo favorites like “Company’s Coming,” “Y’all Come” and “Misery Loves Company” are conspicuously absent. More questionable omissions include “A Satisfied Mind,” “Skid Row Joe” and “Green Green Grass of Home.” However, it’s hard to argue with most of the substitutes on this 29-track collection. The choice of theme is a good one; I always found such somber songs as “The Carroll County Accident” and “The Cold Hard Facts of Life” to be among Porter’s most compelling Opry performances.

Still, the album’s significance lies in its inclusion of some deep catalog songs that many listeners have forgotten or never heard. “The First Mrs. Jones” is a haunting murder ballad that sounds like the Louvin Brothers sans the harmony. Also striking is Porter’s versatility and fearless stylistic diversity. Several excellent recitations are interspersed among hard-core honky-tonk and the psychedelic twang of “The Rubber Room” and “George Leroy Chickashea.”

What emerges is a compilation that is truly interesting and labors to paint a picture rather than collect hits. It’s not a good introduction to Porter Wagoner and wouldn’t be a good choice for a country fan who wants a succinct and representative collection to remember one of the genre’s greatest. It’s not even a compilation of Porter’s best songs. However, Out of the Silence Came a Song succeeds in constructing a catalog cross-section. It fixates on a common theme and proceeds to present the Porter Wagoner behind the hits, Porter the risk-taker and genre-buster, Porter outside of the twinkle of Rhinestone suits. It’s a fitting addition to the collection of any fan who realized only after his death just how much they appreciated Porter Wagoner.

Track Listing:

1. Out of the Silence (Came a Song)
2. The Rubber Room
3. George Leroy Chicakshea
4. Cassie
5. Fairchild
6. Indian Creek
7. Lonely Comin’ Down
8. Bones
9. Jim Johnson
10. Lonelyville
11. My Many Hurried Southern Trips
12. Simple As I Am
13. Woman Hungry
14. The First Mrs. Jones
15. The Cold Hard Facts of Life
16. Shipworn
17. Julie
18. The Carroll County Accident
19. Let Me In
20. Wino
21. The Bottom of the Bottle
22. Nothing Between
23. Crumbs From Another Man’s Table
24. He’s Alone Again Tonight
25. Life Rides the Train
26. Little Boy’s Prayer
27. My Last Two Tens
28. The Party
29. Moments of Meditation