'WAGONMASTER' in Stores Now; 79-Year-Old PORTER WAGONER to Open for White Stripes at Madison Square Garden

LOS ANGELES, CA. (Top40 Charts/ ANTI) - "Among the recent rehydrations of aging and wizened honky-tonk singers, 'Wagonmaster' (Anti-) is one of the best," is the New York Times' assessment of "WAGONMASTER," the new disc from Country Music Hall of Famer PORTER WAGONER, in stores now. "His centered charisma remains intact...he makes most of alternative-country seem unnecessary."

PORTER WAGONER (featuring Marty Stuart and his Fabulous Superlatives) takes center stage at New York's Madison Square Garden on Tuesday, July 24, as he opens for the White Stripes. WAGONER recently celebrated his 50th anniversary as a member of the Grand Ole Opry with a star-studded Opry event (hosted by "Wagonmaster" producer Marty Stuart) that CMT.com's Hazel Smith enthused was "one of the best performances I've ever witnessed."

WAGONER's video for the Johnny Cash-penned "Committed To Parkview" is already getting steady play on CMT. The critics are no less smitten:

"Wagoner is now serving notice to the music business that he's not only present, but remains capable of making what's likely to be the best country album of 2007," reads a feature in the latest Boston Phoenix. "It's flat-out brilliant."

As noted in a Sunday A&E cover story in the Boston Globe just prior to the CD's June 5 release, "'Wagonmaster'...distills Wagoner's artistry to its unvarnished core and returns him to traditional country," while the London Times concurs: "...the 79-year-old Wagoner delivers an autumnal masterpiece...As an influence on Gram Parsons and the discoverer of Dolly Parton, Wagoner has hardly wasted his time on earth, and here he reminds us what pure, unreconstructed country sounds like."

Coming up next for WAGONER is an appearance with Marty Stuart and his Fabulous Superlatives at Safari Sam's in Los Angeles on June 10.