Before there was Hank Williams, there was Hank Snow. The Canadian Country Music Hall of Famer enjoyed a prolific career that spanned three decades, notching No. 1 hits with songs like “I’m Moving On” and “I’ve Been Everywhere, Man.” On this day, we take a closer look at the achievements of Hank Snow, who died on this day in 1999 at age 85 at his home in Madison, Tennessee.
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Born May 9, 1914 in the small Nova Scotia community of Brooklyn, Clarence Eugene “Hank” Snow was the fifth of six children, the two eldest of whom died in infancy. His parents struggled to feed their four surviving kids, with his father taking low-pay foreman positions in sawmills often far from home. Meanwhile, his mother contributed by washing clothes and scrubbing floors.
Still, the Snow home was a musical one. His father enjoyed singing, and his mom played piano and pump organ. Unfortunately, his parents separated when Snow was 8, and the Canadian government decided that his mother could not financially care for her children. Snow went to live with his paternal grandmother, who physically abused him.
Eventually, he rejoined his mother, whose new husband also abused Snow and kicked him out of the house at age 12. The preteen found work as a “cabin boy” on fishing boats, using his earnings to buy a guitar and chord book. Snow soon began singing for his crewmates, but after a near-shipwreck in 1930, he decided to permanently return to land.
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Hank Snow Idolized This Yodeling Country Star
Throughout the turmoil life brought him, Hank Snow clung to his dream of following in the footsteps of “America’s Blue Yodeler,” Jimmie Rodgers. After a stint on a local radio show, during which he became known as “the Singing Ranger,” Snow landed his first record deal in 1936 with the Canadian arm of RCA. He spent the next decade building a fanbase in his home country, recording about 90 songs.
It wasn’t until after Snow moved to Nashville in 1949 that his single “I’m Moving On” climbed to the top of the Billboard country charts, holding that position for a record-tying 21 weeks. It marked the first of seven No. 1 hits for the “Singing Ranger,” a string that included “The Golden Rocket” and “I’ve Been Everywhere, Man.”
In a 1994 interview with Rolling Stone, Johnny Cash himself named Hank Snow among the artists whose work he considered “seminal country music” and “still the best.” And once Johnny Cash thinks you’re cool, you keep that label forever.
Featured image by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
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