REAL COUNTRY MUSIC JUKEBOX
WELCOME TO THE REAL COUNTRY MUSIC JUKEBOX.
WHERE YOU WILL ONLY HERE THE TRADITIONAL COUNTRY MUSIC.
THERE IS NO GUITAR SMASHING, ROPE SWINGING, SLEAZY STUFF HERE. PURE 100% DIE HARD COUNTRY IS WHAT WE ARE.
Hank Snow, ‘The Singing Ranger,’ left behind a body of recorded work that has rarely been equalled and is unlikely to be by any of the current stars of today. A true pioneer, he was at the forefront of the growth of Nashville into Music City. Throughout his long and memorable career Hank maintained a dignity and quality with both his music and his lifestyle that is a lesson to all those who try and follow in his footsteps. With his rich, flexible baritone voice and hard-driving, deep-picking guitar style, Snow specialised in the whine and twang of traditional country with weepy ballads and cliché-ridden lines. Self-appointed hipsters have long laughed at ‘The Singing Ranger,’ who sang corny ballads in his very own style, but there are horses for courses, as they say, and the man always had a certain charm with the right song. He had a substantial international impact on the evolution of country music, and songs like I’m Movin' On, The Gold Rush Is Over, I Went To Your Wedding, I Don’t Hurt Anymore, Miller’s Cave, Beggar To A King and I’veBeen Everywhere remain country standards, many of which have been well-covered by singers from all styles of music. When he toured the UK for the first time in 1969, he even attracted Beatle Ringo Starr, a long time Snow fan, to his concerts. His success stemmed from total dedication
to his music and his continual striving for perfection. He consistently fought against what he believed to be over commercialization of country music. Throughout the late 1950s and early 1960s he steadfastly refused to follow in the footsteps of Jim Reeves, Patsy Cline, Marty Robbins, Ray Price and Eddy Arnold in using string arrangements as part of the pop-crossover Nashville Sound. In the early 1970s he stood his ground against the infiltration of country music by such pop acts as Olivia Newton-John and John Denver. He spearheaded the formation in 1974 of the Association of Country Entertainers, whose aim was to maintain a discernible country music sound in the face of all the pop-infiltration that was threatening the distinctiveness of the music. At the time, Snow felt more than a little embittered that his records were not being played on country radio.
He listened to Jimmie Rodgers records and in his late teens he began singing in Nova Scotia clubs. Dubbing himself ‘Hank, The Yodeling Ranger,’ he began performing on local radio station CHNS-Halifax. He had been warmly received by local audiences and their response bolstered the young singer’s confidence enormously, for this was his first professional job as a musician. Encouraged by the station’s engineer, in April 1935 he sent a hand-written letter to A.H. Joseph, the head of A&R at RCA Records, Montreal. Though he received a favorable reply, it was to be another year-and-a-half before he got the opportunity to travel the 600 miles to Montreal for an RCA Victor audition. In the meantime, he had married Minnie Blanche Aalders, and he and his young wife became proud parents of son, Jimmie Rodgers Snow.
Hank recorded his first session on October 29, 1936 in a makeshift studio in a run-down Montreal church. Cutting two self-penned songs, The Prisoned Cowboy and Lonesome Blue Yodel, they were released on RCA’s Bluebird label. The record hardly set the world alight, but did well enough for Hank to be invited back for a second session a year later, when he recorded another 8 songs. The Blue Velvet Band from that session became the first of a series of major Canadian hits.
Within two years he was the number one best-selling Canadian artist. He was moving forward, becoming successful in his homeland, but unable to establish himself across the border in the United States. Twice Hank journeyed to Hollywood and both times he returned to Canada disappointed and nearly broke, but with his spirit unbroken. In 1948 he decided to give the States a final try—travelling to Dallas where he did a live show over radio station KGVL and appeared at the Roundup Club.
After that trip, RCA Victor began to release some of his Canadian recordings in the United States. His rise to stardom in the US began as the records sold well in Texas and then spread to the east Tennessee area. A small start, but still it looked encouraging. Then, in the fall of 1949 Hank appeared as a supporting act in a show headed by Ernest Tubb. The Texas Troubadour befriended Snow and helped to get him on the Grand Ole Opry, which proved to be a turning point in Hank Snow’s career.
Apart from being one of country music’s sharpest and wittiest lyricists, Snow was also a disciple of the pioneering Jimmie Rodgers. As such he treasured train songs, fascinated by the iron beasts’ early appearance on the landscape, the possibility of release they offered and the sub-culture they spawned among drifters and hobos.
According to Hank, the music of Jimmie Rodgers, America’s Blue Yodeler, was a major influence in his early career and his repertoire was scattered with dozens of train songs, the most notable being The Golden Rocket and The Last Ride. Like Rodgers, Hank was far more than an accompanist on the guitar. An accomplished instrumental soloist in his own right, having played ‘lead’ guitar on several of his own recordings and having recorded several albums with guitarist Chet Atkins. Other similarities could be found, from the same intensity and vibrant feeling that each put into their songs.
Over a 25 year period, Hank scored 7 country chart-toppers and a further 40 top 10 country hits. He recorded more than 80 albums and in excess of 2,000 songs. Following his 1965 top 10 success with The Wishing Well, he didn’t enjoy another top 10 hit until 1974’s Hello Love, which proved to be a one-off success, being the last major hit of his career. In a story that sounds all too similar to today’s constant and critical battle between country music traditionalists and the progressive country proponents, Snow found his music was just not being accepted by the younger record buyers of the mid-1970s.
Despite his declining record sales, his profile remained high through his concerts and several lifetime-achievement awards, including his induction to the Nashville Songwriters International Hall of Fame in 1978 and the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1979. In 1974 he was a major player in the Association of Country Entertainers.
He remained active on the Grand Ole Opry into the 1990s, and he spent a lot of time working for his Foundation for the Prevention of Child Abuse which he had established in 1976. He published a lengthy autobiography The Hank Snow Story, in 1994. Hank Snow died on December 20, 1999 in his Nashville home.
