Tom T. Hall, 1936-2021
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I’m sure Erik will have more in his next music notes blog, but one of the true greats of American songwriting has died:
Tom T. Hall, a Country Music Hall of Fame artist who wrote unassuming songs with distinct depth, died Friday at age 85.
Hall died at his home in Franklin Tennessee, according to his son, Dean Hall.
A consummate country songwriter who captured life’s intimate details with lighthearted songs such as “I Like Beer,” penned the classic “That’s How I Got To Memphis” and showcased era-defining sharpness with “Harper Valley PTA,” Hall entered the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2008, alongside Emmylou Harris, The Statler Brothers and Ernest Stoneman.
He joined Kris Kristofferson and Billy Joe Shaver in bringing a class of storytelling to country music unlike those before them. Hall timelessly and empathetically chronicled the human spirit — from barstool stories to cemetery caretakers — with words that would influence generations of wordsmiths to follow.
His songbook of country hits includes “(Old Dogs, Children and) Watermelon Wine,” “A Week in a Country Jail,” “I Love” … and the list goes on.
Many knew him as “The Storyteller,” a fitting nickname gifted to Hall by another country great — Tex Ritter.
“Tom T. Hall’s masterworks vary in plot, tone, and tempo, but they are bound by his ceaseless and unyielding empathy for the triumphs and losses of others,” Kyle Young, CEO of the Country Music Hall of Fame, said in a statement Friday. “He wrote without judgment or anger, offering a rhyming journalism of the heart that sets his compositions apart from any other writer. His songs meant the world to Bobby Bare, Johnny Cash, George Jones and other greats, and those songs will continue to speak to generations.”
Some of my favorites:
As with Harry Truman, his middle initial was standalone, And in the final analysis, if the part about being who he was couldn’t help Tom get loose, what’s a guy without a “T” gonna get?