Porter Wagoner began his country music career singing live radio broadcasts from inside a local butcher shop — and ended up as Nashville's most dazzling television showman. With rhinestone-covered Nudie suits, a towering blonde pompadour, and a pioneering syndicated TV show, Wagoner brought the Grand Ole Opry's spirit into millions of American living rooms.

His story is a masterclass in country music reinvention: from unsold RCA Victor records and schoolhouse gigs played for door money to a TV empire, a legendary partnership with Dolly Parton, and a late-career comeback bridging gospel and the avant-garde rock of the White Stripes. Wagoner proved that pure showbiz artifice and raw authenticity can share the same stage.

• He performed his very first live radio broadcasts standing inside a butcher shop

• When early R ...