Porter Wagoner’s 1950’s hit “A Satisfied Mind” had already been recorded when Porter discovered the tune.  Red Hayes and Jack Rhodes had written the tune, which Hayes recorded on Starday Records.  According to the legend, the master was recorded in the living room of Pappy Dailey, who was the founder and head man for the label.

Porter was introduced to the song after a copy of the record came into the radio station where Porter was performing.  Porter, Don Warden and Speedy Haworth started performing the song on their shows and after several experiments with the harmony, came up with Porter’s acapella intro on the song. The opening harmony on that record became the very recognizable Porter Wagoner sound.

Porter Wagoner, Don Warden, Speedy Haworth and Buster Fellows recorded “A Satisfied Mid” at KTWO Radio studios on September 11, 1954. In an interview several years ago, Porter reported that the trio recorded the song with just him playing flat top guitar and he later added the bass fiddle to the tracks, with Don playing steel guitar and Speedy adding more rhythm guitar.

In the meantime Porter’s previous release, “Company’s Comin’” had made the country music charts but RCA Victor Records had  NOT renewed his contract. So Porter Wagoner had a record on the charts and another hit recorded but NO record contract!  That was quickly remedied by RCA Victor and “A Satisfied Mind” entered the country music charts May 28^th, 1955 and made it to number one, where it stayed for 4 weeks.  It was Porter’s second charted song and was on the charts for 33 weeks.

Doug Davis

Country Music Classics