Last updated: October 21, 2022
Place
Rainbow Ranch
Photograph by Carroll Van West and Savannah Grandey, courtesy of the Tennessee State Historic Preser
Quick Facts
Location:
312 E Marthona Rd, Madison, Davidson County, Tennessee
Significance:
Performing Arts
Designation:
Listed in the National Register – Reference number 100003154
MANAGED BY:
Rainbow Ranch (Hank Show House, Office, and Studio), located in Davidson County, Tennessee, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Rainbow Ranch is closely associated with the rise of the Nashville music business and recording industry in the post-World War II period from 1950-1979. As well, Rainbow Ranch is closely associated with musician Hank Snow, as his former home, office, and studio. As an active home studio from 1953-1979, Rainbow Ranch is exceptionally important as one of the first, if not the first, home studios in Nashville. It predates later home studios developed by Chet Atkins (c. 1960) and Owen Bradley (c. 1966). At his home studio, Hank Snow not only recorded songs for albums, but also overdubs of his studio work. It was largely Snow’s home access to studio equipment that enabled him to sustain such a prolific career in the music business. Snow also recorded significant albums by artists that he managed, adding to Rainbow Ranch’s exceptional significance. In 1970, Snow added a rear wing to his house to handle his music business and house a new studio, which he used until the end of his music business career.
He recorded at his expanded home studio one of his last albums for RCA in 1979. Rainbow Ranch is the best extant property most strongly associated with the productive significant and exceptional career of Hank Snow, a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame. Snow began recording with the RCA Victor label in 1936. This relationship lasted continuously for forty-five years—a record not matched by any other recording star in 20th century popular music--and produced more than 800 commercial recordings, many of which charted on both the radio and sales charts and influenced generations of country and Americana performers. From 1951 to his death, Snow and his employees managed this significant music career from his home. As a studio known within the music community of Nashville, and due to Snow’s “star” quality by 1954, his house also served as a gathering spot for musicians and remained so until his retirement in 1996. More importantly the house was an office for his business interests, including management of other musicians. Therefore, the property served as an important and constant element in the trajectory of American Country Music over the course of much of the second-half of the twentieth-century. The house as it exists today, with its additions and studio space, reflects the advent of Snow’s fame, recording industry acumen, and involvement with other artists and his own music industry-related endeavors.
He recorded at his expanded home studio one of his last albums for RCA in 1979. Rainbow Ranch is the best extant property most strongly associated with the productive significant and exceptional career of Hank Snow, a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame. Snow began recording with the RCA Victor label in 1936. This relationship lasted continuously for forty-five years—a record not matched by any other recording star in 20th century popular music--and produced more than 800 commercial recordings, many of which charted on both the radio and sales charts and influenced generations of country and Americana performers. From 1951 to his death, Snow and his employees managed this significant music career from his home. As a studio known within the music community of Nashville, and due to Snow’s “star” quality by 1954, his house also served as a gathering spot for musicians and remained so until his retirement in 1996. More importantly the house was an office for his business interests, including management of other musicians. Therefore, the property served as an important and constant element in the trajectory of American Country Music over the course of much of the second-half of the twentieth-century. The house as it exists today, with its additions and studio space, reflects the advent of Snow’s fame, recording industry acumen, and involvement with other artists and his own music industry-related endeavors.