Tom T. Hall
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 | |
---|---|---|---|---|
![]() |
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|||
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 | |
---|---|---|---|---|
![]() |
![]() |
|||
1972 | Tom T. Hall's Greatest Hits | - |
Country20 (13 weeks) Country |
|
1975 | Greatest Hits Vol. 2 |
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 | |
---|---|---|---|---|
![]() |
![]() |
|||
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 |
with Dave Dudley
|
|
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 |
with Earl Scruggs
|
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
- ↑ 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 .
- ↑ Tom T. Hall ••• Top Songs as Writer ••• Music VF, US & UK hits charts. Retrieved December 20, 2020 .
- ^ Roland, Tom: The Billboard Book Of Number One Country Hits . New York City / New York: Billboard Books; London: Guinness Publishing Ltd., 1991, p. 574
- ^ Tom T. Hall | Songwriters Hall of Fame. Retrieved December 20, 2020 .
- ↑ The 100 Greatest Songwriters of All Time. Rolling Stone , August 2015, accessed August 7, 2017 .
- ↑ a b c Chart sources: US
Web links
- Literature by and about Tom T. Hall in the WorldCat bibliographic database
- Tom T. Hall at Discogs
- Hall's website
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 |