ROOTS of Country Music

The Professional Work of Hank Snow     

(May 9, 1914 ~ Dec. 20, 1999)

Career Highlights

No. 19 Country Music Artist (1944 - 1993)

Grand Ole Opry Member -1950

Barn Dance Affiliate

• Louisiana Hayride
• Wheeling Jamboree

Band Name: The Rainbow Ranch Boys

Stage Name: The Singing Ranger

Film, Night Club, Radio & TV

• CHNX-Halifax, NS, Canada -1934, 3
• Ed Sullivan Show, 4
• Ernest Tubb’s  Midnight Jamboree, 3
• Gilley’s Club, 2
• Hee Haw, 4
• KRLD-Dallas, Texas, USA -1948, 3
• Nashville Now, 4
• Pop Goes the Country, 4
• The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour, 4
• The Johnny cash Show, 4
• The Porter Wagoner Show, 4
• The Wilburn Brothers Show, 4  

1-Film, 2-Night Club, 3-Radio, 4-TV

Billboard Chart Data 

• No. 1 Singles: 6
• Top-10 Singles: 43
• Crossover Singles: 0
• Charted Singles:85
• Chart Years Active: (1949-1980)

Awards

Country Music Association

• Country Music Hall of Fame (1979)

Billboard Top-10 Singles 

1. Marriage Vow -1949
2. I'm Moving On*# -1950
3. The Golden Rocket*
4. The Rhumba Boogie* -1951
5. Bluebird Island, 1
6. Down the Trail of Achin' Hearts, 1
7. Unwanted Sign Upon Your Heart
8. Music Makin' Mama from Memphis
9. The Gold Rush Is Over -1952
10. Lady's Man
11. "Married by the Bible, Divorced by the Law
12. I Went To Your Wedding
13. The Gal Who Inventing Kissin'
14. (Now and Then There's) A Fool Such as I
15. Honeymoonj On a Rocketship -1953
16. Spanish Fireball
17. For Now and Always
18. When Mexican Joe Met Jole Brown
19. I Don't Hurt Anymore*, 2
20. "That Crazy Mambo Thing
21. Let Me Go Lover*
22. Yellow Roses
23. Would You Mind
24. Cryin', Prayin', Waitin', Hopin' -1955
25. I'm Glad I Got to See You Once Again
26. Mainliner (The Hawk with Silver Wings)
27. Born to Be Happy
28. These Hands
29. Conscience I'm Guilty -1956
30. Hula Rock
31. Stolen Moments
32. Tangled Mind -1957
33. My Arms Are a House
34. Big Wheels -1958
35. Chasin' a Rainbow -1959
36. The Last Ride
37. Millers Cave -1960
38. Beggar To a King -1961
39. I've Been Everywhere*
40. "The Man Who Robbed the Bank...-1963
41. Ninety Miles an Hour (Down a Dead...)
42. The Wishing Well (Down in the Well) 1965
43. Hello Love* -1974 

*-No. 1 Chart Single

#-Biggest Chart Single All-Time

1-With Anita carter

2-5th Biggest Chart Song All-Time

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------The RCA Radio Transcriptions 1950-1956

During the early to mid-1950s, RCA recording star, Hank Snow was one of the most popular and successful recording artist in country music. From December 1949 to July 1957, Snow charted thirty-six top-10 hits. With the exception of the single, The Next Voice You Hear (No. 15, 1955), it was a run of consecutive top-10 hits.

During much of that time, Hank was also recording a non-commercial series of songs that was never released for sale to the public. This was a series of radio transcriptions that RCA made under the name Thesaurus and between 1950 and 1956, Snow committed 138 songs to it.

Many of these songs Hank never recorded anywhere else and some were early and differen versions of songs that did make their way onto later albums. Some of the songs recorded on this series were later recorded by Hank commercially.

These recordings took place at the following studios: Brown Radio Productions, Nashville, Tennessee USA (1950~1952), Thomas Productions, Nashville, Tennessee  (1953) and RCA Victor Studios, 1525 McGavock St., Nashville, Tennessee (1955-1956). 

Most of the session musicians are unknown. However, the following have been identified: Hank Snow (vocals, guitar), Velma E. Williams Smith (guitar), Joseph Hale Talbot III (steel guitar) Robert R. "Chubby" Weise and N. H. Tommy  Vaden (fiddle).

In 1991, Bear Family released these songs on a 5-CD box set entitled The Thesaurus Transcriptions Hank Snow.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Brand on My Heart: The Hank Snow Story

Clarence Eugene "Hank” Snow  was a Canadian-born American country music artist. He charted more than 70 singles on the Billboard country charts from 1949 through 1980. Between 1949 and 1959, Hank racked up 42 consecutive top-20 singles. Hank’s chart topping songs began with the massive hit, I'm Moving On, the biggest Billboard chart single in the history of country music. It dominated Billboard’s number one chart position for 21 weeks in 1950.

At the age of 14 Snow left home to work as a deck-hand on fishing schooners based out of Lunenburg, Nova Scotia Canada. With his initial income he bought his first guitar. Hank entertained friends and neighbors and quickly developed excellent skills as a musician and entertainer at kitchen parties and neighborhood picnics.

His professional career started at CHNS Radio in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada in 1934. Throughout the 30s and 40s he toured the Maritimes and Western Canada playing at county fairs and local radio stations.
 In September 1935 Hank Snow married Minnie Aalders. They had a son, Jimmie Rodgers Snow, who traveled with Hank and eventually joined Hank on stage on numerous occasions.

In 1936 Hank made his first recording in Montreal, Canada with RCA Victor's Bluebird label. Subsequently, he was signed to his first recording contract with RCA Victor, Canada, in October of 1936. Snow’s association with RCA Records continued for 45 years, the longest continuous contract in the history of the recording industry.

Known as the singing Ranger, Snow made his way South and had his first appearance at WWVA Jamboree in 1945. There he acquired his trained horse Shawnee, whose tricks and daredevil stunts with Hank endeared them to audiences.

Soon after acquiring his radio position, Hank decided to form the Rainbow Ranch Boys and established himself as the Singing Ranger.  As Hank matured professionally, more important things came his way. Soon he was invited to become a featured act on the Canadian Farm Hour.

In 1949, Hank made his first performing tour in the United States to coincide with the release of his first American record. Hank, who joined the Grand Ole Opry in 1950, amassed an impressive cache of hits, including I'm Moving On, Rhumba Boogie, Bluebird Island, Golden Rocket, I’ve Been Everywhere , I Don’t Hurt Anymore and Hello Love and many more. Snow has recorded more than 80 albums, and more than 2,000 songs and instrumentals.

I'm Moving On reached No.1 on the Billboard country singles chart and stayed there for 21 weeks, tying the record. It was the first of seven number one Billboard country hits Snow scored throughout his career. I'm Moving On is one of three songs in the history of the Billboard country charts to spend 21 weeks at No.1. The others being I'll Hold You in My Heart (Till I Can Hold You in My Arms) (1947) by Eddy Arnold and In the Jailhouse Now (1955) by Webb Pierce.

During the latter half of the '60s, Snow's career slowed down considerably, as he wasn't able to make the transition to the new, heavily orchestrated country-pop sounds, nor was he able to keep pace with the emerging Bakersfield sound. Instead, his singles placed in the lower reaches of the charts, while his concerts and Grand Ole Opry appearances continued to be quite popular.

It wasn't until 1974 that another monster hit arrived in the form of Hello Love, which unexpectedly climbed to number one. Hank holds the record of being the oldest country performer ever to have a number one hit. At the age of 60, one of Snow's greatest songs (Hello Love) was recorded and rose to number one on Billboard.

Instead of reviving his chart activity, Hello Love proved to be a last gasp. Between its release in 1974 and 1980, Snow had only two other top-40 hits, which both charted the same year as Hello Love. Despite his declining record sales, his profile remained high through his concerts and several lifetime-achievement awards, including his induction to the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1978 and the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1979.

In 1981, Snow's recording career ended when RCA dropped him after a 45-year relationship. Snow was very upset with the separation, as well as the direction that country music was taking, claiming that country music is not fit to listen to. He was equally angry that country's roots were being diluted by pop and rock production influences.

Though he never recorded again, Snow remained active on the Grand Ole Opry into the '90s and he spent considerable time working for his Foundation for Child Abuse. In 1994, Snow published his autobiography, The Hank Snow Story. Late the following year, he was stricken with a respiratory illness, yet he recovered in 1996, returning to the Grand Ole Opry in August of that year.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Authors Note:

James Widener was a musician who played rhythm guitar with Hank Snow for nearly twelve years. He was an Air Force veteran and the Distinguished Flying Cross was one of a dozen medals he held.

Widner was robbed, severly beaten and shot twice. Widener, prior to going to Nashville, had been an ace sideman with groups headed by Cliffie Stone and Spade Cooley in Southern California.

Widener died a week after Stringbean was murdered. James is said to have made comment about Stringbean's murder saying: "When music people die it usually comes in threes, I wonder who will be next?" He was robbed and brutally murdered the following week.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Researched, written and compiled by Richard Bell, Roots of Country Music. Oct. 2011.

Hank Snow