Tom T. Hall

Hall was born on Tick Ridge, seven miles south of Olive Hill, Kentucky, on May 25, 1936.{{cite web | title=Tom T. Hall, Country Music's 'Storyteller,' Is Dead at 85 | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/21/arts/music/tom-t-hall-country-musics-storyteller-is-dead-at-85.html | last=Friskics-Warren|first=Bill | work=The New York Times | date=August 21, 2021 | accessdate=August 21, 2021}}{{cite book | title= The Virgin Encyclopedia of Popular Music | editor=Colin Larkin|editor-link=Colin Larkin (writer) | publisher=Virgin Books | date=1997|edition=Concise | isbn=1-85227-745-9 | pages=561/2}} As a teenager, he organized a band, called the Kentucky Travelers, who performed before movies for a traveling theater. Hall enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1957, serving in Germany.[https://www.nbcnews.com/news/obituaries/tom-t-hall-country-music-storyteller-who-sang-about-life-n1277358 Tom T. Hall, country music storyteller who sang about life's simple joys, dies at 85] NBC News. Retrieved August 21, 2021.[https://www.allmusic.com/artist/tom-t-hall-mn0000515628/biography Tom T. Hall; Biography by Stephen Thomas Erlewine] AllMusic. Retrieved August 21, 2021. While in the service, he performed over the Armed Forces Radio Network and wrote comic songs about army experiences. Following his discharge in 1961, he used G.I. Bill educational benefits to enroll at Roanoke College, where he worked as a disc jockey.{{cite web |title=Artists Spotlight |url=https://www.roanoke.edu/about/175_anniversary/maroon_spotlight/artists_spotlight |access-date=January 23, 2020 |publisher=Roanoke College}} His early career included being an announcer at WRON, a local radio station in Ronceverte, West Virginia. Hall was also an announcer at WMOR (1330 AM) in Morehead and WGOH (1370 AM) in Grayson, both in Kentucky. Hall was also an announcer at WSPZ, which later became WVRC Radio in Spencer, West Virginia, in the 1960s.{{cite web | title=History of WSPZ/WVRC, Spencer | url=http://www.wvrcfm.com/Helping%20hands.html | publisher=WVRC | access-date=July 13, 2012}}

Hall's big songwriting break came in 1963, when country singer Jimmy C. Newman recorded his song "DJ for a Day". In 1964, Hall moved to Nashville and started to work as a $50-a-week songwriter for Newkeys Music, the publishing company belonging to Newman and his business partner, Jimmy Key, writing up to half a dozen country songs per day.{{cite web | last=Batey|first=Angus | url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2015/mar/31/cult-heroes-tom-t-hall-country-music-star-johnny-cash | title= Cult heroes: Tom T Hall, the singer who wrote of real lives and changing times | work=The Guardian | date=March 15, 2015 | access-date=December 22, 2018}} Key suggested that he add the middle initial "T" to his name. Hall was nicknamed "The Storyteller", and he composed songs for dozens of country music stars, including Johnny Cash, George Jones, Loretta Lynn, Waylon Jennings, Alan Jackson, and Bobby Bare. He also penned "Hello Vietnam", a song that openly supported the Vietnam War at a time when war-protest songs were beginning to dominate the pop music chart. The song proved to be a hit for country singer Johnnie Wright and was later used by Stanley Kubrick to provide the soundtrack to the barbershop montage that opens his 1987 Vietnam film Full Metal Jacket.{{cite news |last=Rossi |first=Rosemary |date=August 21, 2021 |title=Tom T Hall, Country Singer Who Wrote 'Harper Valley PTA,' Dies at 85 |url=https://news.yahoo.com/tom-t-hall-country-singer-172128699.html |accessdate=August 22, 2021 |work=Yahoo!}}

One of Hall's earliest successful songwriting ventures, "Harper Valley PTA", recorded in 1968 by Jeannie C. Riley, hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and Hot Country Singles charts a week apart. It sold over six million copies and won both a Grammy Award and a CMA Award. The song went on to inspire a motion picture and television program of the same name. Hall himself recorded the song for his album The Definitive Collection (as track number 23). His recording career took off after Riley's rendition of the song, and he released a number of hits from the late 1960s through the early 1980s. Some of his biggest hits include "A Week in a Country Jail", "(Old Dogs, Children and) Watermelon Wine", "I Love", "Country Is", "The Year Clayton Delaney Died", "I Like Beer", "Faster Horses (the Cowboy and the Poet)", and "That Song Is Driving Me Crazy". One of his best-known numbers, "Pamela Brown", was recorded by Leo Kottke and became a staple of his{{Clarify|reason=Hall's, or Kottke's?|date=July 2024}} performances. Hall is also noted for his child-oriented songs, including "Sneaky Snake" and "I Care", the latter of which hit number one on the country charts in 1975. His song "I Love", in which the narrator lists the things in life that he loves, was recorded by Heathen Dan, with completely altered lyrics, as "I Like"{{cite web |author=Lori Dorn |date=July 16, 2018 |title=A Disgusting Parody of the Lighthearted Classic 1973 Country Music Song 'I Love' by Tom T. Hall |url=https://laughingsquid.com/i-like-heathen-dan-i-love-tom-t-hall/ |accessdate=August 21, 2021 |website=Laughing Squid}} and appeared many times on Dr. Demento's show in the early 1980s. Hall's song was also used with altered lyrics and a hard-rock arrangement in a popular 2003 TV commercial for Coors Light.{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/01/26/magazine/the-way-we-live-now-1-26-03-process-how-to-write-a-catchy-beer-ad.html | title=THE WAY WE LIVE NOW – 1-26-03 – PROCESS – How to Write a Catchy Beer Ad | date=January 26, 2003 | work=The New York Times | access-date=January 23, 2016}} In the mid- to late 1970s, Hall was a commercial spokesperson for Chevrolet trucks.{{cite news | last=Willman|first=Chris | title=Tom T. Hall, Country Hall of Famer Known for 'I Love' and 'Harper Valley PTA,' Dies at 85 | url=https://variety.com/2021/music/obituaries-people-news/tom-t-hall-dead-country-music-legend-1235046057/ | newspaper=Variety | date=August 20, 2021 | accessdate=August 22, 2021}}

Hall succeeded Ralph Emery as host of the syndicated country music TV show Pop! Goes the Country in 1980 and continued until the series ended in 1982.{{cite web | title=Pop! Goes the Country (TV Series) – Full cast and crew | url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071035/fullcredits#cast | publisher=IMDb | access-date=July 13, 2012}} Hall largely retired from writing new material in 1986{{Cite web | url=https://www.oldies.com/artist-biography/Tom-T-Hall.html | title=Tom T. Hall Biography | website=Oldies.com | access-date=October 10, 2019}} and from performing in 1994;{{Cite web | first=Joel|last=Bernstein | url=http://www.countrystandardtime.com/d/article.asp?xid=468 | title=Tom T.Hall keeps a rappin' | website=Country Standard Time | date=October 1997 | access-date=October 10, 2019}} his last public performance, which was also his first in several years, was in 2011.{{Cite web | url=https://theboot.com/tom-t-hall-dixie-hall-country-love-stories/ | title=Tom T. + Dixie Hall – Country's Greatest Love Stories | first=Riane|last=Konc | website=The Boot | access-date=October 10, 2019}}

Hall won the Grammy Award for Best Album Notes in 1973 for the notes he wrote for his album Tom T. Hall's Greatest Hits. He was nominated for, but did not win, the same award in 1976 for his album Greatest Hits Volume 2. He was a member of the Grand Ole Opry from 1971.{{cite web | title=Tom T. Hall | url=http://www.opry.com/artists/h/Hall_TomT.html | publisher=Grand Ole Opry | access-date=June 29, 2012}}{{cite web | title=Opry Member List PDF | url=http://www.opry.com/img/Opry%20Members%20List.pdf | date=April 23, 2012 |access-date=June 29, 2012 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120607030858/http://www.opry.com/img/Opry%20Members%20List.pdf | archive-date=June 7, 2012}} In 1998, his 1972 song "(Old Dogs, Children and) Watermelon Wine" came in second in a BBC Radio 2 poll to find the UK's favorite easy listening record, despite never having been a hit in the UK and being familiar to Radio 2 listeners mostly through occasional plays by DJ Terry Wogan.{{cite news | url=https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-60709394.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160220160859/https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-60709394.html | url-status=dead | archive-date=February 20, 2016 | title=Eagles' Hotel Flys to Top of Poll | work=Birmingham Post | date=December 8, 1998 | page=16 | access-date=January 23, 2016 |url-access= }}

Hall was inducted into the Kentucky Music Hall of Fame in 2002,{{cite web | url=https://www.kentuckymusichalloffame.com/induction/ | title=KMHF Inductees | publisher=Kentucky Music Hall of Fame | access-date=December 22, 2018}} and into the Country Music Hall of Fame on February 12, 2008.{{cite web | url=https://www.bmi.com/news/entry/tom_t_hall_and_the_statler_brothers_join_the_country_music_hall_of_fame | title=Tom T. Hall and The Statler Brothers Join the Country Music Hall of Fame | publisher=Broadcast Music, Inc. | date=August 5, 2008 | access-date=December 22, 2018}} His wait for these honors was longer than anticipated; Hall attributed it to being somewhat reclusive and "not well liked" among the Nashville music industry, noting that he almost never collaborated with other songwriters, and by the 1990s, was largely out of step with the corporate style of country music.

On June 1, 2014, Rolling Stone ranked "(Old Dogs, Children and) Watermelon Wine" at number 93 on its list of the 100 greatest country songs.{{cite magazine | url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/pictures/100-greatest-country-songs-of-all-time-20140601/93-tom-t-hall-old-dogs-children-and-watermelon-wine-1972-0157334 | title=93. Tom T. Hall, 'Old Dogs, Children and Watermelon Wine' (1972) | magazine=Rolling Stone | date=June 2014 | access-date=January 23, 2016}} In November 2018 Hall and his wife Dixie Hall were inducted together into the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame.{{cite web | last=Kessler|first=K | url=https://ibma.org/page/3/?award_category=hall-of-fame-inductees | title=Award Category: Hall of Fame Inductees | publisher=IBMA | date=November 14, 2018 | access-date=December 22, 2018}} On June 13, 2019, Hall was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Of all the honors he had received in his lifetime, he considered this induction to be his proudest moment and the pinnacle of his achievement, also stating that he was taken by surprise for even being considered.{{Cite web | url=http://www.cmt.com/news/1506920/in-the-words-of-tom-t-hall/ | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151023003641/http://www.cmt.com/news/1506920/in-the-words-of-tom-t-hall/ | url-status=dead | archive-date=October 23, 2015 | title = In the Words of Tom T. Hall}}

Together with his wife Dixie he won the Society for the Preservation of Bluegrass Music of America Bluegrass Song Writer of the Year award in 2002,{{cite web|url=https://www.spbgma.com/2002-music-awards-results--spbgma.html|title=2002 Award Winners|publisher=spbgma.com|access-date=December 22, 2018}} 2003,{{cite web|url=https://www.spbgma.com/2003-music-awards-results--spbgma.html|title=2003 Award Winners|publisher=spbgma.com|access-date=December 22, 2018}} 2004,{{cite web|url=https://www.spbgma.com/2004-music-awards-results--spbgma.html|title=2004 Award Winners|publisher=spbgma.com|access-date=December 22, 2018}} 2005,{{cite web|url= https://www.spbgma.com/2005-music-awards-results--spbgma.html|title=2005 Award Winners|publisher=spbgma.com|access-date=December 22, 2018}} 2007,{{cite web|url= https://www.spbgma.com/2007-music-awards-results--spbgma.html |title=2007 Award Winners|publisher=spbgma.com|access-date=December 22, 2018}} 2008,{{cite web|url= https://www.spbgma.com/2008-music-awards-results--spbgma.html|title=2008 Award Winners|publisher=spbgma.com|access-date=December 22, 2018}} 2009,{{cite web|url=https://www.spbgma.com/2009-music-awards-results--spbgma.html

|title=2009 Award Winners|publisher=spbgma.com|access-date=December 22, 2018}} 2010,{{cite web|url= https://www.spbgma.com/2010-music-awards-results--spbgma.html |title=2010 Award Winners|publisher=spbgma.com|access-date=December 22, 2018}} 2011,{{cite web|url= https://www.spbgma.com/2011-music-awards-results--spbgma.html|title=2011 Award Winners|publisher=spbgma.com|access-date=December 22, 2018}} 2013,{{cite web|url= https://www.spbgma.com/2013-music-awards-results--spbgma.html|title=2013 Award Winners|publisher=spbgma.com|access-date=December 22, 2018}} 2014,{{cite web|url= https://www.spbgma.com/2014-music-awards-results--spbgma.html|title=2014 Award Winners|publisher=spbgma.com|access-date=December 22, 2018}} and 2015.{{cite web|url= https://www.spbgma.com/2015-music-awards-results--spbgma.html |title=2015 Award Winners|publisher=spbgma.com|access-date=December 22, 2018}}

Hall was married in 1961 to Opal "Hootie" McKinney, a native of Grayson, Kentucky.{{cite web|url=http://www.deanhall.com/tom-t-hall-son/|title=Tom T. Hall's Son?|date=August 21, 2016|access-date=January 12, 2019}}{{cite book |last1=Hall |first1=Tom T. |title=The Storyteller's Nashville |date=October 2016 |publisher=Spring House Press |isbn=978-1-940611-44-0 |page=160}} Their son, Dean Todd Hall, was born on June 11, 1961.[https://www.familysearch.org/search/record/results?q.anyDate.from=1961&q.anyPlace=Kentucky&q.givenName=Dean%20%20Todd&q.surname=Hall Family Search] Dean worked for his father in the early 1980s, first as a roadie and later as a guitarist. Dean has since worked as a solo artist and with Bobby Bare's band.

Hall met bluegrass songwriter Dixie Deen in 1965 at a music-industry award dinner to which she was invited for having written the song "Truck Drivin' Son-of-a-Gun", which became a hit for Dave Dudley. Born Iris Lawrence in the West Midlands, England, in 1934, she emigrated to the U.S. in 1961 and married Hall in 1968, taking the name Dixie Hall. The two were married until her death on January 16, 2015.{{cite web |last1=Whitaker |first1=Sterling |title=Songwriter Dixie Hall Dead at 80 |url=https://tasteofcountry.com/dixie-hall-dead-dies/ |website=Taste of Country |access-date=August 22, 2021 |language=en |date=January 17, 2015}}{{cite web |title=Dixie Hall, Songwriter and Wife of Tom T. Hall, Dead at 80 |url=http://www.cmt.com/news/1748137/dixie-hall-songwriter-and-wife-of-tom-t-hall-dead-at-80/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150121045237/http://www.cmt.com/news/1748137/dixie-hall-songwriter-and-wife-of-tom-t-hall-dead-at-80/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=January 21, 2015 |website=CMT News |access-date=August 22, 2021 |date=January 17, 2015}}{{cite web|last=Cooper|first=Peter|url=https://tennessean.com/story/entertainment/music/2015/01/17/dixie-hall-prolific-bluegrass-songwriter-dies/21914181/|title= Dixie Hall, prolific bluegrass songwriter dies at 80 |work=The Tennessean|date=February 5, 2015|access-date=December 22, 2018}}{{cite web|last=Himes|first=Jeffrey|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/13/arts/music/13hime.html|title= Who Needs Country Radio? Not Tom T. Hall|work=The New York Times|date=January 13, 2008|access-date=December 22, 2018}}{{cite web|url=https://www.discogs.com/artist/3916566-Dixie-Hall|title=Dixie Hall|publisher=discogs|access-date=December 23, 2018}} They lived in Franklin, Tennessee.

At age 85, Hall died at his home in Franklin, Tennessee, on August 20, 2021,{{Cite web |last=Riess |first=Rebekah |date=August 21, 2021 |title=Country Music Hall of Fame artist Tom T. Hall dies at age 85 |url=https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/20/entertainment/tom-t-hall-obit/index.html |publisher=CNN}} of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.{{cite news |author1=Variety |author1-link=Variety (magazine) |title=Tom T. Hall, country music's 'Storyteller,' died by suicide, medical examiner says |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/tom-t-hall-country-musics-storyteller-died-suicide-medical-examiner-sa-rcna11163 |access-date=17 October 2024 |work=NBC News |date=January 6, 2022}} The cause of death went unreleased and had been presumed to be natural until the Williamson County medical examiner released his findings in November. Hall left no suicide note.

{{Main|Tom T. Hall discography}}

• In Search of a Song (1971)
• We All Got Together and... (1972)
• Places I've Done Time (1978)
• Song in a Seashell (1985)

• How I Write Songs, Why You Can (1976), Chappell Music Co. {{ISBN|978-0882544236}}
• The Songwriter's Handbook (1976), Rutledge Hill Press {{ISBN|9781558538603}}
• The Storyteller's Nashville (1979), Doubleday & Co.; (Spring House Press, 2016), {{ISBN|978-1-940611-44-0}}
• The Laughing Man of Woodmont Coves (1982), Doubleday & Co. {{ISBN|9781557282255}}
• The Acts of Life (1986), The University of Arkansas Press {{ISBN|9780938626718}}
• Spring Hill, Tennessee (1990), Longstreet Press, Inc. {{ISBN|9780929264738}}
• What a Book! (1996), Longstreet Press, Inc. {{ISBN|9781563523403}}

• :Category:Songs written by Tom T. Hall
• :Category:Tom T. Hall songs
• :Category:Tom T. Hall albums

{{Reflist}}

• Allen, Bob. (1998). "Tom T. Hall" in The Encyclopedia of Country Music. Paul Kingsbury, editor. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 224–5.
• Harris, Stacy (1993). "Tom T. Hall" in The Best of Country: The Essential CD Guide. San Francisco: Collins Publishing, pp. 52–53.

• [{{AllMusic|class=artist|id=p1641|pure_url=yes}} Tom T. Hall page at allmusic.com]
• [https://www.discogs.com/artist/274718-Tom-T-Hall Tom T. Hall at Discogs.com]
• [http://www.bluecirclerecords.com Blue Circle Records]
• [https://www.namm.org/library/oral-history/tom-t-hall Tom T. Hall Interview] at NAMM Oral History Collection (2008)
• {{IMDb name|id=0356171}}

{{Tom T. Hall}}

{{Grand Ole Opry members}}

{{2000s Country Music Hall of Fame}}

{{International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame}}

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Category:1936 births

Category:2021 deaths

Category:2021 suicides

Category:American country singer-songwriters

Category:Country Music Hall of Fame inductees

Category:Country musicians from Kentucky

Category:Grammy Award winners

Category:Grand Ole Opry members

Category:Members of the Country Music Association

Category:Mercury Records artists

Category:People from Carter County, Kentucky

Category:Progressive country musicians

Category:RCA Records artists

Category:Singer-songwriters from Kentucky

Category:Suicides by firearm in Tennessee