Tom T. Hall

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Thomas "Tom T." Hall (born May 25, 1936 in Olive Hill , Kentucky , † August 20, 2021 in Franklin , Tennessee ) was an American country singer , songwriter and author. The Grammy Award winner wrote twelve number one hits. Stars like Johnny Cash , George Jones , Loretta Lynn , Waylon Jennings and Alan Jackson have also included his songs in their repertoire. Hall is nicknamed "The Storyteller".

Life

Childhood and adolescence

Before Hall started playing guitar, he had already written a few short stories. He wrote his first song at the age of nine. When he was eleven, his mother died. Four years later, his father had a hunting accident that made him unable to work. Hall had to leave school to make money. At first he worked in a textile factory. He made a few dollars on top of that by performing with a local bluegrass group. He was also a disc jockey for the local radio station.

In 1957 he joined the army for three years, most of which he spent in Germany. He often played in American clubs, where he performed his self-written songs for the GIs.

Career

At first, Hall worked as a disc jockey again. Established country star Jimmy C. Newman sang one of his songs, DJ for a Day , in 1963 , making it a top 10 hit. Hall moved to Nashville and added a 'T.' in his name. The first to interpret his songs successfully were Dave Dudley and again Jimmy C. Newmann. In 1965 Johnnie Wright had a number 1 hit with Hello Vietnam . Two years later, Hall recorded a single for the first time, I Washed My Face in the Morning Dew . One line of text in the socially critical song read: " The rich got richer and the poor got poorer and to me it didn't seem right ".

Hall's big break came in 1968 when his Harper Valley PTA, sung by Jeannie C. Riley , topped the country charts and even hit the pop charts. The single sold six million copies, was country single of the year, and was awarded a Grammy . The song was about small-town hypocrisy, a hallmark theme. A well-known version was made by Dolly Parton in 1969.

In the following twenty years he released over fifty singles and more than thirty albums such as The Ballad of Forty Dollars (1968), The Year That Clayton Delaney Died (1971) and Old Dogs, Children and Watermelon Wine (1973). Between 1970 and 1976, seven of his singles reached the top of the country charts.

From the mid-1980s, when record sales were slowly going downhill, Hall began writing more and more books. He has written a novel, a collection of short stories and the autobiographical A Storyteller's Nashville , among other things .

In 2008 Tom T. Hall was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame . In 2019 she was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame . In 2015 Rolling Stone listed him as 99th of the 100 best songwriters of all time .

Tom T. Hall died on August 20, 2021 at the age of 85.

Discography

Albums

year title Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements
(Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes) 		Remarks
US US Country Country
1969 Homecoming - Country23 (19 weeks)
Country
1970 I Witness Life - Country40 (8 weeks)
Country
100 children - Country31 (7 weeks)
Country
1971 In Search Of A Song US137 (6 weeks)
US 		Country8 (26 weeks)
Country
1972 We All Got Together And ... - Country12 (22 weeks)
Country
The storyteller - Country8 (16 weeks)
Country
1973 Rhymer and Other Five and Dimers US181 (4 weeks)
US 		Country1 (28 weeks)
Country
For the People in the Last Hard Town US149 (11 weeks)
US 		Country3 (27 weeks)
Country
1974 Country Is - Country7 (13 weeks)
Country
Songs From Fox Hollow US180 (2 weeks)
US 		Country3 (27 weeks)
Country
1975 I Wrote A Song About It - Country28 (6 weeks)
Country
1976 Faster horses - Country3 (17 weeks)
Country
Magnificent Music Machine - Country11 (14 weeks)
Country
1977 About love - Country20 (11 weeks)
Country
1978 New train, same rider - Country37 (9 weeks)
Country
Places I've Done Time - Country19 (7 weeks)
Country
Ol 'T's In Town - Country20 (18 weeks)
Country
1984 Natural dreams - Country42 (17 weeks)
Country
1985 Song In A Seashell - Country63 (8 weeks)
Country

more publishments

  • 1968: Ballad Of Forty Dollars
  • 1979: Satuday Morning Songs
  • 1980: A Soldier Of Fortune
  • 1982: The Storyteller And The Banjoman
  • 1983: Everything From Jesus To Jack Daniels
  • 1985: Song In A Seashell
  • 1989: Country Songs For Kids
  • 1996: Songs from Sopchoppy
  • 1997: Home Grown
  • 2007: Sings Miss Dixie & Tom T.

Compilations

year title Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements
(Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes) 		Remarks
US US Country Country
1972 Tom T. Hall's Greatest Hits - Country20 (13 weeks)
Country
1975 Greatest Hits Vol. 2 US-
gold
gold
US 		Country12 (21 weeks)
Country

more publishments

  • 1978: Greatest Hits Vol. 3
  • 1984: Country
  • 1988: The Essential Tom T. Hall
  • 1995: storyteller, poet, philosopher
  • 1995: Loves Lost and Found
  • 1995: Country Songs for Children
  • 2000: 20th Century Masters - The Millennium Collection

Singles

year Title
album 		Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements
(Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes) 		Remarks
US US Country Country
1967 I Washed My Face in the Morning Dew
Ballad of Forty Dollars 		- Country30 (10 weeks)
Country
1968 The World the Way I Want It
Ballad of Forty Dollars 		- Country66 (3 weeks)
Country
Ain't Got the Time
Ballad of Forty Dollars 		- Country68 (4 weeks)
Country
Ballad of Forty Dollars
Ballad of Forty Dollars 		- Country4 (18 weeks)
Country
1969 Strawberry Farms
Homecoming 		- Country40 (8 weeks)
Country
Homecoming
Homecoming 		- Country5 (15 weeks)
Country
A Week in a Country Jail
Homecoming 		- Country1 (15 weeks)
Country
1970 Shoeshine Man
Homecoming 		- Country8 (14 weeks)
Country
Salute to a Switchblade
I Witness Life 		- Country8 (13 weeks)
Country
Day drinkin '
 - Country23 (13 weeks)
Country
One Hundred Children
One Hundred Children 		- Country14 (12 weeks)
Country
1971 Ode to Half a Pound of Ground Round
One Hundred Children 		- Country21 (11 weeks)
Country
The Year Clayton Delaney Died
In Search of a Song 		US42 (12 weeks)
US 		Country1 (20 weeks)
Country
1972 Me and Jesus
We All Got Together and ... 		US98 (2 weeks)
US 		Country8 (15 weeks)
Country
The Monkey That Became President
We All Got Together and ... 		- Country11 (12 weeks)
Country
More About John Henry
The Storyteller 		- Country26 (9 weeks)
Country
(Old Dogs, Children And) Watermelon Wine
The Storyteller 		- Country1 (15 weeks)
Country
Hello, We're Lonely
 - Country14 (12 weeks)
Country
with Patti Page
1973 Ravishing Ruby
Rhymer and Other Five and Dimers 		- Country3 (13 weeks)
Country
Watergate Blues
Rhymer and Other Five and Dimers 		- Country16 (11 weeks)
Country
I Love
For the People in the Last Hard Town 		US12 (16 weeks)
US 		Country1 (18 weeks)
Country
1974 That Song Is Driving Me Crazy
Country Is 		US63 (4 weeks)
US 		Country2 (15 weeks)
Country
Country Is
Country Is 		- Country1 (16 weeks)
Country
I Care
Songs of Fox Hollow 		- Country1 (15 weeks)
Country
Sneaky snake
 US55 (6 weeks)
US 		Country69 (1 week)
Country
B-side of I Care
1975 Deal
I Wrote a Song About it 		- Country8 (15 weeks)
Country
I Like Beer
Faster Horses 		- Country4 (16 weeks)
Country
Faster Horses (The Cowboy and the Poet)
Faster Horses 		- Country1 (16 weeks)
Country
1976 Negatory Romance
Faster Horses 		- Country24 (12 weeks)
Country
Fox on the Run
Magnificent Music Machine 		- Country9 (14 weeks)
Country
1977 Your Man Loves You Honey
About Love 		- Country4 (16 weeks)
Country
It's All in the Game
About Love 		- Country12 (12 weeks)
Country
May the Force Be with You Always
New Train Same Rider 		- Country13 (14 weeks)
Country
1978 I Wish I Loved Somebody Else
New Train Same Rider 		- Country13 (13 weeks)
Country
What Have You Got to Lose
Places I've Done Time 		- Country9 (13 weeks)
Country
1979 Son of Clayton Delaney
Places I've Done Time 		- Country14 (12 weeks)
Country
There Is a Miracle in You
Saturday Morning Songs 		- Country20 (10 weeks)
Country
You Show Me Your Heart (And I'll Show You Mine)
Ol 'T's in Town 		- Country11 (14 weeks)
Country
1980 The Old Side of Town
Ol 'T's in Town 		- Country9 (13 weeks)
Country
Soldier of Fortune
Soldier of Fortune 		- Country51 (7 weeks)
Country
Back When Gas Was Thirty Cents a Gallon
Soldier of Fortune 		- Country36 (10 weeks)
Country
1981 The All New Me
World Class Country 		- Country41 (8 weeks)
Country
1982 There Ain't No Country Music on This Jukebox
Storyteller and the Banjo Man 		- Country77 (4 weeks)
Country
Song of the South
Storyteller and the Banjo Man 		- Country72 (5 weeks)
Country
with Earl Scruggs
1983 Everything from Jesus to Jack Daniels
Everything from Jesus to Jack Daniels 		- Country42 (10 weeks)
Country
1984 Famous in Missouri
Natural Dreams 		- Country81 (3 weeks)
Country
PS I Love You
Natural Dreams 		- Country8 (21 weeks)
Country
1985 A Bar with No Beer
Song in a Seashell 		- Country40 (9 weeks)
Country
Down in the Florida Keys
Song in a Seashell 		- Country42 (11 weeks)
Country
1986 Love Letters in the Sand
Song in a Seashell 		- Country79 (3 weeks)
Country
Susie's Beauty Shop
 - Country52 (8 weeks)
Country
B-side of Love Letters in the Sand
Down at the mall
 - Country65 (7 weeks)
Country

Books written by Hall

  • How I Write Songs, Why You Can (1976)
  • The Storyteller's Nashville
  • The Laughing Man of Woodmont Coves (1982)
  • The Acts of Live (1986)
  • Homewords (1986)
  • The Songwriter's Handbook (1987)
  • Christmas and the Old House (1987)
  • Springhill, Tennessee (1990)
  • What a Book! (1996)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Tom T. Hall, country music storyteller who sang about life's simple joys, dies at 85. In: nbcnews.com. August 21, 2021, accessed August 21, 2021 .
  2. ↑ Tom T. Hall ••• Top Songs as Writer ••• Music VF, US & UK hits charts. Retrieved December 20, 2020 .
  3. ^ Roland, Tom: The Billboard Book Of Number One Country Hits . New York City / New York: Billboard Books; London: Guinness Publishing Ltd., 1991, p. 574
  4. ^ Tom T. Hall | Songwriters Hall of Fame. Retrieved December 20, 2020 .
  5. ↑ The 100 Greatest Songwriters of All Time. Rolling Stone , August 2015, accessed August 7, 2017 .
  6. ↑ a b c Chart sources: US

Web links
personal data
SURNAME Hall, Tom T.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Hall, Thomas
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American country singer, songwriter, and author
BIRTH DATE May 25, 1936
PLACE OF BIRTH Olive Hill , Kentucky
DATE OF DEATH August 20, 2021
PLACE OF DEATH Franklin , Tennessee