I'm Movin' On - the Life and Legacy of Hank Snow by Vernon Oickle

Published by Nimbus

Hank Snow, a man who certainly has 'been everywhere'...a Canadian and international legend in his time and on through his legacy of country music. This biography by Vernon Oikle is a bit of an eye opener. We watched his burgeoning career, having been too young to see his beginnings. Born in 1914, his early life brutal and difficult, a life that began in the years of WW1, the Spanish 'flu, starvation and desperation in the small town of Brooklyn in Nova Scotia, Canada. This book follows his life from birth past death on to his post-mortem accolades. He may have been 'movin' on' but what he accomplished in his lifetime will fortunately remain with us. There are some wonderful old photos in the book, too.

I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who loves country music, ambition, accomplishment, and determination to succeed. Learn how one man accomplished so many dreams. I thought I knew Hank Snow's music, but soon discovered I didn't know much of anything. I knew his voice, but never understood his instrumental skills. Nor did I realize just how many hit songs he wrote that became huge hits for other vocalists of the '40s to '60s in particular, some who were in a completely different genre.

His legacy is not just his music, his fame, nor his name. His legacy includes the societies he set up and backed up for abused children. This, perhaps, was his biggest focus outside of music. As an abused child himself, he wanted to make a difference in the treatment of children. If he could have, he would have ended child abuse. That is how important this was to his life.

Hank Snow began his career as Jack Snow, regardless of the fact that his name was actually Clarence. This is just one of many strange facts scattered throughout this book. I wonder how many people living today remember that he began his career as a trick rider and yodeler. I wonder how many know that he wrote and recorded that still remain as best sellers. Today, in the digital world, this is a man who would have been in the forefront of writing songs for today’s country stars. He has so many awards, accolades, a museum and yearly festival in New Brunswick, where he was born, and inducted into so many Halls of Fame. A man who came from nothing but never gave up his dream. A man whose music goes on today, even 100 years after his birth.

My Remarkable Journey by Larry King

Reviewed for Edwards Book Club
Published by Penguin Canada, 2010

What a strange feeling to be reviewing "My Remarkable Journey" by Larry King! With a rare gift of communication, he takes us on his journey through life beginning as a little Jewish kid in Brooklyn through local radio to global TV fame. From the loss of his father who died of a heart attack at work and the loss of his grandmother two weeks later, Larry King seems always to be looking and finding love only to lose it again. The book is very revealing, honest and fascinating, not because of all the famous names that populate the book, but because of how these people react and communicate with him. The respect for who he interviews, and the respect which is shown him comes through loud and clear. But so, too, comes his downfall with his arrest and in his own personal life at that particular time.

He reads people with great insight and passes it on to the reader. Sure, he sometimes comes off sounding a little self-absorbed, especially when he is not on the air, but it is his story, and in fact he may not even be aware of it. He is just as often overwhelmed by his success and often feeling undeserving. But get him on the air with any influential person, or even as he would say, the plumber, and lightning strikes. On the air or in the book he has a way of letting his guests, and his readers, feel comfortable and thus interested. While reading this book, I felt that I really got to know a lot about Larry King, but also some understanding of why he has married so often and divorced so often, and a feeling of family seems to exist around his children and himself. The shock of learning his first wife had given him a son he never knew about toward the end of the book when she was dying, soon gave him one more son to love.

I think the best parts of his book, though, are those from breakfasts at Nate 'n Al's. There he is one of the guys, with friends he grew up with, friends he has made since and maybe that is "home" after all. My personal take is, if you still have friends you knew as a kid, you have had a meaningful and successful life.