Remembering Hank Snow: December 20: Snapshots in History
On December 20 and beyond, take a moment to remember Canadian-born country music artist/singer/songwriter Clarence Eugene “Hank” Snow (Born: May 9, 1914 in Brooklyn, Queens County, Nova Scotia; Died: December 20, 1999 in Madison, Tennessee, United States). Hank Snow overcame a broken home with separated paren'ts (who both displayed some musical talent, more so his mother), a loving mother unable to support Snow and his siblings financially, living with his paternal grandmother who subjected Snow to psychological and physical abuse, and subsequent physical and verbal abuse from a stepfather who married his mother. Snow first demonstrated his talent for music when allowed to play his mother’s mail-order Hawaiian steel guitar. Snow left home and went to sea on a fishing schooner where he earned enough money to order a guitar and a chord book from the T. Eaton mail-order catalogue circa 1927-1928. After surviving a sea gale in 1930 during which six vessels were lost, Snow vowed never to go to sea again. Returning home, he sold fish door-to-door and did odd jobs to raise money to buy another guitar from the Eaton’s mail-order catalogue. Snow lobbied Halifax radio station CHNS for an audition in 1933 and launched his singing career on radio without payment until a sponsor came along to endorse his radio program. He married Minnie Blanche Aalders in 1935 who subsequently gave birth to a son, Jimmie Rodgers Snow, named after a country music idol admired by Snow.
Snow signed a contract with the Canadian division of RCA Victor label in October 1936, beginning a partnership that lasted over 45 years. His first record included “The Prisoned Cowboy” on one side and “Lonesome Blue Yodel” on the other side. Snow had a weekly radio show on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation that gave him a national profile. He toured Canada until American radio stations started to play his records and performing south of the border beckoned. Snow moved to Nashville, Tennessee in 1945 and became “the Singing Ranger”, replacing his earlier moniker as “the Yodeling Ranger”. He first played at the Grand Ole Opry in 1950 and released his first of seven number one hits “I’m Moving On” the same year, setting a record for staying at the top for 21 weeks. He also had two other number one hits in 1950, “The Golden Rocket” and “The Rhumba Boogie”. His 1963 hit “I’ve Been Everywhere” was a North American reboot of Australian Geoffrey Albert McElhinney’s (aka “Geoff Mack”) 1962 song, replacing Australian place names with American and Canadian ones, rhymed off at a tremendous pace.
Snow’s path crossed with younger, up-and-coming performers, including Hank Williams and Elvis Presley. Snow lobbied the Grand Ole Opry to use Presley as Snow’s opening act in 1954, and subsequently introduced Elvis Presley to Colonel Tom Parker with whom Snow established a partnership called “Hank Snow Attractions”. Snow left after a falling out with Parker. In 1958, Snow became an American citizen but never forgot his Canadian roots, producing the album My Nova Scotia Home, in 1968.
Snow was recognized for his talent for singing and songwriting with memberships in the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, the Country Music Hall of Fame, the Canadian Music Hall of Fame, the Nova Scotia Music Hall of Fame and the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame. Snow never forgot his experiences with child abuse by establishing the Hank Snow International Foundation for Prevention of Child Abuse.
Canada Post unveiled a new Hank Snow commemorative stamp at the Hank Snow Home Town Museum in Liverpool, Nova Scotia, on May 9, 2014, the centenary of his birth. The stamp was available for use as of July 31, 2014.
(Credit: Canada Post, Radio Canada International)
Consider the following items for borrowing from Toronto Public Library collections:
Book:
Consider this 2014 biography of Hank Snow by Vernon Oickle whose release was timed to coincide with the 100th anniversary of his birth. Read about Snow’s humble beginnings and challenges facing child abuse but admire his perseverance in launching his music career in Canada before shifting to the United States for wider recognition and fame and fortune.
CD:
The music on this two CD set was originally recorded between 1950 and 1974.
One thought on “Remembering Hank Snow: December 20: Snapshots in History”
I’ve been attending the Hank Snow Tribute since 1997. Most always takes place on the 3rd Wk End in Aug. It’s now being held in Liverpool N.S., near his childhood home in Brooklyn, …see ya’ there….Bobby Burke, Saint John N.B.