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Tom T. Hall
Tom T. Hall in 1967
Background information
Birth name	Thomas Hall
Born	(1936-05-25) May 25, 1936 (age 82)
Origin	Olive Hill, Kentucky, U.S.
Genres	Bluegrass, country, Outlaw Country, Folk
Occupation(s)	Singer, Songwriter
Instruments	Vocals, Guitar, Banjo, Mandolin, Piano, Saxophone
Years active	1963–present
Labels	Mercury, RCA, Columbia Blue Circle
Associated acts	Dave Dudley, Patti Page, Johnnie Wright, Roger Miller, Johnny Cash
Website	www.tomthall.net

Thomas T. Hall (born May 25, 1936 in Olive Hill, Kentucky) is an American country music songwriter, singer, instrumentalist, novelist, and short-story writer. He has written 12 No. 1 hit songs, with 26 more that reached the Top 10, including the No. 1 international pop crossover smash "Harper Valley PTA" and the hit "I Love", which reached No. 12 on the Billboard Hot 100. He became known to fans as "The Storyteller," thanks to his storytelling skills in his songwriting.

Early life and career

Hall was born in 1936. As a teenager, he organized a band called the Kentucky Travelers that performed before movies for a traveling theater. During a stint in the Army, Hall performed over the Armed Forces Radio Network and wrote comic songs about Army experiences. His early career included being a radio announcer at WRON, a local radio station in Ronceverte, West Virginia. Hall was also an announcer at WMOR 1330AM in Morehead, Kentucky. Hall was also an announcer at WSPZ, which later became WVRC Radio in Spencer, West Virginia, in the 1960s.^[1]

Hall's big songwriting break came in 1963, when country singer Jimmy C. Newman recorded his song, "DJ For a Day." Soon, Hall moved to Nashville, arriving in 1964 with $46 and a guitar; within months he had songs climbing the charts. Hall has been nicknamed "The Storyteller," and he has written songs for dozens of country stars, including Johnny Cash, George Jones, Loretta Lynn, Waylon Jennings, Alan Jackson, and Bobby Bare.

One of his earliest successful songwriting ventures, "Harper Valley PTA," recorded in 1968 by Jeannie C. Riley, hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and Hot Country Singles charts a week apart, sold over six million copies, and won both a Grammy Award and CMA Award. The song would go on to inspire a motion picture and television program of the same name. Hall himself has recorded this song, on his album The Definitive Collection (as track No. 23). Hall's recording career took off after Riley's rendition of the song, releasing a number of hits from the late 1960s through the early 80s. Some of Hall's 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)",That Song Is Driving Me Crazy Which Peaked At Number 2 On The Country Charts and many others. He is also noted for his children-oriented songs, including "Sneaky Snake" and "I Care", the latter of which hit No. 1 on the country charts in 1975. In 1979, Hall appeared on the PBS music program Austin City Limits during Season 4.

Grammy award

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 has been a member of the Grand Ole Opry since 1971.^[2][3]

Television

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.^[4] He also composed the theme song for Fishin' with Orlando Wilson.

Music

His 1996 song "Little Bitty", from the album Songs from Sopchoppy, became a No. 1 single that year when it was recorded by Alan Jackson for the album Everything I Love.

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.^[5]

His song "I Love", in which the narrator lists the things in life that he loves, was used, with altered lyrics, in a popular 2003 TV commercial for Coors Light,^[6] and also used in 2014 in a TV advert for Clipper Teas.

On July 3, 2007, he released the CD Tom T. Hall Sings Miss Dixie & Tom T. on his independent bluegrass label Blue Circle Records.

On June 1, 2014, Rolling Stone magazine ranked (Old Dogs, Children and) Watermelon Wine #93 in their list of the 100 greatest country songs.^[7]

Hall of fame

On February 12, 2008, Hall was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. Is also a member of the Kentucky Music Hall of Fame

Discography

• 
  In Search of a Song (1971)


• 
  We All Got Together and... (1972)


• 
  Faster Horses (1975)


• 
  Places I've Done Time (1978)


• 
  Song in a Seashell (1985)

Books written by Hall

• 
  How I Write Songs, Why You Can (1976), Chappell Music Co.


• 
  The Songwriter's Handbook (1976), Rutledge Hill Press
  


• 
  The Storyteller's Nashville (1979), Doubleday & Co.
  


• 
  The Laughing Man of Woodmont Coves (1982), Doubleday & Co.


• 
  The Acts of Life (1986), The University Of Arkansas Press


• 
  Homewords (1986), The University of Tennessee Press


• 
  Christmas and the Old House (1989), Peachtree Publishers, Ltd.


• 
  Spring Hill, Tennessee (1990), Longstreet Press, Inc.


• 
  What a Book! (1996), Longstreet Press, Inc.

See also

• Category:Songs written by Tom T. Hall


• Category:Tom T. Hall songs


• Category:Tom T. Hall albums

References

• Allen, Bob. (1998). "Tom T. Hall". In The Encyclopedia of Country Music. Paul Kingsbury, Editor. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 224–5.

External links

• Official website


• Tom T. Hall page at allmusic.com


• Tom T. Hall at Discogs.com


• Blue Circle Records


• Good Home Grown Music Publishing


• Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum


• Interview with Tom T. Hall - NAMM Oral History Library (2008)