Hank England – Falmouth Farm Boy to Lexington Country Music Legend

Pro tip: If you are ever dating someone and that person has a copy of Hank England’s “My Little Kangaroo” – you should marry ’em right away. I did! I only wish I had been a little faster with this one. I dedicate this one to Kelly…Enjoy!  [2022 Shawn Chambers / Lexingtunes]

Well, Hank was good friends with ‘Whispering’ Bill Anderson and I remember one time we went to a big music convention in Nashville and Bill was broadcasting live from a room off the main hall. Well, those two were always joking with each other. Bill sees Hank and says “And now here comes Hank England! Why I thought I saw that tour bus of yours taking up all that space outside…” Of course, he didn’t let on to his listeners that Hank had arrived in his little VW bus that had ‘The Heart Breaks’ painted on the side. They laughed about that later. – Carol England

The story of Melvin Earl England begins humbly enough up in Pendleton County and the small town of Falmouth. Born in December of 1933 on the family farm, England’s parents would divorce and he would later be raised out McKinnesyburg Road by his remarried mother, Florence, and stepfather.

Young England dropped out of school in the eighth grade to work, but life on the farm was a tough one, which was made even more miserable by the constant butting of heads with his stepfather, Ashel. Increasingly, he began slipping away from home for longer and longer stretches spending his days and nights in the smoke-filled poolrooms of Falmouth.

An excellent shot from an early age, Melvin hustled pool and worked odd jobs to get by. At times when he was flush with cash he would often rent rooms in local hotels. On rarer stretches when the balls didn’t fall and his pockets were light…England had a mental catalog of likely places with unlocked doors he could use for a night.

It was during this time that the teenager found a real love for music. With his days largely unstructured, he rustled up a cheap guitar and learned some chords and found his voice – and a new name.

If the passed around story is to be believed, Melvin borrowed a nicer guitar for a show one night from an unknown artist who had a fancy strap emblazoned with the name “Hank”. Of course, the general public not knowing otherwise assumed Melvin was Hank. And so, it was. England would maintain this adopted name the rest of his life.

It is unknown just when a teenaged Hank first hit the stage in front of a real crowd. One of the earliest documented performances would have been around 1950 and comes from England reminiscing late in life about an early appearance at Renfro Valley’s famous Barn Dance.

The first time I performed there I was 17 years old. It was kind of like the Grand Ole Opry for me…I was a nervous wreck. – Hank England

These nerves of youth were soon a thing of the past as a twenty-something Hank settled down with his new bride Minnie and worked on his singing, songwriting and confidence as a performer.

The post war boom was less noticeable in Pendleton County than in the more affluent areas of the state, but it was clear to all that the world was changing in exciting ways. The advent of the 45 RPM  heralded in a new age of affordable music that could be easily delivered to all areas of the country. Like thousands of other budding entertainers, Hank was eager to drop a needle on his own record.

 

England’s first vinyl foray was for the Cincinnati based Ci-Sum (spell it backwards) label. Released in June 1956, the A-side “The Workingman’s Blues” could have been ripped from a songbook from a much earlier time. Despite still being only in his early twenties, Hank sings from experience and the heart and this cut is a great example of the country blues genre with a sound that would have made Jimmie Rodgers happy.

 

Hank’s sophomore effort of 1958 would become his most sought after and especially popular among collectors of rockabilly and early country rockers. His release of “My Little Kangaroo” on the one-off Kelly label out of Falmouth would also mark the only time that Hank recorded sides with lyrics by someone else – the still unknown J.K. Profitt (possibly a member of the KY Valley Boys who back England on the tracks). Profitt was clearly educated in the early primitive rock school of “if you’re a-spellin’ it, you must be a-doin’ it” lyrical style. The simple but fun lyrics are delivered with great gusto by England who interjects cat calls and exhortations throughout. Add in guitar and wild piano and it is easy to see why this was picked up and bootlegged on European LP compilations as early as the late 1980s.

R-O-C-K Rock. R-O-L-L Roll.
Oh when we are together it satisfies my soul
Do the swing and sway each night and day to the rock n roll

You’re my kangaroo, no one loves you like I do
It’s so good on Saturday night to be jumpin’ with delight
When we are together it satisfies my soul
Swing, sway each night and day to the rock n roll

The flip-side tear jerker is a complete shift with “The Invalid Child.” Again from Profitt’s pen, the composition is a clear nod to the various ‘crippled child in heaven’ themed songs that came before.

 

The scarcity of these early releases could easily be blamed on the limited pressing quantity, but there is another factor. Hank was logging long hours behind the wheel one day delivering copies to area radio stations when he accidentally left large quantities of them exposed in the sunny back seat of the car.

Black vinyl plus heat equals heartbreak for future collectors. Fortunately, there would  be more records to come.

Falmouth was rife with local talent and the Shipmates were a well-regarded band that Hank picked to back him on his third release on Cincinnati’s Ark label. A Rite Custom Press, “Tears” and “Since You Hurt My Feelings” are two England originals and a solid return to his country roots after the brief rock n’ roll side trip on his previous release. The country bopper “Tears” would be re-discovered early on and was comped in 1985 on the White Label LP “Rock From Rare Small Labels.” The lesser heard flip “Since You Hurt My Feelings” is a smoothly delivered tale of heartbreak.

 

Unable to rely on music for steady income, Hank joined Minnie at the sewing factory and they both tried to make a good life for their growing family, which now numbered three with a second son, Mark, arriving to greet the eldest David and sister Linda. To broaden his prospects, Hank began commuting to WCYN in Cynthiana to host a country music spot and quickly gained an audience.

Deejay Hank was in demand and he secured a more lucrative job at WAXU-AM in southern Scott County with a signal that reached well into the Lexington market. For many in the central Kentucky area Hank England is best remembered for his WAXU years spinning country. His on-air tagline as “Ma England’s worst young’un, Hank” brought smiles to thousands of listeners every day.

The Lexington area was a boon to Hank’s career and these years of his mid to late 30s would be his most successful as a performer.

Despite a thriving local music scene and solid country labels like REM and Sun-Ray, when Hank went back in the recording studio in 1965 it would be for Process Records in Pennsylvania. “Truck Driving Buddy” would undoubtedly become his greatest commercial success on record. With a promo photo sponsored by a local Lexington plumbing and heating firm and a very favorable review from Cashbox magazine, copies of the 45 surfaces often and sales would have likely numbered in the thousands. Hank penned both sides and clearly on the A-side had every intention to capitalize on the ‘trucking’ genre popularized by Dave Dudley and others in the early to mid-60s. His fine delivery and comedic twist ending were sure to snag many jukebox coins locally. The B-side “I Don’t Want Your Pity” is described aptly by Cashbox as ‘a sorrowful heartfelt woeser’.

 

 

England was a tireless promoter and was hired for many personal appearances at store or restaurant openings. One of the biggest was for the opening of an Arby’s on Southland Drive in Lexington, which delighted his kids as they ate free the entire day! He also worked many weekends at Mr. Wiggs entertaining the department store’s customers. Booking England was a bargain. A triple threat behind the microphone, he could emcee any show with wonderful stories and one-liners as well as sing and play. Oh, he was also a gifted salesman – a talent that would serve him very well in the future.

The mid 60s were arguably the finest years for live music in Lexington with countless venues to suit any taste including the Clay – Wachs arena, which drew the biggest names in country music. Beyond his ongoing radio work and personal appearances, Hank England was often in the stable of local stars who opened for acts like Loretta Lynn, Grandpa Jones, Bill Monroe, Minnie Pearl, Buck Owens, Bill Anderson and so many more. Many of these artists were still friends of Hank decades after.

Changes were all around. Hank had fallen for a single mother, Carol, a few years earlier and would ultimately divorce Minnie and marry her in 1968. Remembering his own troubled years in Falmouth with Ashel, Hank tried to be a great father, of course, and sought to keep harmony between his children and his new step-son, Michael.

In 1970, England put his sales skills to work for Paul Miller Ford and quickly excelled as a top salesman his first month. He would later move to Whitey’s Auto Sales before ultimately striking out on his own. “Cars From England” opened on North Limestone in 1973 with a tongue-in-cheek name that would occasionally confound locals hoping for a UK import only to find late model Plymouths, Pontiacs and Fords. He would later move near the intersection of Liberty and Todd’s Road and adopt a more conventional name – Hank England’s Used Cars.

Hank would still play when he found the time between work and family. He had also remained a country deejay, but radio was already becoming overly commercialized and restrictive and the freedom he enjoyed behind the WAXU console was from another era. One of the last times he worked on air locally was at WKDJ in Winchester in 1981.

The kids had become adults and there was little to keep Hank and Carol in the Lexington area so in the early 1980s they left for Florida. Hank remained a free spirit and the couple often traveled the country working flea markets hustling goods that Hank would purchase in bulk. Off season they returned to Florida and finally settled into retired life in the sunshine – though Hank could still be found occasionally in the familiar dark interiors of local pool halls.

In his 80s, he was still bitten by the entertainment bug and would return as late as 2014 and 2015 to the annual Renfro Valley Alumni Show where he would sing gospel and dust off his old jokes and stories to deliver to an appreciative crowd.

The boy from Falmouth sure left his mark on Kentucky. Hank England passed away in Florida in 2021 at age 87.

 

Discography:

Ci-Sum    61656       The Workingman’s Blues / So Love Me Or Find A New Home    1956
Kelly        600            My Little Kangaroo / The Invalid Child     1958
Ark          234            Tears / Since You Hurt My Feelings     1962
Process 148             Truck Driving Buddy / I Don’t Want Your Pity      1965