Popular Culture Review Vol. 13, No. 1, January 2002 | Page 141

Hank Snow, The Singing Ranger 137 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