'Skinny' soon began to realize the possibilities of earning a living from playing cards. With an additional 40 hours a week now on his hands, Hankins started playing more poker at nearby casinos and at a local home game, the poker barn. 'I went from earning $1,100 a week to collecting a $200 a week unemployment check,' said Hankins in his slow southern drawl.

However, beginning in 2008, production cuts resulted in the layoff of hundreds of employees at the LaVergne, TN plant. Hankins started playing poker recreationally three years ago, both for fun and to make a bit of side money to supplement the income he earned making tires at the Bridgestone plant near his hometown of Murfreesboro, TN. The late 50s showed a welcome return to more jazz-orientated material (Goin’ To Chicago Blues etc.), and no less a jazz great than Ben Webster plays along on her beautiful final track More Than You Know.TUNICA, MS – Robert 'Skinny' Hankins is the latest Circuit Event winner at the World Series of Poker Circuit Events at Harrah’s Tunica. Apart from the million selling Wheel Of Fortune there were 14 more Top Ten smashes. The first solo hit came in 1948 with You Were Only Foolin’, but then they came thick and fast. Early tracks show her as an excellent jazz artist. Wheel Of Fortune was both Kay Starr’s biggest hit and theme song, and it spearheads Retrospective’s collection. The ‘wheel of fortune’ turned her way and she enjoyed 33 chart successes from 1948 to her last Top Ten entry in 1957. Her powerful, emotional style gave her performances wide appeal. Born on an Oklahoma Indian reservation, Katherine LaVerne Starkes took the name “Kay Starr” and became one of the biggest female pop stars of the early and mid 50s. This exciting collection presents her 58 finest tracks up to 1961, including all her many major hits. Retrospective pays tribute to Kay Starr, who died in 2016 at the age of 94.

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