West Plains

Porter Wayne Wagoner was a popular American country music singer known for his flashy Nudie and Manuel suits and blond pompadour. In 1967, he... introduced a then little known Dolly Parton on his long-running television show, and they were a well-known duet throughout the late 1960s and early 1970s. Known as Mr. Grand Ole Opry, Wagoner charted 81 singles from 1954–1983. He was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame. Wagoner was born in West Plains, Missouri, the son of Bertha May and Charles E. Wagoner, a farmer. His first band, The Blue Ridge Boys, performed on radio station KWPM-AM from a butcher shop in his native West Plains, Missouri where Wagoner cut meat. In 1951, he was hired by Si Siman as a performer on KWTO-AM in Springfield, Missouri. This led to a contract with RCA Victor. With lagging sales, Wagoner and his trio played schoolhouses for the gate proceeds; but in 1953, his song "Trademark" became a hit for Carl Smith, followed by a few hits of his own on RCA. Starting in 1955, he was a featured performer on ABC-TV's Ozark Jubilee in Springfield, Missouri.
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Missouri is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. Missouri is the 21st most extensive and the 18th most populous of the 50 United States. Missouri comprises 114 counties and the independent city of St. Louis. The four largest urban areas are St. Louis, Kansas City, Springfield, and Columbia. Missouri's capital is Jefferson City. The land... that is now Missouri was acquired from France as part of the Louisiana Purchase and became known as the Missouri Territory. Part of the Territory was admitted into the union as the 24th state on August 10, 1821. Missouri generally mirrors the demographic, economic and political makeup of America and has long been considered a political bellwether state. With the exceptions of the Presidential elections of 1956 and 2008, Missouri's results have accurately predicted the next President of the United States in every election since 1904. It has both Midwestern and Southern cultural influences, reflecting its history as a border state.
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