Saturday's Internet Edition, May 17, 2008.
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“Since the show is sponsored by Country Legends 98.3 and two legends are performing in it, I’ll be playing older country standards myself,” Snow said. “I’ll probably also do one or two original tunes.”
Backing up Snow in the upcoming concert are Melanie Hadley, his sister, on vocals, Robert Fry on bass and Henry Lethco on drums.
Snow and Craddock have worked together before. Not only have they done other concerts together, but Snow worked with Craddock on a Christmas album a couple of years back.
While Snow performs around here — both with his band and as a solo act — most of his working time is now spent at the studio in the basement of his home on Joe Moore Road, just north of the city limits, where he has lived the past five years.
“My primary job is to produce soundtracks for songwriters and artists who don’t play instruments,” Snow said. “This is something I can do primarily by myself.”
One reason Snow can produce soundtracks without needing anyone else is that he has a state-of-the-art recording studio. Another advantage the seasoned professional musician has is that he owns — and can play — a variety of musical instruments. Furthermore, Snow’s vocal ability keeps him from needing any male background singers.
“I’m in the process of working on an album of my own,” Snow said. “Music is all I eat, sleep and dream.”
Snow has been eating, sleeping and dreaming music for virtually all of his life. His father was a professional musician. By the time young Mitch was 10, he was playing bass in his father’s band. Eventually his father, the lead guitarist, taught Mitch the chords to enable him to play rhythm guitar in the band. He also dabbled — in a primitive way — at recording.
“I’d record tracks by using two cassette recorders,” Snow remembered. “I’d record myself and play it back and add to it by using the other recorder.”
Soon after he graduated from Ragsdale High School, Snow, with the help of a friend, landed a job as a guitarist in Las Vegas. That led to decades on the road as a traveling musician. The performer has shared the stage with stars, such as Bob Hope, Dionne Warwick, Marty Robbins and Marty Stuart. He did this from 1978 until about 1993.
“I grew tired of being in that club rut,” Snow said. “I could make enough money to pay the band and make a living, but I didn’t have enough of that promotional money to get me to the next step.”
Finally Snow’s stepfather helped him get to the next step. He owned rental houses, including one on Randolph Street in Thomasville. There Snow, not only moved in, but opened his studio and began producing music for others.
“I’ve come a long way as far as my studio music,” Snow said. “I started with a little reel-to-reel tape track.”
Now Snow gets requests from all over the world for him to produce songs written by other people. Work to be done is literally piling up on the console of his recording studio. A lot of the material he records for others winds up being played on the radio. He gets e-mails from all over the world. Lately, he’s been contacted a lot from the Netherlands, where a song he sang and produced is getting a lot of air play.
“I’ve been hearing so much about me somewhere else, I want to put my own stuff out there,” Snow said. “I’m in the process of working on an album of my own with old traditional gospel songs that I heard growing up.”
The album is tentatively entitled, “Songs From My Roots.” Snow is also working on a couple of country albums.
Another way Snow’s career has come full circle is that his son, Brandon, a guitarist, bassist, drummer and music major at Pfeiffer University, frequently plays with him. Furthermore, Gracie, his 5-year-old daughter occasionally joins with him on-stage to sing. His wife Tammy is office manager at Thomasville Chrevrolet Buick Pontiac.
While there were some Snows who helped Mitch along, the best known singer by that name is the late Hank Snow. Of the country music legend from 50-plus years ago, Mitch said, “If I was kin to him, I might be farther along in the business.”
Staff Writer Kevin Reid can be reached at 472-9500, ext. 230, or at reid@tvilletimes.com.