Hank Fort

Artist: Hank Fort

LP: Hank Fort Sings Her Own Great Songs

Song: "You Can't Hurt Me Now Cause I'm Daid"

[ listen ]

Song: "I Didn't Know the Gun Was Loaded"

[ listen ]

After camping overnight during a thunderstorm at the East Bay State Park on the shores of Lake Erie and then visiting a Merry-Go-Round Museum in Sandusky the following morning, I arrived in the large, beautiful, rusty, and wonderful city of Cleveland in the late afternoon.

 [ Cleveland, OH ]

The first place I stopped was My Mind's Eye Records in Lakewood, on Cleveland's west end. There's no listening station there, but I found some great stuff I was familiar with, along with a few others I was willing to take a chance on based on the covers, since the prices were low. The owner and other folks working at the store were friendly and helpful, and recommended other record stores I should visit in Cleveland.

[ My Mind's Eye Records — Cleveland, OH ]

One of the things I discovered at My Mind's Eye is this 1958 Hank Fort record for which I paid just $2. I really can't say I was taking a chance at that rate—especially when you consider that the record includes songs called "I Didn't Know the Gun Was Loaded" and "You Can't Hurt Me Now Cause I'm Daid," and that they're being sung by a lovely-looking woman named Hank. Born in Nashville, Tennessee before it was the country music capitol of the world, Alma Louise Middleton Hankins Fort wrote more than 400 songs during her career. You can find a nice photo from Life Magazine below where Hank is shown sorting through sheet music copies of "Put Your Shoes On, Lucy," one of her most popular tunes. There's more about Hank Fort here, where you'll learn where you can go to visit her grave, and go to Lonesome Lefty's Scratchy Attic here to listen to more of Hank's songs. Notes and photos from the back of the "Hank Fort Sings Her Own Great Songs" LP are included below.

[ Hank Fort: June 14, 1914 — January 12, 1973 ]