**** Porter Wagoner

THE ESSENTIAL PORTER WAGONER

(RCA)

A fixture of the Grand Ole Opry, the late singer and songwriter Porter Wagoner had one of the most distinguished careers in country music, from his early Top 10 hits in the '50s through his late-'60s and early-'70s duet sides with Dolly Parton. Unfortunately, much of the non-country audience knows him through covers done by the likes of the Byrds ("Satisfied Mind") and Tom Jones ("Green, Green Grass of Home"). Their smooth, crossover accessibility cheats Wagoner of much of his power.

But if you listen to Wagoner's originals, leaving yourself fully open to the craggy vocals and braying guitar lines of a Southern soul in torment, you realize this guy sang the way he must have lived, refusing to be pushed aside by hardship. The covers of Wagoner's songs suggest someone trying to get somewhere -- or perhaps away from something. The originals convey the feeling of having not only arrived, but, even more important, overcome.

-- Colin Fleming