Juno-nominated Hann enchanted local children through music, TV show

Juno-nominated for his blend of folk, country and children's music, Paul Hann was a celebrated musician who died back in October at age 77.

If you were a child in Edmonton in the 1980s, there’s a good chance you remember music on TV from Saturday mornings from Paul Hann and Friends.

The show was recorded then in a CTV Edmonton studio before an audience of young students bused in from local schools for hundreds of episodes.

Hann’s son, Mike, remembers visiting the studio on the city’s west side, describing “butterflies” from excitement.

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“I was just so excited that this was my dad and all these people were engaged, enjoying themselves so much,” Mike Hann told CTV News Edmonton this month while recollecting the life and times of his father, who passed away aged 77 in October.

Paul Hann arrived in Alberta from England in the late 1960s, looking for work in the oil patch or as a lumberjack. Instead, he worked at the old Woolworth’s department store in downtown Edmonton before plunging into a career in music

His sound was a mix of folk, rock and country music, Mike said, and caught the attention of Holger Petersen in the early 1970s

Petersen, founder of the famed Stony Plain Records, signed and recorded Paul before the label went on to release music from the likes of Ian Tyson, Spirit of the West and Corb Lund.

Paul’s 1973 album Fine White Thread was the first of hundreds of releases over the past 50-plus years by Stony Plain and landed him a Juno Award nomination for most promising male artist.

“His goals weren’t kids’ entertainer to begin with,” Petersen told CTV News Edmonton. “He just had a wonderful, engaging personality, and he treated kids with respect, loved being around kids and was very genuine around kids.”

Hann’s children’s music and nationally aired TV show arrived in the early 1980s.

His album Snyder the Spider was nominated for a Juno in 1985.

Mike said his dad wasn’t a traditional children’s entertainer and that he didn’t want to tell kids how to behave.

“He wanted to see them on his level and sing about fun things like having fun with your parents and trips to the zoo and bananas not having any bones,” he said.

Hann eventually left Edmonton for the west coast but often returned.

“His heart was always with Edmonton over the years,” Mike said. “He was grateful for what Edmonton did for him. It’s where he got his start …

“He held Edmonton dear in his heart.”