Country Music Legend of the Week, Hank Snow [VIDEOS]
Hank Snow, May 9, 1914 – December 20, 1999, was a Canadian-American country music artist. He charted more than 70 singles on the Billboard country charts from 1950 until 1980.
This total includes the number 1 hits "I'm Moving On", "The Golden Rocket", "I Don't Hurt Anymore", "Let Me Go, Lover!", "I've Been Everywhere", and "Hello Love" as well as other top ten hits.
He is a member of both the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame and the Music Hall of Fame.
Snow moved to Nashville, Tennessee in 1945, and "Hank Snow, the Singing Ranger" (modified from his earlier nickname, the Yodeling Ranger), was invited to play at the Grand Ole Opry in 1950. That same year he released his hit, "I'm Moving On." The first of seven number 1 hits on the country charts, "I'm Moving On" stayed at the top for 21 weeks, setting the all-time record for most weeks at number 1.
Watch the "I've Been Everywhere" video.
Watch the "I'm Movin' On" Video.
Watch the "I Don't Hurt Anymore" video.
That same year " "The Golden Rocket" and "The Rhumba Boogie" both hit number one with the latter remaining #1 for eight weeks.
Along with these hits, his other "signature song" was "I've Been Everywhere," in which he portrayed himself as a hitchhiker bragging about all the towns he'd been through. This song was originally written and performed in Australia by Geoff Mack, and its re-write incorporated North American place names. Rattling off a well-rhymed series of city names at an auctioneer's pace has long made the song a challenge for any singer.
While performing in Renfro Valley, Snow worked with a young Hank Williams.
In the February 7th 1953 edition, Billboard Magazine reported that Snow's then seventeen year old son, Jimmy Rogers Snow, had "signed with Victor" (RCA Victor Records). Billboard reported that the younger Snow would "record duets with his father", as well as cover his own material.
Elvis Presley, The Rolling Stones, Ray Charles, Ashley MacIsaac, Johnny Cash and Emmylou Harris, among others, have covered his music.
Snow died of old age at 12:30am on December 20, 1999 at his Rainbow Ranch in Madison, Tennessee and was interred in the Spring Hill Cemetery in Nashville.