Popular Culture Review Vol. 13, No. 1, January 2002 | Page 141
Hank Snow, The Singing Ranger
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The event that changed Snow’s life was his mother’s purchase of two
items: a Hawaiian guitar from a mail-order catalog, and a recording ofr‘My BlueEyed Jane” by Jimmie Rodgers. In the late 1920s and early 1930s, Rodgers, a
former brakeman slowly dying of tuberculosis, was a popular recording artist whose
‘'’blue yodels” inspired countless young entertainers; indeed, the early recordings
of Gene Autry and Ernest Tubb are almost indistinguishable from those of Rodgers.
But Snow would become the Mississippi Blue Yodeler’s most devoted disciple.
He began imitating Rodgers, learning songs and the guitar, and trying to get on a
radio station to sing. In 1933, he succeeded, auditioning at station CHNS in Halifax
and winning a daily show (Snow, 1994, pp. 117-118; Dawidoff, 1997, p. 13; Malone,
1985, pp. 237-238).
Snow attributed his ultimate success to two factors: consuming ambition
and the understanding, criticism, and devotion of his wife, Minnie Blanche Aalders,
whom he married in 1935 (Snow, 1994, p. 131). The couple was so poor that their
son was bom in a Salvation Army charity hospital. Snow was so devoted to his
idol, and his wife was so accepting of that devotion, that they named their son
Jimmie Rodgers Snow (Snow, 1994, pp. 142-143). His son also had a career in
music as a singer, but it was short-lived, as he “found” the Lord and turned to the
ministry. (On March 15, 1974, father and son performed at the last “Opry” show
from the Ryman Auditorium in downtown Nashville. Hank sang, and Jimmie
preached the last sermon for the Opry stage [Gaillard, 1978, pp. 3-6]).
Shortly after the birth of his son. Snow went to Montreal, the Canadian
headquarters of R.C.A. He had written to the company’s executive there, A. H.
Joseph, who then invited Snow to visit. When they met, Joseph told him that they
had no need to re-record old material. Joseph told Snow he needed four new songs.
Snow had only written two songs, but in one evening wrote two more. The next
day he recorded the songs to the satisfaction of the studio. Soon he received his
first royalty check: $1.98.
Less than two dollars for recording records for the leading record company
in the world: this start to a recording career symbolized problems that would track
Snow for the next decade and a half. Life would be hard. From Snow’s telling of the
story, it is clear that he and his family remained victims of the Great Depression. He
went on public relief, and moved his family from home to home, often living with
his wife and son in a single room. Whenever he seemed to be prospering, he would
run into bad luck. When he boldly sought a new career move, he would be set back
on his heels. Despite these hard years. Snow came into the 1940s rivaling Wilf
Carter (“Montana Slim”) as Canada’s leading country singer (Malone, 1985, p. 90).
To his last days. Snow retained a deep attachment to Canada that belied
the tough years he had spent near the tundra. In his later years, a museum and
music center dedicated to Snow was built in Liverpool, Nova Scotia, in a restored