Tales of the Yukon

Personnel: Hank Snow (vocals, guitar); Clarence E. Snow (vocals, guitar); Harold Bradley, Lenny Breau (guitar); Robert Chubby Wise (fiddle); Hargus "Pig" Robbins (piano); Buddy Harman (drums).
Liner Note Author: Colin Escott.
Recording information: RCA Victor Studio, Nashville, TN (04/29/1968/04/30/1968).
Illustrator: Rainer Schmeissner.
Photographer: Rainer Schmeissner.
By the late 1960s, honky-tonk hero Hank Snow had little to prove to anyone, but instead of resting on his laurels, he challenged himself and his audience with this 1968 release. TALES OF THE YUKON is a concept album of tracks based on the writings of poet Robert Service about the untamed region of Western Canada. People tend to forget Snow's Canadian background, but he honors it well on this album, giving the characters of Service's poems new life, from "Blasphemous Bill" to "Hard Luck Henry." If combinations of country music and poetry on the order of Hank Williams's famed Luke the Drifter persona are your brand of whiskey, this distinctive variant on the style is bound to hit the spot.