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| -article in the Gannon Knight, April 26, 1974. |
Ageless Hank Snow: Still Movin' On
by Pamela Verity and Michael LyonCountry music is known for producing performers who have careers lasting twenty and thirty years. If you happened to have been at the Erie County Field House on April 5 you had a chance to see one of these performers- Hank Snow.
Hank- at age 60- has been at this business a long time. He's been under contract to RCA records for 38 years and has released about 80 albums and numerous singles.
In previous years he used to do anywhere from 250 to 275 one-nighters a year. "That's why I look this way," he says with a smile. But for the past five or six years he has cut down to about 75 concert dates a year.
Adorned in a beautifully embroidered and sequined suit, Hank came out amidst the welcoming applause and immediately broke into his biggest hit "I'm Movin' On." From the additional audience response you could tell that after twenty-four years, it was still a big favorite.
During that first song and even after its conclusion, people kept coming to the stage to snap pictures of Hank and his band, the Rainbow Ranch Boys.
Hank and the boys, displaying the kind of warm, friendly humor that Hank is known for, quickly got into into a humorous pose which included one member of bank putting his hand behind Hank's head and making the two-fingered "Indian" sign. You could tell that they were enjoying everything as much as the audience was.
The whole show went along in that same good, fun-loving fashion. Hank did some of his past hits such as "A Fool Such As I" and "I Don't Hurt Anymore" as well as a Jimmie Rodgers' original, a railroad song, and two instrumentals.
The audience enjoyed everything he did. When Hank did his current single "Hello Love" he received his largest response from the crowd to that point. Maybe that helps explain why "Hello Love" is his biggest record in eleven years.
Hank finished his show with another of his hits "I've Been Everywhere." The audience as it had done numerous times during the show, clapped along with the song.
You don't have to talk to Hank Snow to realize that he likes performing country music. But if you do mention it to him, he doesn't hesitate to answer.
"I'm a person that likes to be occupied all the time. I don't work in the wintertime and I nearly go crazy waiting for the time to go out on the road again."
Hank says he's thought about retirement but will stick with it "as long as my health stays good and people enjoy my work." As far as the Erie area people, Clarence E. 'Hank' Snow was really impressed. "When you come to a city as friendly as Erie and you get a welcome like that, you know you've been away too long. We're not gonna do that again."
Here's a video of Hank Snow performing "I'm Movin' On" which was posted to YouTube by Gatorrock787: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRz8nXFVegc&feature=related
Learn more fun facts about Erie, Pennsylvania at Old Time Erie
